Forms of day care for children

1. Child day care facilities - which forms of care are offered?

Diverse spectrum of offers

A diverse and demand-oriented spectrum of child day care facilities is an essential measure for quality of life in our society. Many mothers and fathers go to work during the daytime, but nevertheless want their children to be able to develop happily and healthily with friends of their own age. Nurseries, child minders, kindergartens and after-school centres permit them to reconcile the demands of family, education and career.

To support the individual plans and educational expectations of parents, the City of Dresden cooperates with a number of independent and private providers to offer a territorially and conceptionally balanced network of day care facilities for children. The range of offers is modified constantly to match changing requirements - taking into account the relevant developments in birth rates, the local demand in specific residential districts, and particular educational focuses. The overall system, and at the same time the profiles of individual facilities, are thus programmed to continuous optimisation.

Forms of care

Child day care facilities are, generally speaking, all those facilities which are able to look after children for all or part of the day. According to § 1 (1) of the Saxon Law on Day Care and Promotion Facilities for Children (SächsKitaG), this includes nurseries, kindergartens and after-school centres in which children are cared for, promoted in their development and educated from infant age through to the end of the fourth school grade. For children up to the age of three years, the City is also able to offer parents day care in the form of a child minder instead of a place in a child day care facility. Many of the facilities in Dresden combine several levels of child day care under one roof. This is especially recommendable where care is to be provided for brothers and sisters, and furthermore permits the individual child to remain in a familiar environment over several years (see Question 8).

Educational concept

All child day care facilities in the City of Dresden implement an educational concept which has been elaborated together with parents and is subject to continuous improvement. Each facility thus possesses an individual educational profile, with its own unmistakeable emphasis.

Demand-oriented opening hours

According to § 5 SächsKitaG, child day care facilities are required to open in accordance with the needs of the children and their parents or guardians, and in line with relevant local circumstances. If full-day care is necessary, nurseries and kindergartens must also remain open over the midday period. Exact opening times are determined by the responsible provider after hearing representatives of the parents and in coordination with the municipal Child Day Care Agency. Most facilities in Dresden open between 6.00 a.m. and 6.00 p.m., though there are some where children are able to stay later - in some cases until 8.00 p.m.

Responsible providers

Dresden currently offers a total of 286 child day care facilities, of which 134 are in municipal hands, 144 under the management of independent providers and 8 privately run. Contact persons for parents, alongside the offices of the responsible providers, are the directors of the individual facilities. They are able to provide all necessary information on day care offers and the required procedures for registration.