FAQ

Yes, we’d be happy to arrange a visit. Please contact the daycare manager to schedule a convenient time.

We also hold open house events at all our locations and invite all families who have applied for a place. Open house evenings are excellent opportunities, as our staff is available to answer your questions and tell you about the daily activities of the groups.

No, your child does not need to know any English before starting at Sunshine. Children naturally learn English through play, daily routines, songs, and conversations.

Most of our staff also speak Finnish, so your child will feel supported and understood from day one. Children typically acquire the language quickly and soon begin to use familiar words, songs, and phrases in everyday situations.

At Sunshine Early Learning Centre, children are offered breakfast, a warm lunch and an afternoon snack during the daycare day. Breakfast is available until 8:30, lunch is served at around 11:00 depending on the centre, and the afternoon snack is served at around 14:00.

Our breakfasts and afternoon snacks include fresh fruit and vegetables together with whole-grain porridge or bread and milk. We aim to offer children nutritious everyday food and avoid ready-made sugary yoghurts and fruit soups, choosing healthier alternatives whenever possible.

The weekly lunch menu is available on the notice board at each Sunshine early learning centre, so families can easily see what is being served.

Yes. We take children’s food allergies and special diets carefully into account. Families are asked to provide information about their child’s diet when signing the contract, and our staff will go through the details with you before the child starts at Sunshine.

We can accommodate allergies as well as special diets such as vegetarian and vegan diets, and we ask families to keep us updated if the child’s dietary needs change.

At daycare, we spend time both indoors and outdoors every day, so it is essential that your child has the right equipment and clothing for all weather conditions.

To make sure your child can comfortably take part in all daily activities, please prepare the following items for daycare:

• Weather-appropriate outdoor clothes and shoes

• Rain clothes and boots

• Spare clothes (1–2 sets depending on the child’s age)

• Indoor slippers

• A cuddly toy for nap time

• Diapers and personal hygiene items, if needed

Please remember to write your child’s name on all of their clothes. This is the only way to prevent clothes from getting mixed up or lost.

For children under 3-years of age, the ratio between teaching staff and children is 1:4.

For children over the age of 3, the ratio is 1:7.

The size of the group is limited by law so that there can only be three responsible staff members working in a group. That means that the group size is a maximum of 21 children, if all the children are more than three years of age.

These are the minimum levels of staffing based on the Finnish Early Childhood Education Law.

At Sunshine we have some smaller groups of 12 or 14 children. The number of staff members in a group is based on the number of children and the age of the children in the group.

Sunshine Early Learning Centre is a service voucher daycare provider. This means that daycare fees are subsidised by the City.

The total monthly fee is the current maximum value of the service voucher plus the additional fee charged by SELC. The family is charged the difference between the total monthly fee and the value of the voucher granted plus the additional fee charged by SELC. Read more about the specific fees on the page for the daycare center you have chosen.

The city grants a service voucher to the family. The value of the voucher is dependent on the family’s income.

The guardian’s contribution is billed monthly in arrears.

The monthly fees are the same regardless of whether the child is absent from the day-care due to illness or holidays. SELC determines on an annual basis whether it is possible to offer a discount during the summer period (normally in July only).

Parents are required to apply for the service voucher from their own municipality before the start date of this contract.

If there are any challenges in the child’s development, especially language development, it is good to consider carefully if an English language learning environment would be beneficial to the child. In this case it would be good to talk to your child’s speech therapist and ask what they think. Children’s development is very individual, and sometimes it might be good to wait and see how the child’s language develops for example during the following year. Any developmental challenges can intensify when the child is put in an environment with a different language.

You can always contact us and discuss the situation with us too. It is also very important to tell us about any concerns that the neuvola nurse or your child’s previous daycare has brought up regarding your child’s development. We are here to work with you and to support your child’s development in every way.