About Preschools

The city of Reykjavik operates 64 preschools for children aged one to five. 

Reykjavik Preschools' principal role and aim is to provide an excellent preschool service for parents and their children. The Reykjavik Preschools’ guidelines assume that each child should be cared for according to its own needs and weight is placed on parents’ active cooperation with the staff.

Registration takes place at each neighbourhood’s service centre. The places are filled according to the children’s age. At the beginning of the child’s attendance the parents and the director of the preschool sign a contract about the time the child will stay each day. Either party may terminate the contract with a notice of one month.  If the rules of termination are broken, the preschool is entitled to the fee for one month. The preschools are open from 7:30 am - 5:30 pm.

Information on preschools for foreign parents
Compulsory schools in Reykjavík

Application
One precondition of a child’s place at a preschool is residence in Reykjavik; this is based on information on residence and marital status according to the National Register. Parents that intend to move to Reykjavik can apply for a preschool place there but the child will not be assigned a preschool place until the residence has been moved. Application forms are available at all preschools and at the districts’ Community Service Centres, but it is also possible to apply for a place at a preschool rafrænt á heimasíðu Reykjavíkurborgar (electronically on the City of Reykjavik’s website).

Allocation of preschool places
The allocation of preschool places occurs during the period from March to May each year and parents are advised to send in their applications before the end of February. It is most common for a preschool place to start during the period from June to September each year, since the children that start at compulsory school will leave in the autumn. Parents will receive a letter when their child has been accepted into a preschool and they should cnfirm they will take the place within seven days. If they don’t require a preschool place for their child they are obliged to report it for registration. If nothing has been heard from the parents when the reply deadline has expired the child is removed from the list and its place offered to another child. Further information on Community Service Centres websites.

Day Carers
Day carers are independent contractors, but the Preschool Division of the City of Reykjavik issues them with operating licences and performs the legally presecribed supervision, as detailed in the regulations of the Ministry of Social Affairs. It is possible to obtain information about day carers on the Reykjavik’s Community Service Centres’ websites.
The day charges for children in day care in private homes and are resident in Reykjavik are subsidised in accordance with a City Council resolution.

Subsidies to day carers January 1st. 2008