Frequently asked questions
-
How much does Early Childhood Education and Care at Touhula cost?
As in municipal daycare centres, the fees charged by Touhula’s private daycare centres are affected by the following factors, depending on the municipality:
- Child’s care times
- The value of the service voucher or private daycare allowance
- The parents’ income and the size of the family
Contact the Daycare Manager directly for further details on the amount of particular daycare fees; see the daycare centre’s own website for contact details. For all of our daycare centres, we aim to keep the fee at a level which allows all families to apply for a place at Touhula.
-
How are substitute staff arranged at Touhula?
Staff are absent now and again, and a substitute carer is required. We try to obtain a good and reliable substitute as soon as possible. Where necessary, our employees also move between daycare centres in the near vicinity, in order to help their colleagues. Sufficient staff numbers and the safety of the children are guaranteed in every case, even if an adult belonging to a group is absent.
-
What about daycare centre opening hours during holidays?
During holiday periods (summer, spring holiday and Christmas and New Year), we arrange early education by keeping some daycare centres in each area open as normal, while others are closed. When the children are on holiday, the adults can take a break as well. This ensures that the full complement of staff is present during the working week.
The daycare centres kept open provide a substitute place for all children in childcare with Touhula in the area. The parents are informed in good time of which daycare centres will serve as substitute childcare providers in each area.
-
Quality of childcare – who monitors childcare provided by private daycare centres?
Private early education is subject to the same quality criteria as municipal providers. The municipality or city directs and monitors private early education and the related operations.
Our daycare centres are subject to monitoring, supervisory and auditing visits by the municipalities. Touhula has an open, collaborative and confidential relationship with municipal Early Childhood Education and Care staff.
All of our daycare centres comply with both the national and municipal Early Childhood Education and Care plans (known by the Finnish abbreviation ‘vasu’), and the related principles. We also participate in the municipal vasu working groups. Touhula has its own action plan, Touhula Rytmi, based on which an annual plan is drawn up for each daycare centre.
In addition, we recruit only qualified, professionally skilled staff on permanent contracts. We also update our staff’s professional skills on a systematic basis.
Our daycare centres regularly evaluate the satisfaction of our customer families. We develop our activities on the basis of feedback and communicate our results openly to customer families and municipal partners.
-
How does cooperation between parents and daycare centres work?
Families are the best experts on their children, and we listen carefully to their preferences regarding early education. An early childhood education and care plan (also known as a ‘vasu’ based on its Finnish acronym) is drawn up for each child, through cooperation between the child’s family and the daycare centre.
Permanent elements of our education partnerships include discussions held twice a year on each child’s early childhood education and care plan, parents’ evenings and joint family events. In addition, there are the everyday but highly important daily discussions held whenever a child is left with us in the morning, or leaves for home in the afternoon.
Families can answer their electronic customer satisfaction questionnaires twice a year. You can send us feedback at any time, either directly to our staff or using the feedback form.
-
How do I apply for Early Childhood Education and Care?
Fill in the application / applications
Begin filling in the early education form by selecting your preferred daycare centre. If you wish, you can apply for several daycare centres, but this means making a separate application for each one. You should also check municipal practices: check whether you also need to fill in a municipal application form separately on the municipal website, for example in relation to a valid service voucher decision.
When will a decision be made about the daycare place?
The Daycare Manager will confirm that you have a place by telephone or email. We will try to notify you of the decision as soon as possible, within a week of receiving your application. We will also try to notify you within a week, if there are no places at the daycare centre and your application is placed in a queue. If necessary, a service contract can be made with the local service manager when applying for a place in a new daycare centre, for example.
By when should I respond to the decision and how?
The Daycare Manager will agree on a familiarisation visit and the drawing up of a contract when they contact you. If necessary, the Daycare Manager may also send the service contract to your home address for signing. A daycare place is confirmed by signing the service contract and returning it to Touhula, so make sure that the Daycare Manager receives the contract in good time before early education begins.
You are very welcome to visit the daycare centre before accepting your daycare place.
Cancelling a daycare place
To cancel a daycare place, you must send us notice of cancellation in writing. You can cancel your daycare place by sending an email message to the daycare centre manager, for example. You must also cancel your place if, say, your application has been placed in a queue but you have accepted a place from another daycare centre.
If the written service contract has begun before the cancellation of the childcare place, you will be charged the full month’s fee for any part month of childcare provided. If the service contract is in effect and the customer wishes to cancel the childcare place, they must use Touhula’s “termination of ECEC” form to do so.
At Touhula, the cancellation period is one calendar month; for example, a service contract cancelled on 21 February will end on 31 March. In such a case, the customer will be charged a fee covering the period up to the last day and the child has the right to early education until then. Please remember to check the service cancellation practices in your own municipality and, if necessary, to cancel the private daycare allowance from Kela if this applies to our daycare centre.
-
What should be taken along to the daycare centre?
The following clothes and items should be brought to the daycare centre from your child’s first day onwards:
Do you want to give feedback?
Tell us about anything that is on your mind, pleases you or is a cause for concern. Advise us on how we could improve Touhula.