Family centres: meeting places for families
A family centre is a supportive and social space for families and soon-to-be-parents.
It is a service central for you and your child where preschool teachers, nurses, midwives, doctors and social workers collaborate around family matters.
It accommodates a childcare clinic (“BVC” in Swedish), maternity care, and parenting support, and has a play space called Öppna förskolan which translates to “Open preschool”, where you get to meet with other families and spend time together in a kids friendly space.
Öppna förskolan/ "Open preschool"
Öppna förskolan is a designated meeting place for families of young children. You can come and go as you want; no registration is necessary. Here, you and your child will meet and get to know others to talk, play, sing and have fun together. You are welcome with your child as soon as he/ she is born.
Öppna förskolan/ "Open preschool" | Regular preschool | |
|---|---|---|
Main purpose | A meeting place for families of which the guardians are staying at home with their children. Here, you get to talk, play and have fun together with other parents and their children. | An educative and social place for young children from ages 1-6. It is the first step in the Swedish school system. |
Attendance | Guardians and children stay to play and socialise together with others. You cannot drop off your child here. | You drop off your child in the morning and pick him/ her up in the afternoon. |
Registration | You can pop in and out as you want during opening hours, no registration is necessary. | You apply for a placement for your child through Skellefteå municipality. The hours your child spends in preschool is based on a time schedule that you have registered. |
Fees | Free of charge. | The preschool fee is based on a combination of your income and on how many hours a week your child attends. |
.
There are aslo a few more “Open preschools” in Skellefteå that is not run by the Municipality, but by the Church of Sweden.