Day care centres
Day care centres support parents in the upbringing and education of their children. They can be attended by children aged between 8 weeks and 12 years (in exceptional cases up to the age of 14). The basis for the content of the work is the "Educational programme with handouts for nurseries and kindergartens in Saarland".
In the Saarpfalz district, there are a total of 78 day-care centres offering a variety of services. You can find out about the individual services on offer in the day care centre directory (pdf).
Daycare centres are run by towns and municipalities, parishes and welfare associations (e.g. Arbeiterwohlfahrt or Lebenshilfe). A total of 4,512 kindergarten places, 1,183 crèche places, 331 after-school care places, 1,000 places in youth welfare - school cooperation projects and 38 places for disabled children are available to families in the Saarpfalz district. (Status: May 2025)
Information on the individual day-care centres can be found on the websites of the towns and municipalities:
Kindergarten
Children aged 3-6 years are cared for and supported in the kindergarten. Children can attend the kindergarten for part of the day (approx. 6 hours) or all day (approx. 10 hours). If a child attends the kindergarten for the whole day, they are provided with lunch. There are usually 25 children in a kindergarten group.
Children aged 8 weeks to school age can be cared for together in mixed-age groups. Depending on the age of the children, a mixed-age group comprises between 15 and 18 children.
Crèche
Children aged 8 weeks to 3 years are cared for in crèches. The crèche usually offers all-day care. The care includes lunch as well as a place to sleep and rest. There are usually 11 children in a crèche.
Day nursery
School-age children between the ages of 6 and 12 (in exceptional cases up to the age of 14) are looked after in the after-school care centre on school days after school or other school-free days. If required, childcare can begin before school starts and the children then go to school from there. In some holiday weeks, many day nurseries offer all-day care. As a rule, there are 20 children in an after-school care centre.
Child day care
Childminders look after children flexibly and close to the family. For children under the age of three, childminding is an alternative to childcare in a crèche. Childminders can also cover necessary childcare hours outside the opening hours of the crèche or daycare centre (so-called off-peak hours). see the article "Childminding"
Cooperation model school-youth welfare
In the cooperation model, schools and youth welfare services work closely together to ensure reliable, high-quality educational care for primary school children in the afternoon and during the holidays as part of voluntary all-day schools.