Questions parents ask about Sovička Kindergarten

Your child can start at any time of the year when there is a free place at the kindergarten, so there is no need to wait for September. We take children aged 2 to 6, and you can see the current admissions status for each kindergarten on the Free places page.

First come and have a look, together with your child. If you like it here, you fill in the online application in the Kinderio app, which only takes a few minutes. Once you have applied, we send you an invoice for the registration fee of €100.

You arrange the visit for a time when the kindergarten is quiet and that suits you too, for example late in the afternoon. You can look round the classrooms in peace and talk to the head teacher about anything you want to know about your child’s days with us. A visit does not commit you to anything. You can arrange one with the form on this website or by calling 0948 374 372.

Yes, we would love your child to come with you. While you talk to the head teacher, they can try out the toys and see the classroom in peace. Meanwhile, you can see how they react to the new surroundings.

Yes, your child can start with us from the age of 2. If they will go to Kramáre and are not yet 3, you pay a lower monthly fee for a full day, €399 a month.

You will need a certificate from your paediatrician about your child’s health, including their vaccinations. You then fill in the contract and the list of people allowed to collect your child easily in the Kinderio app.

If the kindergarten you chose is full, put your name on the waiting list and the head teacher will call you when a place becomes free. We have three kindergartens, so she will also be happy to tell you whether your child could start sooner at another one.

Yes. If we have a free place, your child can start straight away and you can go back to work as planned. In our parent guide we explain how entitlement to a place at a state kindergarten works in Slovakia and what the extended parental allowance is.

Yes, at any time. The teacher will give you a quick update when you collect your child, and you will also find notices in the parent app. For a longer conversation, arrange a time with the head teacher so that the teacher does not have to leave the children in the classroom.

The monthly fee pays for the care and education of your child, not for an exception to the rules. The rules apply to every family in the same way, just as laws apply to everyone even though we all pay taxes. They protect your child, the other children and the teachers. When we all keep to them, the teachers have the calm and energy to focus on your child.

In the first days your child will spend shorter periods at kindergarten, and we only extend their time once we can see they are doing well. If your child needs it, you can stay with them at the beginning. You agree the plan with the teacher, who will tell you after each day how your child got on.

Tears at goodbye are normal in the first weeks, and many children calm down shortly after the parent leaves. What helps your child most is a short, calm goodbye and a promise that you keep. If you would like to know how they got on after you left, the teacher will be happy to tell you.

Pack indoor shoes, spare clothes with your child’s name in them, pyjamas, and outdoor clothes and shoes suitable for the weather. If they still wear nappies, add nappies and wet wipes. Do not forget their favourite cuddly toy for nap time. We provide towels, bed linen, a toothbrush and cups.

No. If your child still wears nappies, we will help them with potty training at their own pace. Just bring nappies and wet wipes from home.

A full day for your child at Sovička costs €449 a month in Vrakuňa, €499 in Kramáre and €549 in Ružinov. If they come for half days or 3 days a week, you pay €399 to €499 depending on the kindergarten. On top of that there is the meal fee of €5.50 a day.

The monthly fee gives your child a full day with an English-speaking teacher, the Jazýček šikovníček speech-therapy club, financial literacy, the EQ programme and school preparation. We follow your child’s progress through educational assessment and go through the results with you at a consultation. Trips, learning materials, towels, bed linen, a toothbrush and cups are included too.

The registration fee is €100 and you pay it only once, after you submit the online application. It is not deducted from the monthly fee.

Yes. If your child’s brother or sister comes to us too, you pay a 10% lower monthly fee for each additional sibling.

Yes, the monthly fee is the same every month. Sovička is open all year round, so we keep your child’s place for them in summer and while they are ill.

Sports activities are blocks of lessons for an extra charge, and you sign your child up only for the ones they enjoy. We offer swimming, the climbing wall, ice skating and skiing at all our kindergartens, cycling in Kramáre and Vrakuňa, and football in Vrakuňa. We will tell you the current activities and prices at your visit.

If you work or study and your child is under 3, you may be able to get the childcare allowance (príspevok na starostlivosť o dieťa) for a private kindergarten. If your child did not get a place at a state kindergarten, under certain conditions you can receive an extended parental allowance. Entitlement usually depends on your residence and insurance in Slovakia. The Labour Office (ÚPSVaR) will tell you the exact conditions, and you will find an overview in our parent guide.

Your child learns English during an ordinary day. Every kindergarten has an English-speaking teacher from morning to afternoon who talks with the children while they get dressed, eat, play and spend time outdoors. Your child listens to English and repeats it, much as they learnt their first language.

No. If your child has never heard English before, they will pick it up gradually during the day.

If your child sometimes mixes Slovak and English in one sentence, that is a normal phase that passes with age. We do school preparation in Slovak, so your child will be ready for a Slovak primary school.

Yes. We prepare your child for school in Slovak, following our “Me and the World” programme, which is based on the national curriculum. We follow their progress through educational assessment and go through the results with you at a consultation.

Yes. Sovička is a private kindergarten authorised to provide compulsory pre-primary education, so your child can complete it with us. In Slovakia it applies to children who turn 5 by 31 August, in the year before primary school.

In financial literacy your child discovers through play what money is worth and the difference between what they want and what they need. In the EQ programme they learn to name what they feel, handle anger and agree things with their friends. Both are included in the fee.

Included in the fee, your child has the Jazýček šikovníček speech-therapy club once a week and financial literacy. If they love sport, you can sign them up for blocks of lessons for an extra charge. We have swimming, the climbing wall, ice skating and skiing at all our kindergartens, cycling in Kramáre and Vrakuňa, and football in Vrakuňa.

Each class has 7 to 15 children and one teacher. With that number of children the teacher knows your child well and notices straight away when something is not going right. Each kindergarten has three classes.

Your child is looked after by teachers with a teaching qualification that meets the requirements for kindergartens in Slovakia. The head teacher, Zuzana Marynčáková, has a master’s degree.

You can bring your child on weekdays from 7:00. You can collect them until 17:00 in Kramáre, until 17:15 in Ružinov and until 17:30 in Vrakuňa.

Yes, all year round. We are only closed on public holidays and from 24 December to 1 January, so you do not need to look for other childcare in summer.

Your child will be outdoors every day, in the morning and in the afternoon, whenever the weather allows. The kindergartens in Kramáre and Vrakuňa have a playground.

Every day your child will have a cooked morning snack, lunch and afternoon snack from Zjedené Junior, a catering company that cooks for nurseries and kindergartens. They also get fruit and have drinks throughout the day. You can see the menu, with allergens, right in the app.

Yes. If your child has an allergy or needs gluten-free or lactose-free food, it is prepared separately for them. Just let us know when you apply and your child will have the right food from the first day.

No. After lunch your child has time to rest with a story and music. If they do not fall asleep, after a short rest they play quietly.

No, even though we fully understand that you have to go to work in the morning. Even an ordinary runny nose can hide something like strep, and a sick child passes it on to the other children and the teachers. When teachers fall ill, the children get substitute teachers who keep changing, and the illness goes round the class like a relay, so a few days later your own child is ill again. So please keep your child at home until they have recovered and let us know in the app, because the teacher cannot accept a child with symptoms of illness. We explain when to keep your child at home in the article When to keep your child home from kindergarten.

At kindergarten your child meets lots of new viruses and their immune system is still learning to deal with them, so they fall ill more often in the first months. But most illness goes round a class when children come back before they are well. They pass it on to the other children and the teachers, and the illness is handed on like a relay, so a few days after returning your child is ill again. The best way to help is to keep your child at home until they have fully recovered and let us know in the app. You can read more in the article When to keep your child home from kindergarten.

If your child needs medicine, we give it only when there is a good reason and after agreeing it with you. The details are set out in the school rules.

Your child can be collected by you or by a person you name in the parent app. The teacher will not hand your child over to anyone else. This keeps your child safe: the teacher always knows they are leaving with someone you trust.

Yes, you can park at all three kindergartens, so in the morning you can drop off your child without hunting for a space.

In the app you will see when your child arrived and left, what they had for lunch (with allergens), kindergarten notices and invoices with QR payment. If you know your child will not be coming in, you report them absent and cancel their meals with one tap, even on the same day until 7:30. You also use it to set who is allowed to collect your child.

No. You open the app in your phone’s browser and add it to your home screen as an icon. You get access as soon as your child has a place with us.

Yes. Children from Ukraine come to us too. If your child does not speak Slovak yet, we give their settling in more time and gradually help them join in, in both Slovak and English.

Nobody at Sovička speaks Ukrainian. In the first weeks we communicate with your child in English, with pictures and gestures, and gradually add Slovak. We will explain everything to you at your visit.

A full day for a child under 3 costs €399 a month in Kramáre. Older children pay €499 for a full day. Half days and 3 days a week cost €449. Meals are €5.50 a day.

Yes, we take children from all over Bratislava. The kindergarten at Ambrova 1 is in Nové Mesto and you can get there from Koliba or Trnávka by car or public transport. You can park at the kindergarten. The “Plan a public transport trip” button on the Kramáre page shows you the route from your home.

The kindergarten is open on weekdays from 7:00 to 17:00, all year round except public holidays and the period from 24 December to 1 January.

Yes. An English-speaking teacher is in the kindergarten from morning to afternoon, so your child hears English while playing, eating and outdoors.

Call the kindergarten directly on 0948 772 305, for example when you are reporting your child absent or asking how they are today. For free places and visits, talk to the head teacher on 0948 374 372.

Prievozská 6/A is in the Ružinov district, close to both Prievoz and Ružová dolina.

A full day costs €549 a month. Half days and 3 days a week cost €499. Meals are €5.50 a day. The fee includes English all day, speech therapy, the EQ programme and trips.

In Ružinov we are open until 17:15 every weekday, in summer too.

Call the kindergarten directly on 0948 109 581. For free places and visits, talk to the head teacher on 0948 374 372.

Yes. In Vrakuňa, too, an English-speaking teacher is with your child all day, just as in Kramáre and Ružinov.

A full day costs €449 a month. Half days and 3 days a week cost €399. Meals are €5.50 a day.

Yes, we take children from all over Bratislava. Malodunajská street is in Vrakuňa, not far from Podunajské Biskupice, and you can park at the kindergarten.

As well as swimming, the climbing wall, ice skating and skiing, in Vrakuňa we also have football and cycling. These activities run in blocks of lessons for an extra charge. The fee includes the Jazýček šikovníček speech-therapy club and financial literacy.

Call the kindergarten directly on 0948 137 872. For free places and visits, talk to the head teacher on 0948 374 372.