If you are bringing your family to Göttingen, you may need to find a kindergarten or day care. All children aged three years and older have a legal right to a kindergarten place. However, this is limited to morning care. They usually charge a monthly fee of approximately 100 to 200 Euros. Day care fees may be higher than that.

Basically, one differentiates between Kindergarten, Krippe (crèche or nursery) and Tagespflege (day care). A Kindergarten is for children from the age of three onwards. They usually open at 8 a.m. and not all of them offer fulltime day care. Krippe is for children from 0-3 years. The system of child care for children under 3 is relatively undeveloped, so it is not easy to find facilities.

Tagespflege refers to individual child care for children of all ages offered privately and is becoming increasingly popular. The Volkshochschule (VHS) has installed an online pool for parents and childminders (Tagespfegebörse).

You should try to enrol your children as early as possible, since there may be a waiting list.