Förskoleklass (the compulsory preschool year before school) is the first compulsory school year in Sweden. Your child starts in the autumn term of the year they turn six, attends at least 525 hours per school year, roughly three hours a day, and then goes to fritids (after-school care) if you work. The content is play, letters, numbers and above all learning to function in a school class. What your child needs to be able to do before starting is practical: get dressed, use the toilet, listen.
The first Monday in August, a quarter to eight, a schoolyard in Bromma. The six-year-old is holding your hand and looking at the big children shouting and running, and at the new classroom with twenty-four desks instead of the sofa at förskola (municipal preschool, from age one). She has been at preschool since she was one and a half and knows the routines there by heart. Now everything is new: the times, the adults, keeping track of her own jacket. Here is what förskoleklass is, how it differs from preschool and how to make the first weeks easier.
What förskoleklass is
Förskoleklass was introduced to give every child the same transition from preschool to school, and since autumn 2018 it has been compulsory. It follows the school curriculum, has its own section in it, and is usually led by preschool teachers or teachers with after-school pedagogues in support. The provision is at least 525 hours per school year, which schools spread across the mornings: often from eight until eleven or twelve. After that, fritids takes over for the children who have a place, often with the same staff and in the same rooms.
The content is meant as a bridge. The child practises what year one will demand without it being called a lesson: morning circle time, letters and their sounds, numbers and quantities, listening to a story read aloud for twenty minutes, putting a hand up, waiting their turn. During the autumn the school also maps each child's language and maths, not to grade them but to see who will need more support in year one.
How it differs from preschool
| Preschool | Förskoleklass | |
|---|---|---|
| Compulsory | No | Yes, compulsory schooling |
| Length of day | All day, according to your hours | About three hours, then fritids |
| Adults per child | Often one to five or six | Often one to ten or more |
| Premises | A unit with play corners | A classroom with desks, plus the fritids room |
| Food | Breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack | Lunch in the dining hall, snack at fritids |
| School holidays | Open, you report absence | Closed, fritids is open if you have signed up |
| Cost | Maxtaxa (the national fee cap) | No fee, fritids according to maxtaxa |
The biggest change for the child is not the letters but that there are fewer adults and they no longer know everything about her. At preschool she had three teachers who had known her since she was one. In förskoleklass it is one teacher to twenty-four children who are all new. That is why September is so tiring, and it is completely normal for a child who never cried at drop-off to do so in the third week.
What your child needs to be able to do before starting
- Get dressed on their own, including zips and shoes with velcro. The staff help, but not twenty-four children at once.
- Use the toilet and wipe themselves, wash their hands without being reminded.
- Eat with cutlery in a noisy dining hall and finish in twenty minutes.
- Listen to a two-step instruction and do what is said, without it being said three times.
- Keep track of their things: jacket on the hook, packed lunch in the bag, mittens in the pocket.
- Cope with waiting. Not being first, not getting an answer straight away, someone else going before them.
- Say their name and address, and know who is picking them up.
Reading and counting are not on the list, and that is deliberate. A six-year-old who can read has an advantage in October, not in March. What is a big advantage, though, is having been read to every evening, because then the listening is in place. More on that in Reading to children.
How to prepare, from June to August
- Walk past the school a few times over the summer. Play in the schoolyard one evening, peek through the windows, walk the route there from home.
- Practise the mornings. Two weeks before the start: up at the same time as on school days, dressed and breakfast eaten within thirty minutes. How to make it work is in Morning routine with children.
- Practise going to the toilet alone in a public place, locking and unlocking the door.
- Talk about what will happen, concretely: you go in, hang up your jacket, sit in your place, the teacher says good morning. Not about how much fun it will be.
- Arrange fritids and pick-up before school starts, not in week two. The school wants to know who is collecting from day one.
- Make bedtime early. A six-year-old who gets up at half past six needs to be asleep by half past seven, and expect her to be completely worn out by five o'clock in the first weeks.
The first weeks: what is normal
Tiredness you have not seen since she was two. Meltdowns at pick-up, because she has held it together all day. Telling you nothing at all about what she did. Suddenly wanting to sleep in your bed again. All of that passes in October. What you can do is shorten the days if possible, pick up earlier a few days a week, keep the weekends calm and not put football, swimming lessons and birthday parties all in the same September.
If it is not getting better by October, or if the child does not want to go at all, talk to the teacher first and then the school nurse. Some children need more time, and that is why deferred school start exists: one more year at preschool, on application to the municipality. It is not a failure, it is a tool.
Fritids from day one
A child in förskoleklass is at school for about three hours. The rest of the working day is fritids, and that is where she spends most of her hours during the autumn. How fritids works, what it costs and how you sign up are all in Fritids. Many families shorten the first weeks by picking up early two days a week, themselves or with a nanny who collects at two o'clock.
How we do it with our families
In September, Nike picks up a boy who has just started förskoleklass in Sundbyberg at two o'clock every Tuesday and Thursday, because after the first week his parents could see he could not last until five. She has the same routine every time: he gets to choose whether they walk home via the playground or the direct way, and at home he gets half an hour on the sofa with a book before she asks him anything about school. On the note to his parents she writes what he has eaten, whether he cried at pick-up and what he told her about the day, because he always tells her on the way home and never at dinner. After höstlov (the autumn school break) she was only needed on Thursdays.
Would you like a nanny who comes on the same days every week, someone the children know? Book a free first meeting with the nanny in your home, and we will work out the hours with you.
Read more: Starting school in Stockholm · Choosing a school in Stockholm · Your five-year-old · FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Is förskoleklass compulsory?
Yes, since autumn 2018. Compulsory schooling begins in the autumn term of the year the child turns six, and förskoleklass is the first compulsory year. You can apply to defer school start by a year if there are special reasons, for example that the child needs more time, and the municipality decides.
How long are the days in förskoleklass?
At least 525 hours per school year, which works out at about three hours a day, often from eight until eleven or twelve. The rest of the day is fritids for the children who need it. Many schools keep the förskoleklass in the same rooms all day with the same staff.
What does a child learn in förskoleklass?
Letters, sounds and writing their own name, numbers up to ten and twenty, sitting and listening at circle time, putting a hand up, getting dressed on their own and keeping track of their things. Much of it happens through play, but it is preparation for year one and the school maps each child's language and maths.
Can a child start förskoleklass a year early?
Yes, a child who turns five can start förskoleklass if the guardians want it and the municipality approves. It is unusual and rarely a good idea just because the child is bright. An extra year at preschool does no harm, while a year too early can be socially hard going.
What does my child need to be able to do before starting?
Get dressed on their own, use the toilet and wipe themselves, eat with cutlery, listen to an instruction and follow it, and cope with not getting an adult's attention straight away. Reading or counting is not needed. That comes during the year, at the child's own pace.