School in Stockholm starts in mid-August, on a date that each municipality sets and publishes as läsårsdata (term dates). What your child needs before förskoleklass (the compulsory preschool year, the first year of school at age six) is not letters but routines: getting dressed, going to the toilet alone, telling an adult. And what you need is a plan for the time after two o'clock, when the school day ends and the working day does not.
Starting school is the biggest change in a child's life since settling in at förskola (municipal preschool, from age one), and it comes with a surprise for parents: the school day is shorter than the preschool day. Förskoleklass often finishes at one or two, fritids (after-school care) covers the rest, and fritids is bigger, freer and noisier than preschool. Here is how to prepare both your child and yourselves.
Monday, twenty to eight, a stairwell in Hägersten. The six-year-old has a rucksack bigger than her back, new shoes that rub, and has asked four times whether the teacher knows her name. Her mum has taken the morning off until ten. It is the first of roughly two thousand school days, and it almost always goes better than the parents expect. The days that tend to be hard come in week three.
Finding the dates
The City of Stockholm publishes term dates on its website under grundskola (compulsory school). Järfälla, Sollentuna, Solna, Täby and the other surrounding municipalities have their own pages and sometimes different dates. Independent schools may differ. Check the school's own page or the welcome letter that arrives in June. The school breaks are usually fixed across the whole county: höstlov (autumn break) in week 44, sportlov (the February school break) in week 9, plus jullov (Christmas break) and påsklov (Easter break), but always check the municipality's term dates before you book anything.
The spring before: what needs sorting out
- Skolval (the school choice process). Done in January or February of the year your child turns six, through the municipality's online service. How to think about the choice is in Choosing a school in Stockholm.
- Fritids. Apply at the same time, or as soon as you have the school placement. A place is not automatic.
- A visit. Most schools invite incoming förskoleklass children in May or June.
- The route to school. Walk it together a few times over the summer.
- Contact details. The school office, the direct number for fritids and the teacher's email in your phone before term starts, not on the day your child is ill.
What your child needs to be able to do
| Needed | Not needed |
|---|---|
| Get dressed and undressed alone, shoes included | Read |
| Go to the toilet and wash their hands | Write anything beyond their name |
| Sit for a while and listen | Count to a hundred |
| Ask an adult for help | Tell the time |
| Pack and unpack their own bag | Have attended an English-speaking preschool |
Everything in the left-hand column can be practised over the summer. Let your child get dressed alone in June even if it takes ten minutes and you are late. Let them pack their own bag for the beach. It is duller than practising letters, and it is what makes the difference in August.
The packing list: what your child actually needs
- A rucksack the child can open and close alone, with a pocket for a water bottle
- Rain gear and wellies that can stay at school
- Spare clothes in a bag: trousers, socks, a top
- Indoor shoes, if the school asks for them
- Name labels in everything, socks and mittens included. Things will still go missing, but fewer of them.
- Fruit for fritids, if the school asks for it
- Not: a pencil case, a phone, toys. Every school has its own rules, and none of that is needed in the first week.
What a day in förskoleklass looks like
| Time, roughly | What | Who |
|---|---|---|
| From half past six | Morning fritids, breakfast at some schools | Fritids staff |
| Eight until one or two | Förskoleklass: circle time, play, outdoor time, lunch | Förskoleklass teachers |
| One or two until closing | Fritids: afternoon snack, free play, the playground | Fritids staff |
The first weeks
- Short days. Pick up early in the first weeks if you can. Fritids at five o'clock in August is tough.
- The same routine every morning. Clothes laid out the night before, breakfast at the same time, out of the door at the same minute. Our Morning routine with children has a plan you can use.
- Do not ask how it was. Ask what was the most fun, who they played with, what they ate. Concrete questions get answers.
- Expect the tiredness. Six-year-olds in September are tired and cross at five o'clock. It is not the school that is wrong.
- Hold off on activities. Football and piano can start in October.
Common reactions, and what they mean
| Your child | What it usually means | What you do |
|---|---|---|
| Is angry and cries when you pick them up | Has held it together all day and lets go with you | A snack straight away, no questions for the first quarter of an hour |
| Does not want to go in the morning in week three | The novelty has worn off, the tiredness has arrived | The same routine, shorter days, no negotiating in the hallway |
| Says nobody plays with them | Often one day, not a pattern | Ask fritids what they see, wait a week before you act |
| Wets themselves again or wakes at night | Common with big changes | No drama, it passes. Talk to BVC (the child health clinic every family is enrolled in) or the school nurse if it persists |
The first utvecklingssamtal (parent-teacher meeting) comes during the autumn. How it works, and what you can ask about, is in Parent-teacher meetings at school in Sweden.
The afternoons, the new problem
Many families discover that fritids is harder for their child than preschool was: bigger groups, fewer staff, more unstructured time. A solution several of our families have chosen is a nanny who picks up from fritids two or three days a week at two or three, when the school day ends, instead of at six. The same nanny every time, a calm afternoon at home, homework for the older siblings. RUT, the Swedish tax deduction for household services that is taken off the invoice directly, applies up to and including year seven.
It does not have to be every day. Two afternoons a week that end at two instead of six make a difference to a six-year-old, and on the other days fritids becomes easier. How it works in practice, and what it costs, is in A nanny instead of after-school care and on the prices page. How fritids is organised is described in Fritids.
How we do it with our families
Nike picks up a seven-year-old in Solna every Tuesday and Thursday at a quarter past two, when the school day ends. The family got in touch in June, Aleksandra visited them at home one evening the same week, and Nike met the boy twice before term started: once at home, once at the playground. In the first week of school she waited outside the gate with an apple. Now they walk home through the park, he gets half an hour with no demands, then they read together for twenty minutes so he keeps up with his reading homework. When the parents get home at half past five he has had his snack, is out in the courtyard, and has not once stayed at fritids until closing time. August and September are the months when we get the most new enquiries from families whose children have just started school. Get in touch in June if you want it in place for the start of term.
Would you like a nanny who comes on the same days every week and whom the children know? Book a free first meeting with the nanny at your home, and we will work out a quote for your hours.
Read more: Förskoleklass · Fritids · Settling in at förskola · Prices
Frequently asked questions
When does school start in Stockholm?
The autumn term starts in mid-August and the exact date is set by each municipality, sometimes by each school. The City of Stockholm publishes term dates on its website, the surrounding municipalities on theirs, and independent schools may differ. Expect the week around 20 August, and check the welcome letter that arrives in June.
What does a child need to be able to do before förskoleklass?
Nothing in particular in reading or maths. Förskoleklass exists to prepare children for school. What helps is practical things: getting dressed alone including shoes, going to the toilet and washing their hands, sitting for a while and listening, packing their bag and telling an adult when something is wrong.
How does fritids work?
Fritidshem is care before and after the school day for children up to and including year three, sometimes longer. You apply through the municipality, a place is not automatic, and the fee follows maxtaxan (the national cap on childcare fees). Fritids usually opens at six or half past six and closes at six, but times vary between schools. The groups are bigger and freer than at preschool.
Should we walk them to school in the first days?
The first few days, yes. After that it depends on the child. Many six-year-olds want to walk with a friend after a few weeks, others need an adult until Christmas. Both are normal. Walk the route together several times over the summer, so it is familiar when term starts, whoever goes along.
What do we do if our child does not want to go to school?
In the first weeks it is usually tiredness, not the school. Keep the same morning routine, do not negotiate in the hallway, pick up earlier if you can and hold off on after-school activities. If it lasts more than a few weeks, or your child says something concrete about a friend or an adult, talk to the teacher and fritids that same week. They see more than you think.