Institutions for children of less than 4 years old offer different options depending on the needs of the families: nurseries, nurse-assistant care at home, kinderarten.

The city of Geneva has opened an office for small children (Bureau d'Information Petite Enfance - BIPE). The BIPE helps the parents on choosing the proper care for their child and register the demands for all the organisations certified by the city of Geneva. This service is dedicated for the inhabitants.

People living in other towns of the canton can check availability directly with the institutions on the list of childcare organisations or with the administration of their town.

Nurseries

They are open from Monday to Friday, from 7am to 6.30pm.

Depending on the institutions, several options are available:

• full time100%
• morning without lunch 45%
• afternoon without lunch 45%
• morning or afternoon (+ lunch and nap) 75%

Their price is calculated according to the income of the parents, and is equal to 9% to 12% of their salary (information: http://www.ville-ge.ch/dpt5/enfance/enfance_f.php)

The http://www.genevefamille.ch website gives a lot of addresses and information on childcare.

The family-nurseries (crèches familiales) organise the care of the child at the home of a certified nurse assistant. Nurses and children spend each day at least half a day at the nursery. They are employed, managed and paid by the nursery.

The city has two family-nurseries

Haltes-garderies

There are two haltes-garderies (sort of short term nurseries) in Geneva, where parents can ask for an occasional care of their children, for example to go shopping (maximum 3 h/day - 3 tiems a week).

Kindergarten

They welcome children from 3 to 5, during 5 days of the week and are split into 2 half days of 4 1/2 hours. They are pre-scolar places. Their fees follow the table established by the city of Geneva and depends on the annual income of the parents, and is between 1.50% and 4.80% of the salary for half a day.