Stockholm - Post Report Question and Answers
Are preschools available? Day care? Are these expensive? What has been your experience with them, if any? Do the schools provide before- and/or after-school care?
Preschools are available, but we didn't have any experience with them. - Dec 2020
SIS offers before care (8-830, and after care from 1530-1700) as well as after school programs. It's a hassle to get into local schools because you need a person number, so you cannot attempt to enroll your student until after you've arrived. Swedes don't seem super-friendly either, so you won't find a community via the Swedish school system the way you do at BISS or SIS - May 2020
This is an area where post is a real let-down. There is a real need here for affordable Pre-K, and parents have tried (unsuccessfully) for years to establish an embassy day care or co-op. At a minimum, post should negotiate with the Swedish communes for reasonably priced-options. Dagis (Swedish day care) will run you US$2,000 per month (part-time) as a non-resident and nannies are much more. This is an area where post repeatedly turns a blind eye. - May 2015
A real problem here. The Swedish social service network is one of the best in the world but not available to resident diplomats, except at full price (crazy expensive). Swedes get 18 months off when they have a child, so the expectation is that parents will take care of their kids for the first year. So there are no services available to kids under one year old, even at a price. As resident diplomats, we don't get a year off, but there aren't places set up to help take care of kids at that age anywhere. Local schools starting at one year have a long waiting list, although since you will pay full price (around US$1,800/month per child), you can often negotiate a slot. Local nannies are very expensive (US$20/hour and up). You can bring in a nanny from overseas as a diplomat but they must live in with you (and most housing isn't big enough to comfortably accommodate) and are still required to have an expensive minimum salary (US$1,300/month or so, plus various benefits). If you have pre-school kids or are planning to have kids while here and don't have a good arrangement already set up, think carefully about a tour here. - Aug 2014
It is hard to get care if you are not on Swedish State System. For local Swedes there is a program called "Dagis," in which they drop their children off to for the day. However, the parent must be employed or going to school to qualify. - Oct 2008
Unless you are an EU national, local daycare will be unaccessible. Several bilingual Montessori preschools plus SIS and BIPSS offer preschools. - Aug 2008
