Our young one will be old enough to be going to kindergarten soon, and I was led to believe that this would be somewhat cheaper than what we currently pay for Krippe. But this page here either tells a different story, or I'm misreading it: https://www.stadt-zuerich.ch/ssd/de/...gsrechner.html
Basically, it's unclear to me whether we want 5 weekly days of "Kita - ganzer Tag": 120 CHF per day, amounting to a scary 2'400 CHF per month. Or do we need to look at the "Schulische Betreuung / Einkommensabhängige Angebote (mit Beitragsfaktor)" section, specifically 5 times a week "Mittag", and 5 times a week "Nachmittag/Abend", amounting to a still scary, but significantly cheaper, 1'533 CHF per month. Or something else entirely?
The amounts I heard are closer to the cheaper alternative, but it's unclear to me what the difference is. What we're aiming for is a state Kita (which further confuses me because the more expensive alternative mentions Kita), a warm lunch, and afternoon Hort, 5 days a week.
The numbers I quoted above assume a Beitragsfaktor of 100% for simplicity.
I think it is the 1533 option, KITA is Kindergarten, which is up to 4 years. Afterwards you have the Hort (your second option) where kids from Kindski (4 to 6 years) and school go, for lunch and after school and until about 18:00.
There is the Ganztagsschule project, already implemented in some schools in Zurich. This changes the above calculations, eg meals in these Ganztagschule cost a lumpsum of CHF 6 (so cheaper than current Hort system). Here is more information.
Hm, then I think I'm confused. I thought Kindergarten or KITA was the name for the first two years of mandatory school (in Kanton Zürich), when kids are roughly 4-6 years old. And I thought the non-mandatory daycare is called Krippe in Swiss German. The 2.4k price point does roughly match what Krippe costs so what you say makes sense, but I didn't know there are also non-private Krippe, are there?
In Zürich Kita and Krippe are the same thing and prices for 5 days a week are likely 2400 CHF a month or higher.
The afternoon and lunch etc is for either Kindergarten (roughly 4-6 yrs of age) or School (after 6 years of age)children to complement mandatory school.
Same advice as Kri- you seem to have the terminology mixed up in German -
Kita = Kindertagestatte or Krippe = Nursery - are the same thing.
KIGA - Kindergarten is the compulsory schooling which starts around age 4-5 depending on the child's age.
HORT is before/after school care, and can begin as soon as they are officially in "Kindergarten".
It depends very much on the local school - and you usually don't get to choose which local school you are allocated to - some have on-site 'Mittagstisch' (Lunch care) or 'Hort (before and after school care) - some have it nearby but you need to walk, or some private providers will offer flexible 'Hort' care - they may pick your child up from their local school, or you might need to organise a transfer.
The cheapest childcare option (well, other than having a parent at home) is finding a 'Tagesmutter' - the best is if it is another (usually mother) who has children of a similar age, or even in the same class as your child - and paying them to look after your child before, lunch and after school...
It sounds like you need/want full-time care for your child - and yes, in that case, the costs add up fast... and often parents find it more supportive to continue to use a private Kindergarten until their child is entering Primary school. But definitely not cheaper...
Don’t forget to let the city calculate your ‘Beitragsfaktor’ or subsidy. If you are on Quellensteuer you send them your recent pay slips and they will estimate your deductions and taxable income. Even for fairly high incomes part of the krippe & hort places are subsidized if you live in the city.
Indeed incorrect! KITA is the nursery, up to 4 years. Kindergarten is compulsory, from 4 to 6 old. Kids can go to Hort. School is from 6 onwards, they go to the same Hort as the 4-6 year old kids.
I think it can actually compromize the staff's jobs. It would be very poorly received here. Maybe because we are an expat area, they'd look like..."what are you trying to do here".