Child gets a preschool place in Reykjavík – by then she was in upper-secondary school

A seventeen-year-old girl in Vesturbær received a letter from the City of Reykjavík this week informing her that she had been given a preschool place starting on 1 December. The girl is in her second year at menntaskóli, Iceland's upper-secondary school.

“We'd forgotten we applied,” says her mother. “She was put on the waiting list the day after she was born. I cried when the letter came. Mostly from joy that the system works, eventually.”

The girl intends to accept the place. “I get lunch, a rest after lunch and outdoor play twice a day,” she says. “That's better than school.”

According to the city, the average age at admission has fallen significantly and is now “under 18 in most neighbourhoods”. A city spokesperson says this shows the city's measures are starting to pay off.

Parents have responded in various ways. More and more are putting children on the waiting list before they are conceived, and the maternity ward now offers the chance to fill in a preschool application between contractions. A couple in Hlíðar registered their unborn child on their first date. “We weren't sure things would work out between us,” says the father. “But we didn't want to lose the place.”

Those who don't get a place have had to find other solutions. Grandparents in the capital area have formed an informal trade union and are now demanding a collective agreement. Their first demand is to be allowed to go to Tenerife.

The city has unveiled a new solution: from next autumn, parents will be able to choose between a preschool place and a flat. It is not possible to have both.