Short distances for short legs
Child daycare
A declared objective of the city’s planning policy is to enable Heidelberg’s fathers and mothers to reconcile family life with a career. A key aspect of this is the range of daycare services for one to six-year-olds in Bahnstadt.
Schwetzinger Terrasse municipal daycare center (Foto: Buck)
The first daycare facility in the new district was the Schwetzinger Terrasse daycare center, which opened in October 2012. This striking building in the middle of Schwetzinger Terrasse, with its wooden facade and beautifully designed outdoor areas, is like an island of well-being. An extension was added in 2014, providing 40 additional kindergarten places in the direct vicinity. The Schwetzinger Terrasse daycare center currently provides all-day care for a total of 100 children aged from one year up to school entrance. In addition to crèche facilities for 20 toddlers, there are 80 places for three to six-year-olds.
More about the Schwetzinger Terrasse daycare center (German language)
First Steps daycare center
Located at the eastern entrance to Bahnstadt, the office building “Stadttor” has housed the private bilingual First Steps daycare center since 2013. Daycare provision here is based on the principle of “one person, one language” and is conducted bilingually in German and English. Lessons in music, ballet and capoeria are just some of the activities offered by First Steps. The kindergarten is open all day from 7.30 am until 5.30 pm and has places for 60 children. It has crèche facilities for 40 nursery-age infants (10 of them on a half-day basis) and 20 kindergarten places.
More the First Steps daycare center (German language)
Zollhofgarten daycare center
Located in a former warehouse building, the Zollhofgarten daycare center has been providing 80 daycare places for kindergarten children aged from three years to school entrance since 2016. It is run by the Heidelberg-based non-profit association päd-aktiv. The facility is open Mondays to Fridays from 7 am to 6 pm. Parents can choose daycare for their child from eight to a maximum of ten hours. Closing for just ten days per year, the facility aims to promote compatibility between work and family life in particular. The entire daycare center is designed for barrier-free access.
The ingenious building-within-a-building design retains the outward charm of the former freight depot, and accommodates the daycare center inside with its modern spatial concept. Each of the four group rooms shares access to one of two playgrounds with one other room. Four “intensive” rooms serve as workshops, research labs, building rooms and much more. A multipurpose room is available for meals, exercise and parent events, and there is also a workroom. The spacious attic floor also provides lots of opportunity for play and exercise.
More about the Zollhofgarten daycare center (German language)
The Gadamerplatz daycare center
The Gadamerplatz daycare center, which opened in October 2017, is part of the B³ community center at the heart of Bahnstadt. 13 teaching staff look after 60 children in this municipally run daycare facility. In addition to 20 nursery places, there are also 40 places for three to six-year-olds. Like the municipally run Schwetzinger Terrasse daycare center (German language), Gadamerplatz is open all day from 7 am to 5 pm. Covering a combined indoor and outdoor area of over 1,000 square meters, the facility offers infants and toddlers plenty of space to play, experiment, run around or snuggle up. The Gadamerplatz daycare center cooperates closely on various projects with the neighboring Bahnstadt elementary school (German language).
Purzelzwerg e.V. Bahnstadt
On the ground floor of the Heidelberg Village housing development on Langer Anger in the west of Bahnstadt, the Purzelzwerg association opened an all-day daycare facility in January 2018. It offers crèche groups for 30 toddlers and a near-nature kindergarten with 20 places.
More about the Purzelzwerg non-profit association (German language)
Childcare rooms for childminders and other projects
There is even more space for another child daycare facility in Pfaffengrunder Terrasse. Here the city has leased commercial premises and is providing the space rent-free to suitable daycare personnel to look after up to 40 under-threes.
Another daycare center is planned as part of the new-build project “Junges Wohnen” [Young Living] on Langer Anger. This is scheduled to open in spring 2018, with funding provided by the Weinheim-based company “Mäusezauber”.
A total of 50 daycare places – 30 for children up to three years and another 20 for boys and girls from three to six years – are currently being created to the east of Gadamerplatz as part of the MEILEN.STEIN project of housing provider Gesellschaft für Grund- und Hausbesitz Heidelberg (GGH). Opening is planned for the first half of 2019.
Another daycare facility offering 40 crèche and 20 kindergarten places is at the planning stage in the “Westarkaden” shopping center. Construction by developers Unmüssig is scheduled for completion by late 2019.