Since there are more parents looking for a Kita than spots available, you’ll want to create a personal connection with the Kita you’re applying to.
Besides giving them the necessary information about your child, write up a nice letter about your family and your motivation for seeking a spot at a particular Kita. 😃
Unless another language is officially spoken, make sure to write your letter in German.
✅ Here’s a checklist of information to include:
Child’s name, gender and date of birth
Desired start date, required hours (full or part-time)
If you already have a voucher, how many hours is it for?
If not, when do you plan to apply and how many hours do you expect to get?
Any other special information, such as languages spoken at home, disabilities, etc.
Your contact details (email, phone)
Parent’s names and occupation (plus nationality if applicable)
Information on other family members (siblings etc.), if applicable
What do you enjoy doing as a family? Hobbies?
If the child is older, what does he/she like doing?
How could you see yourself contributing to the Kita, if applicable
What appeals to you about this particular Kita? (concept, food, the large garden…)
Make sure the first five items are easily found in your letter – while many smaller Kitas will appreciate more details, my friend, who works at a bigger Kita in Prenzlauer Berg admitted that she rarely has time to read long letters and is primarily looking for the key information about your child.
A quick note: It is quite customary in Germany to also list the parents’ age but I personally find that irrelevant and did not include it in our application.
You may decide to create a PDF with a picture of your family and attach it to your email. I decided to tailor it to the particular Kita and paste the letter directly into the body of the email (or online form) to avoid the extra step of Kitas having to open an attachment or the email landing in spam because of it.
Sample Introduction Letter for Kita
Here’s the letter we used when applying for Kitas – feel free to customize this with information about your family:
Sehr geehrte Frau/Herr/Kita Team [Name].
Auf Basis einer persönlichen Empfehlung von Familie [Name] möchten wir uns hiermit für August 2018 auf einen Vollzeitplatz in Ihrer Kita für unsere Tochter [Vorname], geboren am [Geburtsdatum], bewerben.
Da wir wissen, dass Sie für Ihre freien KITA-Plätze eine Menge Bewerbungen erhalten, möchten wir uns noch kurz bei Ihnen vorstellen: Wir, das sind Papa [Vorname] (ggf. Nationalität, Beruf), Mama [Vorname] ((ggf. Nationalität, Beruf und unsere Tochter [Vorname]. Wir erziehen [Name des Kindes] bilingual und unsere Haushaltssprache ist Englisch.
In unserer Freizeit erkunden wir gerne neue Destinationen nah und fern und verbringen viel Zeit draußen. Daher finden es sehr attraktiv, dass Sie einen hauseigenen Garten haben und einen Fokus auf Bewegung sowie gesundes Essen legen.
Zu gegebenem Zeitpunkt würden wir uns sehr über ein Gespräch zum näheren Kennenlernen freuen. Ein Vollzeit-Gutschein liegt bereits vor.
Wir verbleiben bis dahin mit herzlichen Grüßen,
Familie [Nachname]
I hope this helps you find the right Kita spot!
Have a look at some of our other blog posts and create your personal Kita "wish list" on Kietzee.
