‘MHH Kita Campuskinder’, an in-house daycare facility on Hannover Medical School’s campus, has existed since 1970 and offers full-day childcare all year round.

Target group

• Primarily for children of MHH staff who have at least a 75 per cent full-time equivalent job

Availability of places

• Up to 189 places for children aged from 8 weeks to 14  years

Groups

• 60 children in four crèche (Krippe) groups (11 crèche places for children of female scientific staff (Wissenschaftlerinnen Nachwuchs-Krippe: WINK).
• 69 children in three nursery (Kindergarten) groups
• Up to 48 places in two mixed-age groups with both nursery and care club children
• 12 places in an after-school care club (Hort)

Opening hours

All year round, 5.30 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. and late opening for the late until 8.30 p.m. every four weeks
Every other weekend: Saturdays and Sundays from 6.00 a.m. to 2.30 p.m. Public holidays (as per current calendar)

Main focuses

• Participation in the nationwide ‘Little Scientists’ House’ (‘Haus der kleinen Forscher’) project, run by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), which is aimed at getting children interested in science. MHH’s Campuskinder daycare facility has been certified since 2011, with the fifth recertification having taken place in November 2020.
• Bilingual education (German/English) in nursery and ‘Hoki’ (combined nursery and after-school care club) groups
• Learning workshop
• Regular movement/exercise sessions (including use of Hengstenberg exercise materials and ‘Low T-Ball’ tennis)
• ‘Educational and parenting partnership’ with parents
• Regular meetings with parents to discuss their child’s progress
• Educational work guided by the ‘situational approach’
• Use of educational and learning histories to monitor, document and facilitat educational processes
• At crèche: children undergo a gentle settling-in phase based on the ‘Berlin model‘
• In the HoKi facility: educational work adopting the ‘open approach’, holiday activities, homework supervision for schoolchildren

Contact
Medizinische Hochschule Hannover / Hannover Medical School 
MHH Kita Campuskinder / MHH ‘Campuskinder‘ child daycare facility

Leadership team:
Martin Fulst, Britta Barysch, Melanie Schulze 
Carl-Neuberg-Str. 1
30625 Hannover
Building Z2: nursery and crèche
Building K27: after-school care club / mixed-age group (HoKi)  Tel: +49 (0)511 532 2688

E-mail: campuskinder@mh-hannover.de 
Internet: www.mhh.de/die-mhh/ressort-wirtschaftsfuehrung-und-administration/mhh-kita-campuskinder

 

The daycare facility called ‘Die Hirtenkinder e.V.’ is a parental initiative set up on the MHH campus by students and research staff in 2007. ‘Die Hirtenkinder e.V.’ is a registered charity. All parents whose children receive childcare here are members of this organization. This means we offer parents opportunities to directly contribute and participate.  

Target group

• Mainly for children of research staff at MHH
• Also for children of students at MHH
• Residents of the Kleefeld and Groß-Buchholz districts (in accordance with the City of Hannover’s place allocation guidelines)

Available places

• A total of 80 places for children aged between 6 months and 6 years
• Of which 75% are for children of MHH staff and 25% for MHH students  

Groups

• 30 children in two crèche groups (each of which has four professional educators)
• 50 children in two nursery groups (aged 3 to 6 years)

Opening hours

• All year round from Monday to Friday, 07.00 a.m.–6.00 p.m., special opening hours: until 6.30 p.m.
• In some cases open on public holidays; closed (for internal reasons) on only five days

Main focuses

• Bilingual education (German/English) in both nursery groups, with an English native speaker in charge of each group
• Free music sessions for all children in small groups, led by a specialist in early-childhood music education
• Cultivation of an atmosphere based on partnership, appreciation and valuing
• Stimulating environment and places of learning, conducive to the acquisition of new skills
• Regular meetings with parents concerning the child’s progress
• Educational work is based on Lower Saxony’s Orientation Plan for Education (‘Orientierungsplan für Bildung und Erziehung’)
• Settling-in phase based on an idea from the ‘Berlin model’

Registration

• The nursery year is from 1 August to 31 July of the following year
• Places are allocated in February for start on 1 August of that year 
• Only a few individual places are allocated during the year

Further information

The daycare facility’s rules and regulations (Satzung) and a membership application form are available on its website under ‘www.hirtenkinder.de – Downloads’

Contact 
‘Die Hirtenkinder e.V.’ child daycare facility 
Manager:
Lena Lorenz 
Stadtfelddamm 66 
30625 Hannover
Building M
Tel: +49 (0)511 532 7780 
E-Mail: Hirtenkinder@mh-hannover.de
Internet: www.hirtenkinder.de

In October 2010, a child daycare facility called ‘Weltkinder’, sponsored by the ‘Johanniter-Unfall-Hilfe e.V.’ charity, was opened at the Stadtfelddamm site on the MHH campus. Its supporting organization is the central Lower Saxony regional association (‘Regionalverband Niedersachsen Mitte’) of Johanniter-Unfall-Hilfe e.V.

Target group Children of

• MHH staff, scientists at MHH, physicians at MHH
• Students, doctoral students, grant/scholarship recipients at MHH
• Residents of the Kleefeld and Groß-Buchholz districts (in accordance with the City of Hannover’s place allocation guidelines) (30 crèche places)

Availability of places

• A total of 135 childcare places for children aged from 6 months (from 8 weeks may be possible) to 6 years
• Of these, about 25% of places are allocated to children of students

Groups

• 60 children in four crèche groups
• 75 children in three nursery groups

Opening hours

• All year round from Monday to Friday, (6.00 a.m.) 8.00 a.m.–4.30 p.m. (6.30 p.m.) (early and late shift)
• Closed on only three days (for internal reasons)

Main focuses

• Language development (English native speakers)
• Movement/Exercise
• Promotion of social skills, and instilling values
• Experiencing nature
• Cultural education

Educational work at the facility aims at giving children the opportunity to explore and discover the world around them. Children, with their innate curiosity, their creative way of dealing with challenges and their enjoyment of learning, are at the heart of our educational planning. A specific aspect of our work is the diverse and intensive exploration of all the fine arts (literature, dance and drama, music and the visual arts). Our range of activities – including child-friendly yoga, judo, ‘woodland weeks’, projects, making music together, woodwork and even philosophical discussions – offer children wide-ranging opportunities for investigating themselves and the wider world. 

We hold regular progress meetings with parents, as well as offering individual advisory sessions and parental coaching/counselling based on the MarteMeo approach.

Registration

• Takes place online after the child’s birth
• Childcare places are allocated between February and April for admission in August of the same year

Further information

• Informational events for interested parents

Contact : 
„Weltkinder“ der Johanniter-Unfall-Hilfe e.V. / ‘Weltkinder’ child daycare facility run by the Johanniter-Unfall-Hilfe e.V. charity

Manager:
Liesa Krüger 
Building Z1
Stadtfelddamm 62 
30625 Hannover
Tel: +49 (0)511 6420835 0 
E-mail: kitamhh.hannover@johanniter.de                                                                                                       
Internet: www.johanniter.de/hannover/weltkinder/

All MHH staff can make use of these childcare offerings during events and all other foreseeable appointments whenever this is necessary for work-related reasons, and when their own personal childcare support network cannot help.

As a special service for MHH’s clinics/departments, institutes and main facilities, the Medical School’s Family Services also organizes childcare cover for events. This service, which is available for symposia, conventions, conferences and other events at MHH, covers the gaps in childcare provision in the afternoons and evenings and at weekends. Please let us know the dates of your events at least two months in advance and tell your participants that, as well as registering for the event itself, parents/guardians must specifically register with us for childcare.

Around seven per cent of students at MHH have children. Combining responsibility for a child and medical studies is a major challenge, and the Medical School will be pleased to help you manage this juggling act. Family Services therefore offers childcare for studying parents during examination periods, enabling you to give your undivided attention to preparing for and taking your exams.

Since the autumn of 2018, Family Services has joined forces with the General Students’ Committee’s (AStA) Students with Children (‘Studis mit Kind‘) project group to organize 10 ‘study Saturdays’ throughout each academic year, enabling students with children to prepare for exams. Childcare is free on these days. These study Saturdays are funded from resources of the Studentenwerk Hannover (Student Administration Hanover) organization and the Medical School’s alumni association (MHH-Alumni e.V.).

While you study in the library, your children will be well looked after by our staff. They can have lunch in the canteen together with other children, again at no cost to you. The dates are announced at the start of each academic year, both by means of leaflets and on the online Family Portal.

Childcare is provided for children between 8 weeks and 12 years of age.

Please indicate your childcare needs at least eight days in advance. The registration form (in German only) can be downloaded online.

This service is provided on the MHH campus in the childcare rooms of the Family Services / Gender Equality Office in Building K27, (Block A), Level SO. 

For unforeseeable, emergency childcare needs at very short notice, such as when the childminder is ill, or where nurseries or schools close with only little advance notification, MHH has, since 2008 – in cooperation with pme Familienservice GmbH – provided an emergency childcare service to help take the pressure off and enable you to continue with your studies or work.

If one’s usual (private or institutional) childcare is not available, and if parents have to work extra unplanned hours or attend work-related meetings arranged at short notice, all employees and students at MHH can make use of this childcare offering on 15 days a year for each child. Children aged between 8 weeks and 12 years are supervised by qualified educational staff in child-friendly facilities on the Medical School’s campus on the ground floor of Building K27 (Block A) (or, on Sundays and public holidays, at the pme daycare facility in Hannover’s Südstadt district). This service is available daily (365 days a year) between 5.45 a.m. and 7.00 p.m.; the period of care must be at least three hours but not exceed nine hours. Further information can be found in our leaflet Emergency childcare for staff and students at MHH.

How does it work?

Registering has been made easy for you and will cost you nothing: just call the pme Familienservice line (available until 6.00 p.m.) and you will be guaranteed childcare for the next day.

Please note

The offering provided by pme-Familienservice GmbH is not available where childcare needs are foreseeable, such as during exam preparation periods, professional-development events or other appointments, etc. that can be scheduled.

In such cases, please use the service described in ‘Flexible childcare at MHH’.

Contact  pme Familienservice GmbH         

Große Düwelstr. 16–18
30171 Hannover   
Tel: +49 (0)511 700200 0 (registration)    Tel: 0800 801007080 (outside office hours)           
E-mail: hannover@familienservice.de  
Internet: www.familienservice.de/web/pme-lernwelten                                                                               

Childcare at MHH:   
Emergency childcare OE 9761
Building K27, Block A, Level S0 
Further info available at: www.mhh.de/familienservice/kinderbetreuung

 

As a workplace, MHH has been partnered with Fluxx – the emergency childcare service of the City of Hannover and the Region Hannover authority – since 2017. Staff at MHH benefit from the preferential terms (an hourly rate of 3 euros) applicable to their children or relatives in need of support. Students can, through Fluxx partner Studentenwerk Hannover (Student Administration Hanover), obtain childcare at a rate of 2 euros an hour.

Fluxx provides emergency childcare at short notice for children aged 0 to 13 years when one’s usual institutional childcare arrangements fail and all private avenues for childcare have been exhausted. Care is provided independent of daycare facility hours and school hours, depending on the emergency situation, and also at weekends. However, exceptional family circumstances are the prerequisite in all cases.

Fluxx can be used when there are unforeseeable workload peaks, when parents need to fill in for colleagues at short notice, when you are urgently required at MHH, when you are back later than planned after work-related travel and you need childcare cover, and in the event of work-related training, sudden illness or accidents, or when the child has (relatively mild) health issues. Childcare is normally provided in the family’s home but is, on request, available at central (care) locations such Fluxx’s Kinderzimmer facilities and playgrounds.

What do you need to do?

During the day, a personal consultation is available over the phone between 6.00 a.m. and 9.00 p.m. Call the Fluxxfon telephone helpline on +49 (0)511 168 32110). Night-time calls received will be processed from 6.00 a.m. the next morning.

Contact 
Landeshauptstadt Hannover / City of Hannover
Fachbereich Jugend und Familie / Youth and Family Services 
Family Management
Kurt-Schumacher-Str. 29          
30159 Hannover 
Internet: www.fluxx-hannover.de 
Fluxxfon: 0511 168-32110

Childcare during the school holidays

For the children of MHH students and employees, the Medical School regularly offers childcare services during a total of 10 weeks in the Easter, summer and autumn holidays. It does so in conjunction with other higher-education providers in Hannover, the ‘Zentrum für Hochschulsport’ university sports centre, and the Kreisjugendwerk youth organization of the Arbeiterwohlfahrt Region Hannover e.V. workers’ welfare association (AWO). These school holiday offerings are available all day at various locations in Hannover. In the case of the ‘Kids-Fit’ holiday camp run by MHH’s university sports organization, it is aimed at children aged between 6 and 16 years of age, with childcare offerings provided by AWO for children between 6 and 11. The holiday programmes include varied play, sports and creative sessions, excursions and other stimulating activities, as well as time to unwind and relax. 

Every year, the state capital of Hannover offers a wide range of vacation activities in Hannover as well as vacation trips within Germany.

Here you will find:

Information on the Youth Vacation Service (Jugend Ferien-Service) and the Vacation Card (FerienCard) as well as the Vacation Exchange with vacation offers from various providers (Ferienangebote von verschiedenen Trägern).

Vacation offers in the region, vacation camps and much more can be found at Stadtjugendring Hannover e.V.

The ‘FamilienServiceBüro’, located in central Hannover near the main railway station, is accessible to those with restricted mobility. This office provides information, guidance and support related to family and childcare matters. Daytime care is provided in daycare facilities (Kindertagesstätten) and by childminders (Kindertagespflege).

You can find more Informationabout family life in Hannover here. 

The FamilienServiceBüro also provides information on family-related matters other than childcare, such as the following: 

Funding opportunities:

• Parenting benefit (Elterngeld);
• Having childcare costs paid for you;
• Information on available support / foundations;

Educational matters:

• Schools-related information;
• Art-related, music-related and cultural activities;
• Help with language development;
• Special-education facilities.

Leisure opportunities for children:

• Sports clubs;
• Swimming courses for children;
• Playgrounds in Hannover’s various districts;
• Children’s libraries;
• Music schools;
• Cultural and other events;
• Information about holiday trips and group theme holidays.

Contact
Landeshauptstadt Hannover / City of Hannover 
FamilienServiceBüro
30159 Hannover 
Tel: +49(0)511 168 43535 (the phone line is staffed during office hours) 
E-Mail: familienservicebuero@hannover-stadt.de  
Internet: www.betreuungsboerse-hannover.de and www.hannover.de/familie  
Office hours: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday: 9.00 a.m.–12.00 noon, Tuesday and Thursday: 3.00–6.00 p.m.

For most City of Hannover-run facilities, the child must be registered using the central registration system at

www.kinderbetreuung-hannover.de  An e-mail address and a computer, tablet or smartphone are required for this. There are instructions in english. 

Although infants under 1 year of age are not yet legally entitled to a childcare place, they may nevertheless be given a place in Hannover if one is available in a suitable facility. If it is licensed to do so, a crèche (Krippe) may provide care to children aged 8 weeks and over. However, parents often use childminding services for children so young, provided the childminder has a childcare licence for this age group.

Children aged 1–3

Children aged 1 and over are legally entitled to a childcare place. This entitlement is met by either a crèche place or a place at a daycare facility. Parents can contact the FamilienServiceBüro and request that a place be found for their child.

For further informations and and registration: Webkita City of Hannover.

 

Children aged 3 and over are legally entitled to a (half-day) nursery (Kindergarten) place. Parents can contact the FamilienServiceBüro and request that a place be found for their child. Childminding services can, in individual cases, also be used to meet the shortfall if the facility cannot provide all the hours of childcare required. The total time spend in childcare must not exceed 10 hours per day. 

Children of primary-school age and above no longer have any legal entitlement to a childcare place. However, a child may use a place at an after-school care club (Hort) or a childminding place. In general, after-school care facilities provide care up to the age of 10 (and in some cases 12).
Childminders are allowed to care for children up to the age of 14.

Applications for financial support for a childminding place are made to, and processed by, the FamilienServiceBüro.

The City of Hannover FamilienServiceBüro finds places only for mainstream childcare facilities. If a child with special educational needs requires a place in a mainstream facility or a special-needs institution, this entails a separate process for which the FamilienServiceBüro provides guidance. 

The ‘Kinderladen-Initiative Hannover e.V.’ (Kila-Ini e.V.) was formed in 1988. It is the umbrella organization of more than 210 non-profit parental associations which run childcare centres (‘Kinderläden’ / parent initiatives) in and around Hannover for children aged between 0 and 10. Kinderläden (literally, ‘children’s shops’) are alternative, self-run childcare facilities. Offerings provided by these parental initiatives range from crèches to self-run centres for preschool children (Kinderläden) or for school-age children (‘Schülerläden’), mixed-age groups, integrative groups and family centres.

The most notable features of these initiatives are their organizational form (i.e. as parent associations), and the tremendous commitment that the parents invest in them, as well as the educationally diversified and innovative approaches pursued. In total, the city of Hannover has over 3,300 childcare places within these initiatives, of which more than 1,000 are for the under-threes.

Kila-Ini e.V. is the body responsible for the contact and information point (‘Kontakt- und Beratungsstelle’) as well as the personnel- and financial-management department.

If you wish to get together with other parents to form an initiative of this kind, you will receive competent guidance and support from Kila-Ini e.V.

Contact 
Kinderladen-Initiative Hannover e.V.    
Goseriede 13a   
30159 Hannover
Tel:          +49 (0)511 874587 0 
Fax:         +49 (0)511 874587 50 
E-Mail:    info@kila-ini.de 
Internet: www.kila-ini.de 

Childminding services

The information portal of the central registration system at www.kinderbetreuung-hannover.de provides a list of childminders who offer childcare places. Hannover’s FamilienServiceBüro provides guidance on all aspects of childminding.

 

Childminding can take place at the following locations:

• The childminder’s own home;
• The parents’ home;
•  Other suitable premises (in such instances, it is usually the case that two to three individuals jointly run a childminding business, allowing them to look after up to 10 children).

Applications for financial support for a childminding place are made to, and processed by, the FamilienServiceBüro.

You will find more Information in German language.here.
KiTaB – KinderTagesBetreuung e.V.,
Lister Platz 1, 30163
Hannover, Tel: 0511 2200-1880,
E-Mail: info@kitab-hannover.de

The Welfare Advisory Service (Sozialberatung) of the Studentenwerk Hannover (Student Administration Hanover) organization provides students, prospective students and graduates with guidance and help on personal, welfare-related and financial problems. This includes advice on matters including the following:

• Studying as a parent;
• Part-time work and social security;
• Funding opportunities;
• Availability of benefits during the transition between studying and working;
• Studying with a disability;
• Study costs and reductions;
• Specific problems faced by foreign students;
• All other welfare-related issues to do with studying.

In advising students who are parents on organizing and combining studies with family life, the Welfare Advisory Service holds informational events and, on its web pages, provides information about many aspects of life for these students:

• What do I need to know about periods of leave and organizing my studies (e.g. taking a semester off)?
• How can pregnancy and parenthood affect the availability of ‘BAföG assistance (i.e. student loans)?
• What do I need to know about periods of leave or examination arrangements?
• What rules are there that affect pregnant students doing part-time work?
• What funding can be applied for, and from which sources?
• What are the legal implications of parenthood?
• How can I organize childcare?

The issues for which information and advice is available to parents on combining studying with raising a child are many and varied, and the situations faced by students who are also parents are very diverse. An individual advisory session can therefore be a highly beneficial additional source of help. It is useful for more than merely passing on information: this consultation can be used to look at one’s personal situation and to develop tailor-made solutions. And if anything (such as eligibility) needs to be clarified regarding applications for financial support, assistance is available here too.

Comprehensive information on studying as a parent is available at: www.studentenwerk-hannover.de/kind.html 

Personal advice can be obtained at our Welfare Advisory centre (‘Sozialberatungsstelle’) (address: Lodyweg 1 C) or during the consulting hours of the Welfare Advisory Service at Hannover Medical School.

For more complex enquiries, or if you are unable to visit us during our consulting hours, appointments at other times can be arranged.