Childcare on the Campus of the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam

Flexible childcare is a service provided by the FHP in cooperation with Kinderwelt gGmbH and students in the higher semesters of early childhood education. Here, children aged 1 to 6 are looked after by qualified staff on an hourly basis, but for a maximum of 12 hours per week and 180 hours per semester. Depending on the care situation, younger school children can also be accepted. Care is provided in the family room in House 5/Room 001/002, as well as in the play areas on campus. Saturday care is available on request. The family room and the KuKi rooms in Breite Straße can be used for this purpose. No childcare is offered on Sundays and public holidays. Flexible childcare is a childcare concept that supplements daycare-center.

You will receive a subsidy for childcare costs and only pay a small contribution yourself. This is calculated per hour of childcare or part thereof:

•  at 7.00 Euro for student parents and
• 10.00 Euro for employees and lecturers
• 50% of the hourly rate per sibling. 

Parents contribute 25% to 37% of the total cost of one hour of childcare. The student rate is available upon presentation of a valid student ID card and inspection of semester schedules. Invoices are issued at the end of each month.

Parents who wish to use flexible childcare must arrange an informational meeting with the family affairs officer so that child-friendly care can be organised and individual needs can be taken into account. For 

• Children under three years of age must be registered at least six weeks in advance,
• Children aged three years and above must be registered at least seven working days in advance, 

in order to be able to carry out personnel planning and familiarisation adequately. The initial consultation is followed by an official booking via an online or analogue form. Short-term care needs, e.g. emergency care (48 hours in advance), are discussed and planned individually. Cancellations must be made 7 working days before the care date.

If you are interested in this service, please contact the FAMteam. You can find the concept for flexible childcare here.

• Konzeption Flexible Kinderbetreuung (PDF, 999.05 KB)
• Anmeldebogen für die Flexible Kinderbetreuung (PDF, 115.97 KB)
• Allgemeine Nutzungsbedingungen der Flexiblen Kinderbetreuung (FHP) (PDF, 137.54 KB)

With this family support service, the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam 2022 reacted to the steadily growing number of students and employees with family responsibilities as well as the number of young families in the surrounding districts. The university and the parent-child group of Kinderwelt gGmbH act together as a local contact point with specialist pedagogical support that helps families with their tasks, problem solving and everyday hurdles. In the parent-child group with pedagogical support, families can feel perceived in their diversity and be accepted into a community of interest at a low threshold. The service is financed by the state capital Potsdam.

The tasks and goals of the parent-child group are based on the family situation of the families. The group is based on the fact that parents who otherwise look after their children at home accompany them to the group, thus creating a social support system. A meeting place is also created for employees on parental leave or in a transitional phase to daycare. For newly appointed professors, this childcare model facilitates their start at the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam. Parents organise and determine the various activities and the daily schedule with the help of the educational staff. The spacious family room of the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam as well as an adjoining sleeping and resting room are available for the programme. The rooms are located in House 5 Room 002 on campus. The Department of Education and Social Sciences is located there, as well as two day care centres, the Family Centre and the FAMteam as a representative of the family-friendly university.

The parent-child group takes place Mondays to Fridays from 9:00 a.m. to 3.00 pm with advance registration and is aimed at parents with children between zero and six years of age.

In cooperation with the FAMteam of the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam and the Bachelor's programme "Education and Upbringing in Childhood", low-threshold offers are being developed, such as a family café or thematically related impulses (workshops). It is also planned to involve students from the social and educational science programmes in short and long-term internships.

Further information and contact details can be found on the website of Spielgruppe PLUS

We always offer our holiday workshops in the first week of the summer holidays and also in the first week of the autumn holidays to relieve you during the working and lecture periods. And, because we enjoy making discoveries with children: in the university, in parks, museums and exhibitions or in a waterworks, lost property office or print shop. We usually organise the summer holidays ourselves and in the autumn we like to invite experts who, with the support of students of early childhood education, organise a week on a particular theme. We focus on the children's needs for time for their own activities and joint activities.

The holiday workshops are offered to a maximum of 15 children of university staff aged 6 - 12 years old. The workshops are currently financed with funds for gender equality measures from the Professorinnenprogramm III. You can find the respective holiday programme under News. We will inform you in good time about the respective offer and you can register with the FAMteam by e-mail.

The workshops in 2026 will take place in the first week of the summer holidays, from 13/07 - 17/07/2026, and the autumn holidays, from 19/10 - 23/10/2026.

At times when childcare is not offered by the FAMteam, you have the opportunity to organise childcare among yourselves.

You can use the family room from Monday to Saturday if you are looking after your own child or children of fellow students, thus enabling each other to attend lectures. As the room is used by the PLUS playgroup during the day and by the family centre on Wednesdays, please notify the FAMteam in advance of your intention to use the room (by email to famteam@fh-potsdam.de). Please indicate the time at which you wish to use the family room and with whom. Please also state your department affiliation. After written confirmation of use and the associated release of the key at the information desk in the main building, the key can be borrowed in exchange for a deposit.

You can obtain the key for the family room by registering in advance at (by email to famteam@fh-potsdam.de) and paying a deposit (student ID or ID card for staff) at the information desk in the main building.

You can find more information about the family room under the menu item ‘Meeting’ – ‘Family Places on Campus’. Please note our terms of use!

In the cafeteria, you will find a designated family area for meeting and socialising, which you can also use as an extension of the family room for looking after your children. There is also a nappy-changing room in the main building, in room 0.25. If the cafeteria is closed or being used by other families, there are other family areas available on campus. 

• Nutzungsordnung Familienzimmer, Haus 5/Raum 002 (PDF, 82.27 KB)

On the campus of the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam, Andrea Britz and Steffi Parlitz look after up to 10 Potsdam children under the age of 3 in private day care in House 5. Opening hours are daily from 8.00 am - 3.30 pm. Upon request, the family representative can put university staff in touch with the childcare centre if there are free places. As a rule, places become available in September.

Would you like to make your own inquiries? You can reach the day care center at these numbers:

• Andrea Britz – Kleine Stadtfüchse: 0171-8349445
• Steffi Parlitz – Kleine Entdecker: 0170-9932500

Children from the age of 1 until they enter the 5th grade of school have a legal right to education, care and support in a day-care centre or another day-care facility. Children up to the age of 1 and children in grades 5 and 6 have a legal entitlement under certain conditions. The provision of regular childcare services is the responsibility of the municipalities. If you are interested in a regular childcare offer, please contact your local youth welfare office. For Potsdam, the organisational work is taken over by the childcare place service Kita-Tipp.