Vienna to close kindergartens and after-school centres for a summer week

Vienna’s municipal kindergartens and after-school centres will close for one week each summer from next year, giving staff time to prepare for the new year, ORF Wien reports.

The planning week will take place during either the final or the penultimate week of the summer school holidays. The centres will be closed to children during that time.

If families have an urgent need for childcare, the city says it will offer a place at another centre.

The planning week is part of the city’s kindergarten reform, which also includes reducing group sizes and changing group composition to break up language clusters. The measures are intended to improve the educational quality of kindergartens and after-school centres.