Pre-primary education encompasses educational services for children from birth to age six. For this purpose, the Israel Ministry of Education maintains cooperation with local authorities, women’s organizations, external organizations and foundations, the Jewish Agency and other government ministries in the operation of day care centers and nurseries.
The pre-school system in Haifa includes day care centers (maon yom), nursery schools (gan trom hova) – (optional) and kindergartens (gan hova) – (mandatory). In addition, in order to assist working parents, most municipal pre-schools run optional afternoon programs – Zaharonim.
The day care facilities for infants (ages 0-3), (maon yom), are very extensive and range from small groups in private homes (mishpachtonim) through large facilities sponsored by places of employment such as the Technion or the MATAM industrial park. These facilities can be found in every neighborhood and are generally not divided by religious and secular – although there are some religious frameworks. The day care centers are mostly private or run by one of the women’s organizations such as WIZO, and are too numerous to be included in the listing below. Ask around your neighborhood for recommendations. New immigrants are often entitled to a reduction in fees for pre-schools.
The pre-school system in Haifa (ages 3-6) includes nursery schools- ganei trom hova – (optional) and kindergartens- ganei hova – (mandatory) and is sponsored by the municipality in cooperation with other groups and organizations. They are usually neighborhood-based. Some of the day care centers run by places of employment may also have frameworks for 3-6 year olds. Throughout the city there are religious pre-schools which combine pre-school activities with religious-ethical teachings and put special emphasis on the religious holidays and traditions. These schools vary in their religious orientation and observance.
Pre-school hours: Sundays through Thursdays – 7:30 a.m. to 1:20 p.m.; Fridays – 7:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m.
Afternoon program (zaharon) hours: Sunday through Thursday from 1:20 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., approx. 1,000NIS monthly, lunch included.
Municipal pre-schools located in all areas of Haifa (according to neighborhood)
Municipal pre-schools in the national religious (mamlachti dati) stream
Registration of Children in Elementary and Pre-Schools
Registration for all schools is at the office of the Haifa Municipal Department of Education (Mahleket Hahinuch) – Registration Division (machleket rishum) – 9 Harav Marcus St. in the municipal buildings in Hadar – tel: 04-8356298/7.
Open Sunday-Thursday 8 am -2 pm.
You usually need the following documents to register your children for school for the first time:
1. Teudat Oleh-updated with your current address
2. Rental contract
3. Teudat Zehut or authorization of registration of both parents in the Ministry of the Interior’s population registry(mirsham toshavim)
4. Birth certificate of each child
5. Transcripts or certificates from schools your children attended previously
Registration of children for pre-school and elementary school is usually by district so that if your address has not yet been registered in your teudat zehut you may need to bring your rental contract with you.
