Statistics Iceland has released a new issue in the statistical series Hagtíðindi on education. The title is: Children in pre-primary schools in December 2004.
In December 2004 16,710 children attended pre-primary schools in Iceland. The number of children attending pre-primary school increased by 25 (0.15%) since the previous year. This is a smaller increase than in previous years. A larger proportion of boys than girls attended pre-primary school, or 80.6% of boys compared with 79.1% of girls aged 1-5 years old. In addition there were 11 children attending a pre-primary school run by Impregilo S.p.A. at Kárahnjúkar in Eastern Iceland.
There were 261 pre-primary schools operating in December 2004, a decrease of 6 since 2003. This decrease is partly explained by the fact that some pre-primary schools have ceased operating while others have been merged. Almost 1,500 children attended 28 private pre-primary schools. The number of pre-primary schools that were open all year has decreased to a total of 19 schools in 2004. It is most common for pre-primary schools to close for 3-4 weeks during the summer.
In December 2004 over one-quarter of one year olds attended pre-primary school and 90% of two year olds. The daily attendance continues to increase and now three-quarters of all children stay in school for 7 hours or more daily.
There are almost 1,000 children who receive special support, 100 less than in 2003. The number of children with another mother tongue than Icelandic has increased to 1,145 children, almost 7% of all children attending pre-primary school. In compulsory schools the corresponding figure is 3.0% in autumn 2004. More than 200 children attending pre-primary school are foreign citizens, most of them from Eastern Europe. Polish children are most numerous, a total of 60 children.
Children in pre-primary schools in December 2004 - publication