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Parents with full-time jobs can be happy they live in Hamburg. The value of all-day schools is becoming increasingly recognized. Thanks to the Kindertagesbetreuung initiative, numerous elementary schools have opened after-school care centers and educational lunch times.

The number of full-day schools is growing every year so that more than one in five general-education schools in Hamburg are now full-day schools. As the school schedule is shortened to twelve years, all grammar schools will offer all day schooling. Many elementary schools also run preschool classes for children who will begin school the following year. Children are looked after from 8 am to 1 pm during the school week. Since September 1 2009, parents have not had to pay the costs of this preschool care.