Good news for young families

CERN and the commune of Meyrin have just signed an agreement under which the equivalent of 20 full-time places will be reserved for the children of CERN personnel in a new crèche being built in Meyrin.

The project for a crèche for the children of members of the CERN personnel is taking shape. With a shortage of child-minding facilities in the local area and the number of younger members of the CERN personnel increasing, the call for a crèche had become increasingly pressing over recent years. This resulted in an agreement signed on 17 October by Robert Aymar, CERN’s Director-General, and Monique Boget, Mayoress of Meyrin, under which 20 places will be reserved for the children of CERN personnel in a new crèche in Meyrin and CERN will contribute to the funding. These places will be open to CERN personnel with young children (between 4 months and 4 years) as of the school year starting September 2008.

The crèche building, which is going up near the Champs-Fréchets shopping centre, will be full of light thanks to large picture windows and three vertical shafts letting in light from above. The crèche, officially called the "Espace de vie enfantine des Champs-Fréchets" (Champs-Fréchets child day-care centre), will be able to take in 90 children who will be looked after by around thirty staff employed by the commune of Meyrin’s infant education service. The building has been designed with specific educational choices in mind. In accordance with the "multi-age" philosophy, there will be six groups consisting of children of all ages, just like in the family environment.

The equivalent of 20 full-time places will be open to children of all CERN personnel, irrespective of their status (staff, fellows, associates or users) and their place of residence (France or Switzerland). Parents will be able to choose from full-time day care or two part-time options. The crèche will be open eleven months of the year, Mondays to Fridays from 7.00 a.m. to 6.30 p.m. Enrolment, which will be via the commune of Meyrin’s infant education service, will begin in spring 2008. Members of the CERN personnel will be informed of the enrolment dates and will receive priority for the 20 places concerned.

The crèche project is part of a series of measures implemented by the CERN Management to make it easier for its personnel to combine work and family life. Several other measures have already been introduced as a result of the last five-yearly review, including the creation of an infant allowance and parental leave.

For more information about the crèche consult the HR page .