While the school fair focuses on formal education – lessons, school materials, training, and apprenticeships – its counterpart, the Children's Festival, takes a different approach. Here the spotlight falls on informal education: nurseries, after-school care and childminders.

Across more than 20 stands, different workshops were on offer, spanning theatre, arts and crafts, science, games, and mini-conferences. The festival is designed to give visitors an insight into informal education and inspire them to try similar activities at home with their children.

It is an ambition rooted in scale. On average, 65% of children in Luxembourg are registered at a nursery or Maison Relais. Marco Deepen, from the Ministry of Education's childhood sector, said the festival was an opportunity to raise awareness of what informal education actually offers.

"We're in the process of emancipating ourselves. We want to show that together with schools, we make a combined package. In school, children learn competences such as maths, reading and writing. In informal education, we focus on other competences that are important in life – communication, creativity, cooperation, participation."

On Saturday, around 5,200 visitors attended the festival. By midday on Sunday, that figure had reached 1,200. The event also marks the start of Children's Week, which runs until 5 June, with childcare facilities holding open days across the country throughout.