Schools for children in Helsinki

Your child’s local school is often walking distance away, but not always due to admission the areas' borders. Check your local school by entering the child's home address on the Service Map.

Helsinki is divided into school admission areas. Each home address belongs to a school admission area, where your child's local school is located. Children are assigned a local school within their own school admission area, but you can also apply to a school in another school admission area. However, schools cannot guarantee places for applicants from other areas.  

How to find your local school

1. Go to Helsinki Service Map front page.
   
   Go to Service Map(Link leads to external service)
2. Write the child's home address in the search field.
3. Scroll down to see a list of schools.
4. Choose the most suitable option in the search results. The results are listed by level of education, current school year, next school year, and Finnish- and Swedish-language local schools.  This is why you might see up to eight schools listed in the results:
    
   • your local Finnish-language primary school (grades 1–6) for the current school year
   • your local Swedish-language primary school (grades 1–6) for the current school year
   • your local Finnish-language lower secondary school (grades 7–9) for the current school year
   • your local Swedish-language lower secondary school (grades 7–9) for the current school year
   • your local Finnish-language primary school (grades 1–6) for the next school year
   • your local Swedish-language primary school (grades 1–6) for the next school year
   • your local Finnish-language lower secondary school (grades 7–9) for the next school year
   • your local Swedish-language lower secondary school (grades 7–9) for the next school year
      
5. Click on a school's name to find the school's contact details and browse its website to learn more.

The local schools in Helsinki are divided into Finnish and Swedish-language schools. A few of the city's Finnish-language schools have classes that are taught either partly or entirely in a different language.

The main language of instruction is Finnish in the Finnish-language schools, and Swedish in the Swedish-language schools. In other school services and  communication between school and home other languages such as English is often used. Parents and guardians can also have an interpreter free of charge, if necessary. Some schools have also multilingual instructors in their staff, who advise multilingual families in all things concerning school.

If your child would like to learn Finnish, a Finnish-language school is a good option for you. If the child would like to learn Swedish, our second national language, a then Swedish-language school is the right choice for your child.

We have 86 Finnish-language and 14 Swedish-language public schools run by the city. All children get a place in either a Finnish- or Swedish-language school. The parents or guardians choose which options they want for their child. 

Browse the city's local schools 

A child does not need to know any Finnish or Swedish to get a place in a local school. Children who have arrived in Finland from abroad and are Helsinki residents get a place in preparatory education to ease their transition into the Finnish school system. The focus is on learning Finnish or Swedish and becoming familiar with the everyday life in a Finnish school.

• In Finnish-language schools, 1st and 2nd grade pupils (age 7 to 8) go to preparatory education in their own local school.
• In Finnish-language schools, 3rd to 9th graders may need to travel to one of our other schools for preparatory education. We always try to find a place as close to home as possible.
• In Swedish-language schools, preparatory education is always provided at the pupil's local school.

After the year in preparatory education, the child continues in a regular Finnish-speaking or Swedish-speaking class in the local school.

Learn more and enrol to preparatory education

Foreign language studies start in first grade

Public schools in Helsinki start teaching foreign languages in grade one. After this, primary school students are offered the possibility to start learning another foreign language in grade three and four. Students in Finnish-language schools must start learning the Swedish language by grade six, and the reverse is true in Swedish-language schools. Students may follow one of two tracks when it comes to studying Finnish or Swedish: studying the language as a mother tongue or as a second language.

Bilingual instruction

Some schools in Helsinki feature what is referred to as bilingual instruction, where 25-50 per cent of the teaching is in the target language and the rest in Finnish. Helsinki schools offer bilingual education in Chinese, English, Estonian, North Sami, Russian, Spanish and Swedish.  Finnish-English bilingual instruction is available in six public primary schools and six lower secondary schools (grade 7–9). Pupils must take a language test to grades 2–9. 

Mother tongue studies in over 40 languages

The city encourages families to use their mother tongue actively in their homes and thus preserve their multilingualism. Therefore, the city offers schoolchildren lessons in their native language (pdf) two hours a week. This instruction is available in close to 40 languages at no charge. Groups usually need 10 students to start, so some students may need to go to another school for these classes. If you have questions about preparatory education or mother tongue instructions, please send an email to valmistavaopetus@hel.fi(Link opens default mail program) .

Learn more on page Curriculum, school subjects and assessment under section 'Mother tongue studies'. 

If you move to Helsinki in the middle of the school year, you can apply for a place in a fully English-language class, or in a bilingual Finnish-English class. We call this the continuous admission route.

Fully English-language instruction, continuous admission

If your child's education in their previous school was provided fully in English, you can apply for English-language basic education in grades 1–9 all year round via the continuous admission route. Pupils must take a language test.

The English-language and bilingual classes are available in Ressu Comprehensive School, Maunula Primary School, Maunula Secondary School and Kulosaari Secondary School. 

Learn more about English-language basic education and apply.

Finnish–English classes, continuous admission

If the child has previously studied in bilingual education in another city in Finland, you can apply for vacancies in our bilingual Finnish-English classes in grades 1–9 all year round via the continuous admission route.

Learn more about bilingual Finnish–English basic education and apply.

Get in touch
English-language and bilingual education advisory services

eduguidance@hel.fi(Link opens default mail program)
+358 9 310 38998(Link starts a phone call)

Private schools that teach in English

There are a few private schools in Helsinki that teach in English. These schools have ther own admission and enrolment policies and may charge tuition fees. See list of private and -funded schools in Helsinki and get in touch with them directly. 

Primary schools for children in Helsinki (grades 1 through 6) provide all of the necessary school supplies and a warm and nutritious daily lunch to students free of charge. All that families need to supply is a rucksack for books, a pencil case and appropriate clothes for outdoor and indoor exercise.

The school day is quite short in first and second grade. For this reason, many children participate in morning or after-school activities at the school or a nearby playground. The city also provides more after-school activities in cooperation with local organisations and churches.

In grades three to six, the school days start to become longer, with a schedule that varies each day. The selection of classes grows wider and the children begin to receive more homework. As a rule, schoolchildren are expected to do their homework independently. The role of parents and guardians is to support the child’s school-going and attend events organised by the school.

Transport

The City of Helsinki encourages children to walk or bike to school. It is quite safe and several studies have shown that the daily exercise improves school performance. Children with a disability can apply for special school transportation.

Schoolchildren in grades 1-6 that live more than two kilometres from their local school may be eligible for a student travel card to use on public transport. This extends to three kilometres for young people in grades 7-9. See our section on Public transport for more information on the city’s safe and reliable service.

Curriculum

Schools for children in Helsinki follow the national core curriculum for basic education, which means that they all teach the same compulsory subjects (pdf). Finland prides itself on school system equity. Learning results and outcomes tend to be the same across the country.

When children are in their second year of primary school, they can apply for what is called a weighted-curriculum programme that they can attend in grades 3-6. These programmes provide about two extra hours of instruction each week in a particular subject, such as art, music or PE. One school in Helsinki has a weighted-curriculum programme in music that starts already in the first grade.

Teachers and support services

All schoolteachers in Finland hold master’s degrees and have completed extensive teacher training. In addition, each school has one or more special teachers who support students who may need extra help or have special needs. School doctors, nurses, psychologists and social workers are also on hand to offer assistance when needed. Contact your child’s teacher or the school principal at any time with questions or concerns.

After sixth grade, children continue on to lower secondary school (yläkoulu or yläaste), or grades 7 through 9. In some neighbourhoods, primary and lower secondary schools are in the same building, while in others they are separate.

Many more schools in Helsinki offer weighted curriculum education starting in the 7th grade. Young people that wish to attend these programmes must sit an aptitude test the year prior.

School doctors, nurses, psychologists and social workers are available to lower secondary school students, and the city’s extensive youth services provide many different kinds of activities and support for this age group.

Before they finish their three years of lower secondary school, students in Finland must decide whether they wish to continue on to general upper secondary school (lukio) or vocational school (ammattikoulu or, more familiarly, amis). Lower secondary school guidance counsellors help students to make the choice that suits them best.

If a young person does not have sufficient skills (including language skills) after ninth grade to move on to upper secondary education, or if they need help to determine their continued study plans, check the guide below: 

Guide for 15–18-year-old newcomers in Helsinki, PDF(Link leads to external service)

There are about two dozen private schools for children in Helsinki. Some serve a certain language group, such as the  Deutsche Schule(Link leads to external service) , the  Finnish-French School(Link leads to external service)  and the  Finnish-Russian School(Link leads to external service) . There are also several international schools, such as the  International School of Helsinki(Link leads to external service)  and the  European School of Helsinki(Link leads to external service) . A few schools in the metropolitan area also offer  IB programmes(Link leads to external service) . Private schools in Helsinki charge tuition.

See the city’s webpages on Basic education in different languages for more information about the different schools for children in Helsinki and its surrounding cities.