Helsinki English-language schools take students round-the-year

Helsinki streamlined the process of applying for a school place in the English-language basic education for international families, said the City of Helsinki in a press release on Wednesday.

Previously families could apply only once a year, but now applications are accepted all year round.

Continuous admission to English-language basic education is aimed at children who move to Helsinki in the middle of basic education and have previously studied in English – either abroad or in Finland.

In order to get place, a child has to live in Helsinki, and the school that offers English-language basic education has to have free places. The school also assesses the child’s language skills and competence to study in English.

“With this new route Helsinki wants to enable international families to access basic education as quickly and smoothly as possible. The continuous admission route helps us ensure that children in international families have equal access to a coherent learning path in Helsinki, in a language they already know," said Satu Järvenkallas, Head of Education Division.

Continuous admission also enables the children's language skill to be assessed on a faster schedule. This, in turn, means that a school place can be granted quicker if the rest of the application criteria are met, too.

A child can get a place in English-language basic education if the child has previously participated in English-language basic education abroad or in Finland parallel to Finnish basic education, child does not have a school place (is not enrolled to any school in Helsinki), child lives in Helsinki, the school has assessed that the pupil has sufficient language skills and competence to participate in English-language instruction and there are free places in the school that offers basic education in English.