Schooling and childcare in Helsinki

The local school, and how to find yours

Comprehensive school (peruskoulu) covers grades 1 to 9, is free, and includes a hot meal every school day; it begins in the calendar year the child turns seven. Helsinki has 100 city-run comprehensive schools and around 45,000 pupils, of which 86 are Finnish-language and 14 Swedish-language schools. Every home address falls in an admission area and every Helsinki child has a guaranteed place at the local school (lähikoulu) for that address, and language skills are no barrier to admission. Find yours by entering the address on the Service Map at hel.fi/palvelukartta, which lists Finnish- and Swedish-language primary and lower-secondary schools for the current and the next school year, so as many as eight entries can come back.

• For 2026–2027, grade 1 is for children born in 2019, grade 7 for those born in 2013 and grade 9 for those born in 2011.
• A child with no Finnish or Swedish can enter preparatory education (valmistava opetus), a year on the language and on Finnish school life, applied for as soon as the child is in the country. Grades 1 and 2 always do it at their own local school; grades 3 to 9 usually start it at another school nearby.
• Home and school communicate through the Wilma system.

The January window

For children born in 2020 and starting in August 2027, the whole sequence is published in advance. The Welcome to School brochure is posted in November 2026, school open evenings run from 16 November 2026, the compulsory-education notice reaches the child's home address on 7 January 2027, and electronic enrolment is open from 11 to 24 January 2027. Drop-in help is available at your local school on Wednesday 20 January 2027 between 08:00 and 10:00, and if you apply to any school other than the local one, every guardian must have consented by 24 January 2027. Selection and language tests run from 26 January to 9 February 2027, the admission decision is posted in early March 2027 — the city's own Enrolling to Grade 1 page currently carries two different dates for this, so read it again before you count on one — after-school activity applications run from 15 March to 13 April 2027, supplementary information in the enrolment system closes on 21 March 2027, and school starts on Wednesday 11 August 2027.

• Use the same system to tell the city if your child will not attend a municipal school, because of a private school or home education. The city monitors compliance with compulsory education.

Arriving outside the window

If you move to Helsinki after the January window has closed, contact the principal of your local school directly. For grades 2 to 9, and for any grade mid-year, there is no application window at all and the principal is the route in either case. For an English-language or extensive bilingual class there is a supplementary round (täydennyshaku) that opens in May, with details published on individual school websites at the turn of April and May, but you cannot use it if you were already living in Helsinki during the January window.

Classes taught in English

Helsinki runs municipal classes taught almost entirely in English, with only compulsory Finnish language and literature in Finnish. Continuous admission (jatkuva haku) to grades 1 to 9 is open only to pupils moving to Helsinki part-way through comprehensive school who have studied in English-medium education abroad or elsewhere in Finland within the last 18 months, near-native English is required, there is a language test, and from grade 8 the pupil also needs A1-level spoken Finnish. These criteria apply from 1 August 2026. The test is held once a month at Ressu Comprehensive School, Maunulan ala-asteen koulu or Maunulan yhteiskoulu, with none during the June and July holidays, and the city replies by the end of the month in which you apply. The child's address must show as Helsinki in the Population Information System by the test day, or you must produce proof such as a tenancy agreement.

• The first test day of the 2026–2027 school year was Thursday 3 September 2026.
• Bilingual municipal classes pair Finnish with English, Spanish, Swedish, Russian, Estonian, Chinese or Northern Sámi. There is no language test for grade 1 in any language or school, but there is for grades 2 to 9.
• English-enriched classes at selected local schools teach 10 to 25 per cent of lessons in English.
• Swedish immersion must be started by pre-primary at the latest and runs to grade 9.
• Weighted-curriculum classes (painotettu opetus), from digital and visual arts to Latin and physical education, begin at grade 1, 3 or 7 and all require an aptitude test.

The private and international alternatives

The International School of Helsinki is a private IB school running the Primary Years Programme from Early Years to grade 5, the Middle Years Programme for grades 6 to 10 and the Diploma Programme for grades 11 and 12. No prior English is needed up to grade 8 and language support is provided, while applicants for grades 9 to 12 must show English fluency at intermediate level or above through the application, an interview and in some cases an English assessment; admission is rolling and depends on space, and every application carries a €350 fee per student, payable by card. The English School (Englantilainen koulu) is a different proposition, a bilingual Finnish and English school of over 700 pupils running a two-year preschool, comprehensive school and upper secondary school, opened on 1 October 1945, charging a private-school fee of €673 a year rather than international-school tuition. You register there by paying a €20 registration fee and submitting the online form with the receipt, then reconfirming in writing every year until a place comes up, because an unconfirmed registration is deleted from the applicant register.

• International School of Helsinki fees for 2026–2027, paid in one instalment: Early Years €12,432, grades 1–5 €13,744, grades 6–8 €14,570, grades 9–10 €15,384, grades 11–12 €16,608. By trimester the same years cost €12,612 to €16,788, in three instalments due 30 June 2026, 31 October 2026 and 28 February 2027.
• The school says Early Years pupils with Finnish residency may qualify for Kela private day care support, which it puts at around €500 a month per child.
• At The English School, grade 1 was already full for 2026–2027 and is filled mainly from its own preschool. Grades 2 to 8 require entrance tests in both English and Finnish and a minimum Finnish level of A1.3, and you must email english.school@engs.fi to ask whether places exist; grade 9 applications are discouraged.