Enrollment in school

If you are unable to enroll your child in school via Wilma system, please send the following information to lahikoulu@vantaa.fi:

• child's name
• child's date of birth or social security number
• child's mother tongue
• child's address in Vantaa
• details of the child's guardians (names, telephone numbers and e-mail addresses)
• whether the child has attended pre-primary education, where and when
• whether the child has received preparatory education in pre-primary education

A local school will be assigned to a student from their school admission district based on the following criteria:

1. The student has a health-related or other special reason which directly affects what local school suits the child best. Applying this criterion always requires that the child’s guardian presents a statement regarding the child’s health state written by a healthcare professional or, in case of another special reason, by an expert, such as a social welfare professional. The statement must be delivered to the regional director before the decision of a local school is made.
2. By an admission decision to a local school, a sibling living in the same address with the student goes to the same primary/lower secondary school or the same comprehensive school at the time the student is about to start their schooling.
3. The student’s school journey from the address recorded in the population registry is as short and safe as possible.
4. A school to which the regional authorities need to arrange school transport for the child will not be assigned as the child’s local school if there is a school closer to the child’s home to which there is no obligation to arrange transport.
5. If it is necessary to assign a school to which transport is needed as a child’s local school, a primary choice will be a school to which transport can be arranged via means of public transport.
6. The student has attended group-form preparatory teaching for basic education in the same school. Applying this criterion always requires an application from a guardian.

If the student has a health-related or other special reason which directly affects what local school suits the child best, the application for assigning a local school based on special criteria for grades 7–9 must be filled in. The application must be delivered to the regional director. A statement from a doctor or a specialist must be attached to the application. This special reason must affect the suitability of a school directly. A health-related reason, for example, could be that the student cannot cope in a school without a lift due to their mobility issues.

If guardians want their child to be in the same school as the child’s sibling, they must fill in the application for assigning a local school based on special criteria for grades 7–9. The application must be delivered to the regional director. The sibling must live in the same address and be a student in the applied for school at the time the younger sibling starts school. The sibling criteria will not be applied if the sibling is in a school of a secondary choice (e.g. for weighted or bilingual teaching).

General criteria of school admission will not be applied when accepting students into preparatory teaching and into schools where school admission is based on an examination or test (such as teaching in English) or other, separately decided admission criteria and when accepting and transferring students to regional or city-level special support groups (such as workshops).

An application to this secondary choice of a school should be delivered to the school from which the student place is applied for. The school’s principal will make the decision on whether to grant a school place to the student. 

The principals will adhere to the common principles when electing students. After the process of assigning a local school to students, any free student places can be filled with secondary applicants based on the criteria below, in the following order:

1. The student lives in Vantaa.
2. The student’s sibling goes to the same school with a secondary school admission decision at the start of the student’s schooling.
3. If there are more applicants meeting the criteria than there are free student places, the students will be selected through a draw. 

A secondary choice of a school is not the local school determined by the law, which means that the student is not entitled to free school transport. 

If a student is applying for a school outside Vantaa, it should be noted that the student will not necessarily be entitled to all the support services in a school of another city and that the guardians are liable for any school journey transport costs. 

More information about school-transport subsidies here.

If a child is not estimated to be ready to start school the year he/she turns seven, psychologists will make an assessment of his/her school readiness. For more information on the school-readiness assessment, contact the child's preschool, Consultant Special Teachers, or psychologists.

On the other hand, a child can start school already at the age of six, provided that he/she has sufficient facilities for school attendance. If you want to find out whether your child can start school a year earlier than usual, you shall acquire and pay for all the required psychological examinations. It is also worth your while to fill in the preschool education application.

If a child, due to disability or sickness, cannot achieve the goals set for basic education in nine years, it is possible to extend the child's compulsory education. Extended compulsory education begins at age six, in which case the child is entitled to free-of-charge preschool education at age five. Compulsory education will not, however, be extended in the middle or at the end. For more information about extended compulsory education, contact your child's day care place or district coordinators. The district manager will make a decision on beginning school one year earlier or one year later than usual.

If the family moves away from Vantaa before the child starts the first grade and the local school has already been defined, the guardians are asked to inform this to the school which has been decided to be the new local school.

If a student has attended a school in Vantaa and moves away from Vantaa, the new school or municipality can request the student's papers directly from the previous school in Vantaa.

If the student moves away from Vantaa in the midst of a semester, they have the right to complete the ongoing semester in their prior local school. In this case, however, guardians are responsible for costs of school transportation. Read more about school travel and school transportation.

When a student moves within Vantaa, the local school will always be redefined. 

If the student moves within Vantaa in the midst of a semester, they have the right to complete the ongoing semester in their prior local school. In this case, however, guardians are responsible for costs of school transportation. Read more about school travel and school transportation.