ISV Student Support and Student Welfare Services

The goal of the Student Welfare Services is to enhance the wellbeing of the school environment and also to ensure support in learning, health and wellbeing. Working towards better wellbeing concerns all members of staff at the school.

Each school has a community welfare team (CWT) which deals with the general well-being of the school environment. The community welfare team consists of the principal or the assistant principal, special education teacher, student counselor (for junior high), school social worker, school psychologist and school nurse. Promoting well-being in the school consists of working with important topics such as increasing students’ participation in the school life, co-operation between homes and school and collaboration with various outside parties.

The school nurse is present at school every day. The nurse is at school daily for consultation 08h00 - 16h00. Open consultation periods for students will be from 11h45 to 12h15 on the days the nurse is at school.

School Health Care is preventive care, where the Public-Health Nurse follows up the child's growth and development from various aspects. Every year the students have a physical examination conducted by the school nurse. Information on all examinations, treatments and rehabilitation measures related to the student's health is needed. Also copies of immunization records are needed, in case the child has been vaccinated elsewhere than Finland.

The school nurse will treat injuries caused by accidents during the school day, but guardians are kindly asked to notice that they should take the child to a public or private health center in case of illness, or accidents that have occurred outside school.

The school social worker’s task is to support the child or youngster in her/his psycho-social growth and development, together with the parents and other members of school staff. The school social worker’s work consists of many things, such as meeting pupils and teachers, parental meetings and discussions, organizing support structures for the pupil and the family, giving consultation services for the pupil, family and stakeholders in terms of cooperation, and working in the classrooms with the teachers and students.

You can contact the school social worker when having a small or substantial concern, dealing with the welfare of a child or a youngster. The school social worker is present at school every day except on Mondays.

The school psychologist helps and supports students in matters related to their psychological well-being. The school psychologist can meet students and attend meetings with parents. In some cases psychological assessment is required in order to identify learning problems that interfere with the student’s success at school. The goal of the assessment is to determine the best strategies to improve learning. 

Parents may contact the school psychologist directly when help is needed. Teachers may also invite the school psychologist to attend meetings with parents. The school psychologist is a member of the school’s support service group.

Each student is entitled to learning support. Learning support is a pedagogical activity, planned together by the teacher and the special-needs teacher. Learning support is divided into three levels:

• general support (remedial instruction, part-time special education)
• Intensified support (remedial instruction, part-time special education, weighted study by area of study, a personal educational plan)
• special support (all of the above as well as classroom special education and personal special education according to the personal educational plan HOJKS)

If a student is having difficulty with learning and/or requires extra support in any area of school life, the special education teachers are here to provide assistance. The special education teachers work with the students, parents, classroom or subject area teachers, and the Community Welfare Team to help the student to succeed. The special education teachers can provide in-class assistance, individual and small group tutoring, learning plan development, and referrals for formal testing. All schools have teaching assistants whose work also supports learning.

‍If the student is temporarily behind in his/her studies because of sickness or otherwise needs special support, he/she has the possibility to receive tutoring. Decisions about tutoring will be made in consultation with student’s guardians. The tutoring lessons take place before or after regular school hours. Any teacher at the school is entitled to provide tutoring lessons.

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