Basic education in Vantaa
There is also an international school in Vantaa, where students can complete comprehensive school in English
Grounds for school admission.
Vantaa has been divided into four school admission districts, and the regional directors of basic education will assign a school place for each child in a comprehensive school in their residential area, i.e. their ‘local school’. However, the school building nearest to the child’s home may not be their local school. If a student attends a comprehensive school comprising all nine grades, they do not need to change schools when transitioning to the 7th grade. Decisions concerning school admission will be made for the duration of school grades taught at the school in question.
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).
A local school will be assigned to a student from their school admission district based on the following criteria:
- 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.
- 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.
- The student’s school journey from the address recorded in the population registry is as short and safe as possible.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
A student can apply for another, secondary choice of a school if they are not satisfied with the local school assigned to them. 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:
- The student lives in Vantaa.
- The student’s sibling goes to the same school with a secondary school admission decision at the start of the student’s schooling.
- 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.
Vantaa has been divided into four school admission districts, and the regional directors of basic education assign a school place for each child from the comprehensive school in their residential area.
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).