Local school and secondary school
On this page, you can find instructions for enrolling in the local school.
Local School
Every pupil in basic education has the right to attend to a local school assigned by the municipality he/she lives in. Local school is assigned within the pupil catchment area. Catchment areas are: Espoonlahti, Eastern Leppävaara, Western Leppävaara, Central and Northern Espoo, Matinkylä-Olari and Tapiola. It is not possible to assign the nearest located school in every case.
Familiarize yourself with the instructions and the principles of pupil admission (below) before you fill in the application form.
Enrolling in a local school
It is possible to enroll in a local school during school year in the following situations:
- Your child moves to Espoo or within Espoo area.
- Your child gives up his/her school place in Weighted-curriculum education, English-language education, Bilingual education, Swedish-language immersion education or secondary school.
- Your child is studying in a special education class and he/she is transferring to a general education group in a local school.
In order to enroll in a local school, please fill in the application form Applying to a local school and submit it to the school your child is applying.
Application form
- Form Applying to a local school can be found on this page.
THE APPLICATION PERIOD HAS ENDED!
Enrolling in the 1st grade takes place through the electronic Wilma service between 9th and 19th January 2024 by filling in the form Application for 1st grade of Comprehensive School. If you are unable to use the Wilma service, you can fill in the paper form. The paper form must be submitted by 19 January 2024 at the latest to the following address: The Finnish Basic Education Unit, Coordinator Sara Raitala, P.O. Box 31, FIN-02070 City of Espoo.
Please indicate on the form of the things You wish to be taken into consideration in assigning a local school:
- A health-related or other significant reason
- A sibling basis
- A local school preference
- New address and exact date of moving (when moving by 1 August, 2024 at the latest).
Please note! If a health or other significant reason must be taken into account, this must be informed in the application form. In addition, You must submit a psychological/medical report or other statement by 9 February, 2024 at the latest to the following address: The Finnish Basic Education Unit, Administration Services, School admission statements, P.O. Box 31, FIN-02070 City of Espoo.
Application period
- 9-19 January, 2024
Application form
- Form Application for 1st grade of Comprehensive School. The form is only available during application period.
Means of delivery for the decision
You can choose the means of delivery for the decision when filling in the form ’Application for 1st grade of comprehensive school’. There are two options:
- The decision will be published in Wilma on 26 April, 2024. The decision will not be delivered by post.
- The decision will be mailed on 26 April, 2024. The decision will not be published in Wilma.
It is possible to choose only one. The choice is binding!
THE APPLICATION PERIOD HAS ENDED!
Enrolling in the 7th grade takes place through the electronic Wilma service between January 9th and 16th 2024 by filling in the form Application for 7th grade of Comprehensive School. If you are unable to use the Wilma service, you can fill in the paper form. The paper form must be submitted to your child's current school in Espoo by 16 January 2024 at the latest.
If your child is attending a school in another municipality or a private school, submit the paper form by 16 January 2024 at the latest to the following address: The Finnish Basic Education Unit, assistant Katri Pietarinen, P.O. Box 31, FI-02070 CITY OF ESPOO.
Please indicate on the form of the things You wish to be taken into consideration in assigning a local school:
- A health-related or other significant reason
- A sibling basis
- A local school preference
- New address and exact date of moving (when moving by 1 August 2024 at the latest).
Please note! If a health or other significant reason must be taken into account, this must be informed in the application form. In addition, You must submit a psychological/medical report or other statement by 19 January, 2024 at the latest to the following address: The Finnish Basic Education Unit, Administration Services, School admission statements, P.O. Box 31, FIN-02070 City of Espoo.
If your child would like to stop studying an A2 language and this must be considered when assigning a local school, please fill in the separate application form A2-kielestä luopuminen and submit it to the principal of your child´s current school in Espoo by 19 January 2024 at the latest.
Application period
- 9-16 January, 2024
Application forms
- Application for 7th grade of Comprehensive School
- A2-kielestä luopuminen (only in Finnish)
Application forms are available during application period.
Means of delivery for the decision
You can choose the means of delivery for the decision when filling in the form Application for 7th grade of comprehensive school. There are two options:
- The decision will be published in Wilma on 10 April, 2024. The decision will not be delivered by post.
- The decision will be mailed on 10 April, 2024. The decision will not be published in Wilma.
It is possible to choose only one. The choice is binding!
When enrolling in a Swedish-language local school, the pupil’s school is determined based on the home address, and there is no separate application process. There are 10 catchment areas, and each area has a comprehensive school. You can find the catchment areas in the map service of the City of Espoo(external link, opens in a new window). In the map service, you can also check your child’s local school.
Click the down pointing arrow in the upper left corner of the page and select ‘Area search’.
In point 1, select ‘Swedish pupil district’, and
in point 2, write your home address.
You can contact the customer service of the Unit for Swedish Education and Cultural Services via e-mail svebi@esbo.fi.
The pupil catchment areas are: Espoonlahti, Eastern Leppävaara, Western Leppävaara, Central and Northern Espoo, Matinkylä-Olari and Tapiola. A local school is assigned within these catchment areas in the following order:
- Pupils with a healt or other special reason. A guardian must inform this in the application form and send a psychological/medical report or other document within a deadline. Deadline is determined yearly.
- Pupils on sibling bases. A guardian must inform this in the application form. The sibling in question must live in the same address and attend a local school assigned by City of Espoo.
- Pupils based on the school travel lenght. A local school is assigned so that the travel is as safe and short as possible by taking into account all pupils in the catchment are. The geographically closest school cannot always be assigned as a pupil's local school.
- Pupils whose school wish is possible to fulfill. A guardin is able to make one wish within a child's catchment are. The wish does not mean applying solely to this school.
A-languages are taken into account as pupils transfer in the 7th grade.
The pupil catchment areas
You can find the pupil catchment areas on the Map service of the City of Espoo. Go to Map service and click the menu in the upper left corner. Select what is shown on the map and click ‘Regional divisions’. Check the option ‘Finnish pupildistricts’.
The Map service can be found on this page. (external link, opens in a new window)
The principles of pupil admission (only in Finnish)
Downloadable files
Where can I get Wilma-account?
Contat your childs current school's school secretary and ask for a key code to create an account.
If your child is in pre-school, the Finnish Basic Education Unit will send you a key code and a letter regarding starting school. This letter is sent before application period starts to all guardians, whose child is starting 1st grade in school year 2022-2023.
My address is x. How do I know, which school is my child's local school?
Espoo schools do not have their own catchment areas based on addresses. Espoo has six pupil catchment areas: Espoonlahti, Eastern Leppävaara, Western Leppävaara, Central and Northern Espoo, Matinkylä-Olari and Tapiola.
The education board decides every year, how many pupils can be assigned to each school (maximum pupil places). Each school is assigned within these maximum places according to the principles of pupil admission. Since number of pupils, places of residence and school capacity varies each year, children do not go to the same schools from same addresses than previous years.
Where do I find the pupil catchment areas?
You can find the pupil catchment areas on the Map service of the City of Espoo. Go to Map service and click the menu in the upper left corner. Select what is shown on the map and click ‘Regional divisions’. Check the option ‘Finnish pupil districts’.
The Map service can be found on this page. (external link, opens in a new window)
I applied to school x. My child was assigned to school y. Why?
Local school preference can be stated in the application form. Stating a local school does not mean your child is applying solely to that school. The preference will be considered where possible.
Assigned school is located further than the school I preferred. Why?
When a local school is assigned, the distances must be as short as possible for all children enrolling to a local school. This means distances must be viewed as whole, not individually. As a result, the assigned local school can be other than the nearest located school.
I am unhappy with the assigned school. What do I do?
The decision can be appealed by submitting a written demand for rectification to the Regional State Administrative Agency of Southern Finland within 14 days of receiving notice on the decision. You have received instructions with the decision.
Alternatively or additionally, you can fill in the application form Application for a secondary school and submit it to the school you prefer. Note! Applying for a secondary school is not a means of appeal and does not mean your child is applying to another local school.
Secondary school
Every pupil in basic education has the right to attend to a local school assigned by the municipality. In addition, one has the right to apply for other than the assigned school but no subjective right to be admitted. In Espoo, these other than local schools are called secondary schools, and the pupil applying to a secondary school is called a secondary applicant.
Secondary applicants can be admitted only if there are free study places in the school's teaching groups after all pupils have first been assigned a local school. If Your child is admitted to a secondary school, she/he is not entitled to school transport subsidy. Her/his younger sister or brother does not have a sibling basis to be admitted in the same school.
Familiarize yourself with the instructions and the principles of pupil admission (below) before you fill in the application form.
Applying to a secondary school
Fill in the form Toissijaiseen kouluun hakeminen (only in Finnish) and submit it to the school your child is applying. The form can be found on this page.
Application periods for school year 2023-2024
- 29 September 2023 by 3:45 pm (grades 1-9)
- 30 October 2023 by 3:45 pm (grades 1-9)
- 30 November 2023 by 3:45 pm (grades 1-9)
- 20 December 2023 by 3:45 pm (grades 1-9)
- 31 January 2024 by 3:45 pm (grades 1-9)
- 29 February 2024 by 3:45 pm (grades 1-9)
- 27 March 2024 by 3:45 pm (grades 1-9)
- 30 April 2024 by 3:45 pm (grades 1-9)
Application periods for school year 2024-2025
- 30 April 2024 by 3:45 pm (grades 7-9)
- 28 May 2024 by 3:45 pm (grades 1-9)
- 6 August 2024 by 3:45 pm (grades 1-9)
Secondary applicants can be admitted only if there are free study places in the school's teaching groups after all pupils have first been assigned a local school. If there are free study places, applicants are admitted to a secondary school in the following order of priority:
- An applicant who has moved away from the school's close region and still lives in Espoo, but wants to continue in his/her current school.
- Applicants based on the school travel lenght.
If there are study places available after all qualified applicants who are Espoo residents are admitted, applicants from other municipalities can be admitted. If there are several applicants, a lot is drawn.