When a pupil moves

When your child moves inside Espoo during the school year, fill in the application form Applying to a local school and submit it to the school to which your child primarily applies to. If your child moves within his/her current pupil catchment area a new local school will be assigned only, if continuing in the current local school would cause extra school transportation costs to the municipality compared with some other local school in the same pupil catchment region.

If your child is to be assigned study place in a new local school on the aforementioned grounds and he/she wants to continue in the local school that was previously assigned to him/her as a secondary applicant, fill in the form Toissijaiseen kouluun hakeminen and submit it to the school principal. The school principal will decide on admitting a pupil to a secondary school. A pupil admitted to a secondary school is not entitled to school transportation subsidy and the pupil's younger sister or brother does not have the sibling basis to be admitted to the same school.

Application forms on the page Forms and applications for basic education. 

Additional information on school admissions can be found here.

You can find the pupil catchment areas on the Map service of the City of Espoo.

1. Go to Map service and click the menu in the upper left corner. Select what is shown on the map and click ‘Regional divisions’.
2. Check the option ‘Finnish pupildistricts’.

The Map service can be found on this page.(external link, opens in a new window)

When your child moves to Espoo from another municipality during the school year, fill in the form Applying to a local school and submit it to the school to which your child primarily applies to.  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. 

Application forms on the page Forms and applications for basic education. 

Additional information on school admissions can be found here.

You can find the pupil catchment areas on the Map service of the City of Espoo.

1. Go to Map service and click the menu in the upper left corner. Select what is shown on the map and click ‘Regional divisions’.
2. Check the option ‘Finnish pupildistricts’.

The Map service can be found on this page.(external link, opens in a new window)

Pupils moving to Espoo from abroad who do not speak Finnish or need support in strengthening their Finnish language skills begin their schooling in preparatory education. The pupil can start preparatory education at any time during the school year. 

Espoo offers preparatory education either at the pupil’s local school or in a regional preparatory education group. The form of education depends on the pupil’s grade level and local school. 

To apply for preparatory education, please contact: valmistava@espoo.fi. 

More information about preparatory education can be found on this page.(external link, opens in a new window)

When a pupil returns to Finland from abroad, the school principal or head teacher and the teachers agree with the guardians on what grade-level the pupil will begin school-going. If needed, the school will assess the pupil's skills. A pupil returning to Finland will receive support in studying in the Finnish language, if needed.

The new home municipality is responsible for the education of a pupil who moves from Espoo to another municipality. The guardians shall notify the school in Espoo about the move, in which the pupil was supposed to begin school-going in the following autumn or which the pupil attends when the school year begins. The guardians shall also contact the education authority or a local school in their new home municipality.

If the pupil wants to continue school-going in Espoo, the guardians shall apply for a study place to the child as a pupil of another municipality. The guaradians shall fill in the form Toissijaiseen kouluun hakeminen and submit it to the school principal or head teacher. A pupil can be admitted to a school in Espoo only if free study places remain after pupils who are Espoo residents have been admitted.

Decisions on admitting a pupil living in another municipality is made by the superintendent of schools (school principal or head teacher if the pupil studies in foreign-language or weighted-curriculum education). Transportation costs of a pupil living in other municipality are the responsibility of the guardians or the pupil's new home municipality.

Toissijaiseen kouluun hakeminen application form can be found on page Forms and applications for basic education. 

When moving abroad, the guardians of the pupil shall ensure that the pupil receives education corresponding to one's grade-level in basic education. The principal of the current school in Espoo shall be informed about moving, in order to agree about receiving a certificate of termination of studies.