School enrolment

Notification concerning children of compulsory school age moving to Vaasa will be given electronically.

Fill out the electronic form here

More information:

• Administrative secretary Annika Härkönen, tel. 040 520 4516, annika.harkonen@vaasa.fi
• Administrative secretary Therese Kangas, tel. 040 647 5611, therese.kangas@vaasa.fi
• perusopetus@edu.vaasa.fi

Preparatory teaching for basic education

Children who do not yet have sufficient Finnish or Swedish language skills to study in basic education participate in preparatory teaching for basic education.

Children will transition to their local school after completing their preparatory teaching for basic education.

A child is registered for school the year the child turns seven years old.

Registration is done electronically through Wilma. Guardians of children in pre-school already have Wilma in use. If necessary, guardians can request Wilma IDs from the teachers of the preschool group.

In Wilma, the local school assigned to the child can be seen when registration starts in January.

Parents can, if they wish, request a change of school or a special educational line (music classes, bilingual and English-language teaching) by filling out an application in Wilma.

The decision on the selected school will be notified to families by mail during March.

Familiarisation day as well as school days and holiday times

Preschool children come to see their future school in May. Schools and pre-school teachers inform the homes about the time of the visitation day.

If possible, a meeting will also be arranged for guardians before the start of the school year.

See basic education year and holidays

At the beginning of the academic year, the pupil’s personal timetable is sent home, which shows the start and end times of the school days.

Teaching in Grade 1

A Grade 1 pupil has 20 hours of teaching per week.

Subjects in Grade 1:

• mother tongue and reading & writing skills
• mathematics
• environmental studies
• religion or ethics
• A1 language (English in Finnish-language basic education, Finnish in Swedish-language basic education)
• handicrafts
• fine art
• music
• physical education

The school also teaches multidisciplinary learning modules, where pupils learn about themes and phenomena that cross subject boundaries.

Language studies

Basic education in Finnish:

• Grade 1: English language study begins (A1 language)
• Grade 4: A2 language study begins: you can choose another national language, i.e. Swedish or a foreign language (French, German, Russian). The choice of language is made during Grade 3, and guardians are informed about it separately through Wilma.

Basic education in Swedish:

• Grade 1: Finnish language study begins (A1 language)
• Grade 3: pupils can start studying English as an optional subject
• Grade 4: pupils continue studying English as an A2 language

Curriculum and objectives

The school works according to the city’s curriculum, which follows the principles of the national curriculum. The teacher chooses the teaching methods and working methods that are the most suitable for the class to achieve the curriculum goals.

Meals

School transportation

Morning and afternoon activities

Support for learning and schooling

Pupil welfare

The child’s school is determined by the place of residence, i.e. the official place of residence entered in the population register. A local school is one of the schools in the area.

School admission areas and local school districts

Finnish-language basic education is divided into school admission areas. The City of Vaasa is divided into two admission areas: the first area includes the schools of the city centre and the northern district. The second area includes the schools of the eastern and Vähäkyrö districts.

Basically, a child is assigned a place at a school in their own school admission area. It is not always possible to designate the geographically closest school as a local school.

An alternative to the local school

Parents can request a change of school if they wish.

You can apply for a change of school when applying for the first grade:

• to a school other than the designated local school
• to a special educational line (music classes, Swedish language immersion, bilingual or English teaching)
• to an alternative to the basic education arranged by the City of Vaasa (Vaasan kristillinen koulu, Rudolf Steiner koulu)

A change of school is requested by filling out an application in Wilma. It is possible to change the local school, if there is room in the school requested by the guardians.

Requesting a change of school in other cases:

• If the child transfers to another school in the middle of the school year, the basic education administration and regional principals are contacted. See the regional principals’ contact information at the bottom of the basic education webpage.

Transition from primary school to secondary school

A school path from primary school to secondary school is formed in connection with all secondary schools in the city. The transition from primary school to secondary school takes place without a separate application.

Transfers to Merenkurkun koulu (secondary school) are made from the following schools

• Suvilahden koulu
• Hietalahden koulu
• Keskuskoulu

Transfers to Onkilahden yhtenäiskoulu are made from the following schools

• Onkilahden yhtenäiskoulu (primary school)
• Isolahden koulu
• Länsimetsän koulu

Transfers to Variskan yhtenäiskoulu are made from the following schools

• Variskan yhtenäiskoulu (primary school)
• Nummen koulu
• Huutoniemen koulu

Transfers to Savilahden yhtenäiskoulu are made from the following schools

• Savilahden yhtenäiskoulu (primary school)
• Merikaarron koulu
• Tervajoen koulu

Local school districts

Local school districts are used in Swedish-language basic education. There are five school areas: Gerby skola, Haga skola, Sundom skola, Vasa övingsskola and Vikinga skola. See the areas in the map service

Instructions for using the map service:

• Open the menu on the left-hand side
  • Select the following information to be displayed on the map
  • Education
  • Local school area, Swedish speaking

A child’s school is determined according to the official local address entered in the population register.

Transition from Grade 6 to Grade 7

A school path from primary school to secondary school is formed in connection with all secondary schools in the city. The transition from primary school to secondary school takes place without a separate application.

Alternatives to the local school

You can apply for a change of school:

• to a school other than the designated local school
• to a special educational line (teaching in English)
• Vasa Övningsskola
• to an alternative to the basic education arranged by the City of Vaasa (Vaasan kristillinen koulu, Rudolf Steiner koulu)

A child who is granted a secondary school place and who changes to a school other than a nearby school does not have the right to free school transport or a transport subsidy. It is possible to change the local school, if there is room in the school requested by the guardians.

Changing the local school

• Apply for a change of local school for a child going from preschool to Grade 1 by filling out an application in Wilma in January.
• A child transitioning from Grade 6 to Grade 7 can apply for a change of local school by filling out an application in Wilma or using a form in January.

You can get an alternative school place on the following grounds:

• The pupil’s state of health according to the opinion of the school psychologist.
• School attendance continues at the same school, even if the pupil moves to another nearby school district.
• In addition to the above criteria, the safety and length of the trip to school and the pupil’s possible siblings in the same school can be taken into account.

A change of school is applied for using a PDF form that can be printed from this link (in Swedish). The buttons on the form work when you save the PDF file on your computer and open it with Adobe Reader or a similar PDF file reading program.

The form is sent to the following address: City of Vaasa, Swedish Basic Education, PL 2, 65101 Vaasa, or as an attachment by email to grundlaggande@edu.vaasa.fi.

Compulsory schooling begins the year the child turns seven. You can also start school a year earlier or later.

According to Section 27 of the Basic Education Act, a child has the right to start basic education a year earlier or later than stipulated. A psychologist’s or doctor’s statement must be attached to the application.

Print the application form (pdf) (Swedish)

Print the application form (pdf) (Finnish)

The form is submitted to the Basic Education Administration.

A special educational line means that certain teaching subjects are emphasised, such as music or languages.

Read more about how to access a special educational line