Single father with two children in Helsinki

[RobWatson]

Dear friends,

I have rencently moved to Helsinki from The Netherlands, and I am wondering how possible it would be for my children (6 and 4) to join me. I have a good job, but maybe the English schools are too expensive. It would be tough, but I miss them a lot, and it may be necessary.

I live in Kallio, work in town. No car, so any suggestions about schools, aftercare, etc (you know all about it) , would be appreciated.

Rob

[Rosamunda]

Primary school starts in the year the child turns 7. So kids born in 1999 start school this August, 2006. There are primary schools that teach in English in Helsinki, Vantaa and Espoo. They are state schools and therefore free (with the exception of the International School of Helsinki which charges approx 12 k euro per child per year). However you child would have to be a fluent English speaker to be accepted as there are admission tests. These schools teach the Finnish national curriculum in English, they do not offer English foreign language. The English School in Helsinki is in a slightly different category, it does take children who do not speak English. http://www.eschool.edu.hel.fi/index.html

If you are staying in Finland long term then I suggest immersion, bilingual schooling where the children start off in English and then gradually do more and more Finnish. There are also integration programmes for immigrant children.

http://www.minedu.fi

There is a search engine on the above site where you can find details for all the lower comprehensive (grades 1-6) schools in Helsinki.

I'm no expert on primary schools in Helsinki but I have 2 kids (3rd and 6th grade) in Espoo international school (English language teaching) and one in 7th grade at Kulosaari school (also English language schooling) in Helsinki. Would be happy to answer your questions.... Can't help much with pre-school but there are quite a few English language pre-schools in Helsinki so getting in to one shouldn't be a problem. If you have a KELA card you should qualify for a state subsidy for pre-school education but I'm not sure about the amounts and the criteria.

I'm sure you'll get some more posts after the bank holiday weekend...

[Hairi T.]

If so, then perhaps you would consider integrating the children into the culture. If not, then you should try to keep the kids' foreign language skills strong. Whether that's possible ... is something this forum can tell you a lot about. Funny that there weren't many answers to your post. Maybe the question "how to live in Finland, with kids, before integrating, or without any intention of integrating" is too large; you'll learn about it by reading almost any discussion on FinlandForum.

Another question, which hopefully will not offend you, is whether you might consider moving back to Holland, so as to provide stability to your kids. I am trying to STAY in Finland to provide stability for my child, so the alure of working abroad appears every time I open my computer.

Presumably, your children are both in school now and understand their teachers. (Dutch school starts at age 4, right?) If you bring them here, how long will it be before they could understand a teacher in Swedish? in Finnish? There are services for this, called "language baths," and I guess your 6-year-old could go next year, before starting school. Maybe Swedish would be easier to learn than Finnish.

[Tonia]

If you need any advice or if your kids are already here in Finalnd maybe I can help?

[litcritchick]

I am a single parent of a seven year old boy, coming to Tampere to teach at the University for six months. I am from New York and would like to meet other parents and single parents in Finland of any nationality to get together in Tampere, Helsinki etc to do activities and to help us learn about Finland. We like sports, the outdoors, cultural events, etc.

We arrive January 4, 2007. Hope to hear from you. You can write to me at cjf@pipeline.com

I just joined this list. It's a great resource! Cheryl

[enk]

If no one has alerted you to it yet, Global Villagein Tampere is great!

-enk