anybody know why there is a school readiness test for children going to Tähtinitty and Komeetta, but not for children going to a regular Finnish school ?
I know of a family whose child failed the school readiness test for Tähtinitty and refused entry to Komeetta as well, so instead had to go to regular Finnish school
school readiness test
That must have been last year since the tests have not yet taken place for 2008 entry.
There are two different tests for Komeetta: the school readiness test and the English test. I believe they take place at the same time (usually in February), over a two-day period.
The school readiness test is not assessing the child's English skills though I understand it can be taken in English. The child should take the readiness test in his stronger language (Finnish or English).
You might find some more info on these pages:
http://www.eetu.fi/index.html
The applications procedure changes this year. There is a common English test for all English-language schools in Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa. And in Espoo, if you chose bilingual primary education, you can no longer specify your school (ie Jalavapuisto, Tahtiniitty or Kilonpuisto).
One of the reasons the English language and bilingual schools are quite strict with their selection criteria is that they do not have special ed resources (in English) to deal with any children that need (or may need) remedial care. A child with any kind of learning difficulty will get better support in a Finnish or Swedish language school, since they have the special ed teachers and the resources.
Also some foreigners try to get their children into primary school at 5 or 6 yrs old, since that is the starting school age in many other countries. However, Komeetta, Postipuu, Tähtiniitty etc are usually always over subscribed so, in the past, they have refused younger children simply because they give priority to children who are 7 yrs old.
Finally, some of the other entrance criteria have changed for Komeetta and Postipuu. I believe children who have spent more than two years abroad are now given priority... those criteria will be posted on the EETU website, they were presented to parents at the last meeting which took place a couple of weeks ago (but as far as I can tell the website has not been updated yet).
If you have any concerns or questions, I suggest you contact EETU directly or call the Espoo koulutuskeskus.
There are two different tests for Komeetta: the school readiness test and the English test. I believe they take place at the same time (usually in February), over a two-day period.
The school readiness test is not assessing the child's English skills though I understand it can be taken in English. The child should take the readiness test in his stronger language (Finnish or English).
You might find some more info on these pages:
http://www.eetu.fi/index.html
The applications procedure changes this year. There is a common English test for all English-language schools in Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa. And in Espoo, if you chose bilingual primary education, you can no longer specify your school (ie Jalavapuisto, Tahtiniitty or Kilonpuisto).
One of the reasons the English language and bilingual schools are quite strict with their selection criteria is that they do not have special ed resources (in English) to deal with any children that need (or may need) remedial care. A child with any kind of learning difficulty will get better support in a Finnish or Swedish language school, since they have the special ed teachers and the resources.
Also some foreigners try to get their children into primary school at 5 or 6 yrs old, since that is the starting school age in many other countries. However, Komeetta, Postipuu, Tähtiniitty etc are usually always over subscribed so, in the past, they have refused younger children simply because they give priority to children who are 7 yrs old.
Finally, some of the other entrance criteria have changed for Komeetta and Postipuu. I believe children who have spent more than two years abroad are now given priority... those criteria will be posted on the EETU website, they were presented to parents at the last meeting which took place a couple of weeks ago (but as far as I can tell the website has not been updated yet).
If you have any concerns or questions, I suggest you contact EETU directly or call the Espoo koulutuskeskus.