Primary/secondary school entrance examinations

[estherk]

The asukaspuisto in Olari is very nice. My youngest used to go there sometimes.

Hi Penelope,

It is nice but my daughter is not able to walk there alone as it's quite far from her school, she is still 6 and a bit clueless! No-one else from her school goes there either. I don't know what to do, this whole school thing has been a stress I wanted to have nice memories of the first started school!

[Rosamunda]

If your daughter is in Tähtiniitty there is an asukaspuisto just across the road on the other side of the Kuitinmäki school playing field. That is maybe only 200m from Tähtiniitty school. I don't think you have to live in that area, at least my son was able to go there and we live in Friisilä which is much further away. She will meet children from Komeetta there, probably some them English speaking.

The only other thing you can do is keep on at the afterschool club and the social affairs dept in Espoo (if you are both working full-time and your daughter is only 6 you should have priority) for a space. But they have to bide by the rules (number of kids per assistant): if they have filled their quota, they are just not allowed to take on extra kids.

I agree that the system is crazy... the fact that young children finish school so early (sometimes at 12:00 or 13:00) and there are no adequate provisions for after-school care. The only other solution I can think of is that you put your daughter back into pre-school for one year and then enrol her in school for Autumn 2010 (this is done in January for school and the after-school club at the same time). If she is not yet 7, she will still only have a few months difference with her oldest classmates. Either that or you will have to move nearer to her school so she can make her own way home. Have you tried the afterschool clubs in the other schools? Maybe there are some spaces in Komeetta's club (they have two there, the Finnish one was never as full as the English club). I'm not sure if they take kids from other schools, but why not? If they have spaces.

[estherk]

If your daughter is in Tähtiniitty there is an asukaspuisto just across the road on the other side of the Kuitinmäki school playing field. That is maybe only 200m from Tähtiniitty school. I don't think you have to live in that area, at least my son was able to go there and we live in Friisilä which is much further away. She will meet children from Komeetta there, probably some them English speaking.

The only other thing you can do is keep on at the afterschool club and the social affairs dept in Espoo (if you are both working full-time and your daughter is only 6 you should have priority) for a space. But they have to bide by the rules (number of kids per assistant): if they have filled their quota, they are just not allowed to take on extra kids.

I agree that the system is crazy... the fact that young children finish school so early (sometimes at 12:00 or 13:00) and there are no adequate provisions for after-school care. The only other solution I can think of is that you put your daughter back into pre-school for one year and then enrol her in school for Autumn 2010 (this is done in January for school and the after-school club at the same time). If she is not yet 7, she will still only have a few months difference with her oldest classmates. Either that or you will have to move nearer to her school so she can make her own way home. Have you tried the afterschool clubs in the other schools? Maybe there are some spaces in Komeetta's club (they have two there, the Finnish one was never as full as the English club). I'm not sure if they take kids from other schools, but why not? If they have spaces.

My daughter goes to Päivänkehrän koulu our local school, so the ap is a bit further away but not impossible. She can't come home alone as she doesn't know how to use the front door key,(I've tried to teach her) bless her. I called the social affairs department and 2 weeks ago they promised to call me back with a solution....still waiting even called a few times, but like Cory said their attitude is tough luck! All the after school clubs are oversubscribed, for example the MLL club has space for 30 kids they have 50! I must admit I hadn't thought about repeating pre-school, would slove a few problems.