English high school - how to choose...?

foca · Post by **foca** » Wed Dec 14, 2011 11:58 pm

Two years ago we moved to Finland and my bilingual (one language is English) son started school in English here. We do not plan to live in Finland for the rest of our lives and we compromised by sending our 11 year old son to the school with English as the main language of instruction (otherwise he would have lost a year in a district school studying Finnish).Our school follows standard Finnish curriculum , on which I do not want to comment at the moment. My sons first year at school was plagued by his ever absent home room teacher (she had allergy and half a year spent away from her class being ill). He had to attend Finnish as a second language class twice a week – he learned next to nothing. We employed a tutor and the situation seems to be improving , though the problem is very obvious – he has no monolingual Finnish friends and he tends to speak English to his bilingual English-Finnish speaking classmates.
Though it is not the language that is the biggest problem (as I said we do not intend to live in Finland forever). We are generally not satisfied with the current school. Thus we decided to change school and are looking for a new one at the moment. There is a lot of English schools in Helsinki but we do not really know which one to choose. I spoke to REESU , it seems to be quite good, but it is really hard to get comprehensive information about different schools here. Does anyone have any opinion on English language high school education in Helsinki? Maybe you can comment on schools where your children are studying now or attended previously.. I will appreciate any help…Thank you in advance

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ajl · Post by **ajl** » Thu Dec 15, 2011 1:34 am

Two of ours went to Ressun peruskoulu. Few kids from there make it into the high school as
the grades required were high, although our older one might have had the grades to possibly
make it, depending on the cutoff.

Rosamunda · Post by **Rosamunda** » Thu Dec 15, 2011 5:35 pm

If your son is only 11, he won't be going to high school for another 5 years... so I assume you mean Lower Secondary (ie grades 7-8-9). There are not that many to choose from and getting in is not that easy as most of them are over-subscribed. I suggest you visit them one by one and make up your own mind rather than rely on what we say as it is such a subjective thing. But... as you say, the curriculum is the curriculum is the curriculum and it is the same in EVERY school. So, IB or not IB? That is the question. Ressu has a good reputation and it is one of the only schools in Finland to offer the full IB programme (ie MYP - Middle Years Programme - for your son). Quite difficult to get in though and possibly quite a competitive environment as the stakes are high (for the lukio). My understanding is that there are relatively few native English teachers there.

Two of mine were in Kulosaari yhteiskoulu. It is not really an English-speaking school any more, it has Finnishized itself in recent years. But I think we were all pretty happy with the place. It is quite dynamic and has good infrastructure and is funded through a foundation (as well as the state) so seems to have OK resources, but a bit ex-centralised if you live in Espoo. My youngest is in Espoo International and he is very happy there. The school is currently acquiring MYP accreditation so the staff are working their pants off. The only problem with that school is the building itself which ain't great (there are plans to build a new one but my son will have left by then). Most of the teachers are native English speakers. Nearly all the kids feed in from Postipuu and Komeetta.

Keplerinvaimo · Post by **Keplerinvaimo** » Thu Dec 15, 2011 11:01 pm

Sort of in the same boat, although for different reasons. We are also going to 7th grade next year. Are you in Helsinki district? If so, sometime in the next week (hopefully) we should be receiving the guide that lists out all the options for 7th grade and important dates.

Speaking with our class teacher today, it appears that entry testing for english classes will be 2nd February 2012.

All of the schools hold info nights for prospective students and parents during January as well as open days where you can see the school in action.

If your son is going to sit an aptitude test then you'll need to submit an application form by 23rd or 24th January. You list your preferences, and make sure you have options B and C... Just in case. (We went through this for Grade 1).

Regarding Kulosaari yhteiskoulu, they have three lines now: international which is primarily English with Finnish ASL; bilingual (ENG/FIN) and Finnish (caters primarily to enrolment area + others). What follows now is all personal anecdotes some friends with kids in this years' grade 7: girl in Finnish line (which was option # 2 - she didn't pass for the bilingual line) - could not be happier; boy in International line - not happy, should have gone to Ressu; boy in international line - going fine; (local) girl in bilingual line who traded up from Finnish class - again going well. It depends on so many things

We're in a bilingual class at Kulosaari A-A and most of the kids expect to go to KSYK.

Our plan: not 100% convinced that we'll even sit the test. Other issues at play.

Like Penny said, visit the schools and take it from there.

foca · Post by **foca** » Fri Dec 16, 2011 2:19 am

Sort of in the same boat, although for different reasons. We are also going to 7th grade next year. Are you in Helsinki district? If so, sometime in the next week (hopefully) we should be receiving the guide that lists out all the options for 7th grade and important dates.

We live in Vantaa , which qualifies for metropolitan area, though as far as I understand district rules still do apply and with the same grades our son might loose to a candidate from Helsinki proper. What do we do to get the same school guide? We intend to strive for IB since our son will most probably go for the 6-th form to England ( again we should make hard choices....).

Keplerinvaimo · Post by **Keplerinvaimo** » Fri Dec 16, 2011 4:10 pm

foca wrote:
We live in Vantaa , which qualifies for metropolitan area, though as far as I understand district rules still do apply and with the same grades our son might loose to a candidate from Helsinki proper. What do we do to get the same school guide? We intend to strive for IB since our son will most probably go for the 6-th form to England ( again we should make hard choices....).

It arrived today via the school. Two booklets, Helsingin peruskoulut Lukuvuosi 2012-2013 and Kuudesluokkalaisen opas Lukuvuosi 2012-2013. It's from Helsingin Opetusvirasto http://www.hel.fi/hki/Opev/fi/Etusivu - and there are links to both of these booklets on the bottom Hyvä tietää section. (Links still under construction this week!)

The key dates are:
9-20.1.2012 schools have info sessions.
24.1.2012 last date to nominate school and if to notify for aptitude test.
30.1-14.2.2012 testing dates.
15.3.2012 results sent home.
28.3.2012 last day to confirm acceptance of school place.

Good luck.

onkko · Post by **onkko** » Fri Dec 16, 2011 4:40 pm

foca wrote: (as I said we do not intend to live in Finland forever)

You dont intend but are you 100% sure? I mean totally sure without hesitation?
Do you have planned and agreed day when you move away?
Remember that you are now playing with your kids future so you better to be sure.

Rosamunda · Post by **Rosamunda** » Fri Dec 16, 2011 4:49 pm

If you live in Vantaa, you will probably not receive the Helsinki booklet (I haven't received it in Espoo) but you can probably consult it on-line or pick up a copy from somewhere in town (the Helsinki Board of Education is located in Hakaniemi).

If you are aiming for IB then you might have a problem since most students feed in from the PYP programme (I believe Ressu guarantees a place to all its grade 6 pupils, and it's the same in Espoo). The International School of Helsinki (ISH) is one solution if you have some spare cash, the European School is another http://www.esh.fi/modules/system/stdreq ... =1&C=21692 (though the grammar on their webpage doesn't inspire confidence...). And I have heard good reports from Tikkurila too (but not sure if they have an MYP programme).

foca · Post by **foca** » Sat Dec 17, 2011 8:07 pm

onkko wrote: You dont intend but are you 100% sure? I mean totally sure without hesitation?
Do you have planned and agreed day when you move away?
Remember that you are now playing with your kids future so you better to be sure.

Well I do not play with my sons future and do not say things without thinking first. We do not intend to stay in Finland forever.

Rosamunda · Post by **Rosamunda** » Sat Dec 17, 2011 11:05 pm

Moving back to the UK from Finland can be challenging. People I have spoken to who have done that have said that while their kids are streets ahead of British kids in languages (including English), they are behind in maths. One of my kids took some IGCSEs here in Finland (at Kulosaari) and while he got As in English and French he failed maths. It is almost imposible to complete the IGCSE curriculum inside the constraints of the Finnish core curriculum. So... you need to think about which subjects your son might want to take at A level.

foca · Post by **foca** » Wed Dec 21, 2011 11:29 pm

I do see that Finnish curriculum is lacking math...though we have a private tutor, let see where it gets us.

onkko · Post by **onkko** » Wed Dec 21, 2011 11:35 pm

foca wrote:I do see that Finnish curriculum is lacking math...though we have a private tutor, let see where it gets us.

And thats why we won PISA...

Upphew · Post by **Upphew** » Thu Dec 22, 2011 8:20 am

onkko wrote:
foca wrote:I do see that Finnish curriculum is lacking math...though we have a private tutor, let see where it gets us.
And thats why we won PISA...

But not in maths: http://yle.fi/uutiset/news/2010/12/finl ... 00222.html

Rosamunda · Post by **Rosamunda** » Thu Dec 22, 2011 9:22 am

PISA tests 15 year-olds. Not high-school students. And it's not a competition. But this is:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internatio ... l_Olympiad

(and there are no Finns in there).

As has been repeated a gazillion times... PISA ranks the average scores of entire populations. Finland has one of the best averages amongst OECD countries (ie the smallest gap between the academically brilliant and the barely literate). It doesn't have the highest achievers. The mathematics core curriculum for compulsory comprehensive education is way off IGCSE. I think short maths in lukio is maybe closer to IGCSE, but probably not quite there either. Maths A level in the UK is probably more like first-year university-level maths in Finland... But I'm sure there are plenty of academics out there who would beg to differ.

Upphew · Post by **Upphew** » Thu Dec 22, 2011 10:14 am

penelope wrote:The mathematics core curriculum for compulsory comprehensive education is way off IGCSE. I think short maths in lukio is maybe closer to IGCSE, but probably not quite there either. Maths A level in the UK is probably more like first-year university-level maths in Finland... But I'm sure there are plenty of academics out there who would beg to differ.

After I checked the first maths paper here I wondered what is so much harder with IGCSE than compulsory school maths...

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