School for a non-finnish speaker- will a PUBLIC school work?

[JJ1840]

We will be moving to Finland (already citizens by birth have our passports etc), but not Finnish speaking. We want to integrate into society and the plan is for our child to attend college later on. We don't want to do a private intl school.

For now, as a teenager (15) would our child be able to go to a local public school and be provided with help to catch up? I have read about this happening, but I don't know if it's true in the real world?

Thank you so much in advance, I'm hoping someone has an idea or some direction in which to point me!

[onkko]

15... he would be in grade 9 so... I would recommend to going english lukio (if he can get in) and learning finnish while in it, other way is to... well spend years on learning language and then try to get in finnish lukio/ammattikoulu. There is other than non-public english schools, non-public is for EU whateverworkers and costs a arm and leg.

English lukio and then if finnish is good enough finnish yliopisto/ammattikorkeakoulu or if not then english.

Is there english ammattikoulu?

There is programs to help older immigrant childs to finnish system but i dont know how effective those are or how much time it takes. And hell be with people who cant read or write etc. When he is 16 he is out of finnish "mandatory basic education" but of course they try to help.

Tell bit more about where you are moving from, where you are from (native english?) etc.
But anyway to not lose too much time i would say english lukio with finnish courses/immersion and rethink that after 3 years depending on his finnish skills then.

Penelope and other immigrants with childrens in here can probably tell more. Im just grumpy finn

[Rosamunda]

I would say 15 yrs is the worst possible time to transfer a child into schooling in Finland.

Anyway, the deadline for the Joint Application System (for High School) is very soon, but without a GPA (grade point average) in the system that won't work for you. I suppose you would have to apply to the schools of your choice individually as (what we call) "a Returning Finn".

There are some High Schools offering immigrant integration programmes. I think Maunula is one of them. Then there are High Schools with programmes taught in English (eg The English School and Kulosaaren Yhteiskoulu) but you still need to take the Finnish matriculation exam in Finnish and your son has practically no chance of achieving adequate fluency to pass. I think the English School offers SATS.

Then there are the IB World Schools. To get in to one of those you should "apply from abroad" with a reference from his current school. The main problem will be the language requirement because you have to study a Foreign Language in IB schools (English being the language of instruction it is not considered a Foreign Language) and not all the IB schools offer Finnish for Foreigners from scratch. He would need excellent academic grades to be accepted. The chances of learning any Finnish in an IB school are, in my opinion, close to zero. The kids all speak English, all the time.

There are also a few vocational programmes for High School students taught in English. But not many. There is one for auxiliary nurses and one or two for cooks. Maybe more, not sure.

My advice would be to stay where you are until your son has finished school. Alternatively either The English School or Maunula are probably good choices. But "help to catch up" is a serious understatement. Learning a language like Finnish from scratch at 15 yrs, is a tall order (even more so if he has no fluency in anything other than English) and I definitely would not want to share a house with an adolescent going through that. Good luck.

[JJ1840]

Thank you both so much for your quick replies! Too bad it's not good news This sounds pretty difficult to do! We will see...