Need recommand of the place to settle down.

jestun · Post by **jestun** » Mon Feb 02, 2015 8:08 am

Hello.

I have received residence permit as employee.
And my new company is in Helsinki. I know the cost is very expensive to live in helsinki, so I am finding proper place to live where near to Helsinki.
Can you recommand good area for me? Of course, more near to Helsinki, more expensive.(my co-workers recommand me Kerava and Espoo. I hope to know the difference between these 2 cities.)
I am thinking about spending 1200EUR/month in house rental cost and I need the house that has more than 2 rooms and 1 living room because I have 2 boys(8,10).
I hope you to give me good advice.

Thanks in advance.

**Sponsor:**

FinnGuyHelsinki · Post by **FinnGuyHelsinki** » Mon Feb 02, 2015 10:53 am

You could be more specific regarding where in Helsinki the work place is, that can easily make a difference between the best options and something not really worth considering. Will you have a car? How much time are you willing to spend traveling to/from work?

jestun · Post by **jestun** » Mon Feb 02, 2015 12:35 pm

It is near to kamppi. And I do not have a car.
I will use train and within 30 min by train will be ok for me.

Thanks.

betelgeuse · Post by **betelgeuse** » Mon Feb 02, 2015 12:53 pm

jestun wrote:It is near to kamppi. And I do not have a car.
I will use train and within 30 min by train will be ok for me.

Southern Espoo is served by busses until he Metro is finished. With your requirements you could be pretty much anywhere in Espoo (except the forest areas in Northern Espoo) and reach Kamppi within that time. You should use http://www.reittiopas.fi or Google Maps to check the travel times. The prices pretty much go down as a function of distance.

Rosamunda · Post by **Rosamunda** » Mon Feb 02, 2015 1:07 pm

And what are your plans for schooling your sons because that is an important factor to consider too.

jestun · Post by **jestun** » Mon Feb 02, 2015 1:37 pm

Rosamunda wrote:And what are your plans for schooling your sons because that is an important factor to consider too.

Thanks. Rosa.
Until now I do not have enough information. I have 2 kids (8,10) and they can not speak English well.
But the International school looks very expensive, so I will send them to normal finish school.
I hope to find shcool that has a class that teach student in english.
Anyway, I could not decide any place to settle down, so I can not do anything for my kids school.
That is another problem. Thanks for considering that.

jestun · Post by **jestun** » Mon Feb 02, 2015 1:42 pm

tummansininen wrote:If you're asking for a four-room apartment (I'm not entirely sure from your post if you wanted three rooms in total or four), there are not many of them in Helsinki itself for under 1200. The best of them in my opinion would be this one in Haaga - it has a lot of students in the area but it's easily the best-connected to various transportation and quite peaceful in general. http://asunnot.oikotie.fi/vuokrattavat-asunnot/8859605

If you're asking for three rooms you have a large choice within budget. You could even afford Oulunkylä and Pukinmäki at that price (I live in Pukinmäki and it's very family-friendly but still only 4 train stops from the central station and has great services and bus links too).

If you opt to go outside Helsinki the public transport will cost more, so you might want to weigh up which matters more to you.

Thanks tummansininen.
I mean I wanto to have 1 living room, 1 bed room for me and my wife and 1 or 2 bed rooms for my 2 kids. so totally it will be 3 or 4 room.
I will check the area you've mentioned.

betelgeuse · Post by **betelgeuse** » Mon Feb 02, 2015 2:56 pm

jestun wrote:
tummansininen wrote: If you opt to go outside Helsinki the public transport will cost more, so you might want to weigh up which matters more to you.
Thanks tummansininen.
I mean I wanto to have 1 living room, 1 bed room for me and my wife and 1 or 2 bed rooms for my 2 kids. so totally it will be 3 or 4 room.
I will check the area you've mentioned.

Since you don't have any particular area in mind, I would just put the needed room size to oikotie and search from Espoo, Vantaa, Helsinki within your budget. I got 17 hits with my quick search.

Rosamunda · Post by **Rosamunda** » Mon Feb 02, 2015 4:18 pm

jestun wrote:
Rosamunda wrote:And what are your plans for schooling your sons because that is an important factor to consider too.
Thanks. Rosa.
Until now I do not have enough information. I have 2 kids (8,10) and they can not speak English well.
But the International school looks very expensive, so I will send them to normal finish school.
I hope to find shcool that has a class that teach student in english.
Anyway, I could not decide any place to settle down, so I can not do anything for my kids school.
That is another problem. Thanks for considering that.

Well, if you want to find a school that teaches in English you need to get a place in that school first and THEN look for an apartment in that area. On the other hand, if your children don't speak English very well then it is unlikely they will get a place in that kind of a school. There are not many places and they are intended for children with good English skills, especially if entering in 3rd or 4th grade. Espoo International School is about to move into the new building in Suurpelto. It's an area full of housing for young families and connections into Helsinki are quite good (will be better when the metro opens).

If you think you are going to live permanently in Finland then you should try and get them onto the immigrant integration programme where they will have intensive Finnish lessons before going into a normal class. A school like Maunula in Helsinki might be a good choice (I don't live in Helsinki so am not completely sure). But I do think you need to think about the schooling before you look for a place to live.

There are some bilingual schools in Espoo, Vantaa and Helsinki. Not sure about places like Kerava though.

Rosamunda · Post by **Rosamunda** » Tue Feb 03, 2015 8:19 pm

Yes, I totally agree - a Finnish State school is an excellent choice as long as the school has the resources to deal with children who don't speak fluent Finnish. From what I have heard there have been significant cutbacks - so I'm not sure that every primary school has those "Special Teachers" who can support immigrant children. And, I'm guessing, maybe your (tummansininen) spouse is a Finnish speaker. Having one Finnish-speaking parent in the home makes a MASSIVE difference compared to having none at all...

jestun · Post by **jestun** » Wed Feb 04, 2015 7:03 am

Hello, Everyone.
Thanks very much for your replies.
I think I will go to Espoo. and for my kids school, I will try to send them international school for 1 or 2 year to make them settle down.
During that time, I hope my kids to lear finnish a little to join normal school in Finland.
Is there anyone who knows well about internaltional school? I have checked but there is a kind of entrance test in English.
If they fail to enter, I will send them to normal shcool in Espoo.
Anyway thanks very much. I hope to feel this kind of very careful consideration in real Finland.
Thanks.

Flossy1978 · Post by **Flossy1978** » Wed Feb 04, 2015 7:48 am

If your children cannot speak English, forget the International Schools.

Put them straight into normal schools. Espoo is a multicultural city. There will be plenty of help for them, should they need it.

Rosamunda · Post by **Rosamunda** » Wed Feb 04, 2015 9:58 am

Like I said, the international school in Espoo is in the process of moving to a new location. Currently there is a primary school called Komeetta in Olari (Espoo) and another called Postipuu in Leppävaara (Espoo). The new location is in Suurpelto which is closer to Olari on Ring Road II. There is an entry test (interview and writing test) so good English is a requirement for getting in, especially if your children are moving in to Grades 3 & 4. There are no English-language Special Teachers in those schools (at least there weren't when my kids were there). Generally speaking it is difficult for children to learn Finnish in an English-speaking school (actually, it's almost impossible, I speak from experience).

There are other schools in Espoo which encourage active bilingualism Finnish/English which might be a better solution for you. You could try Tähtiniitty school (again it is in Olari). You might be able to get your children onto the immigrant integration programme in that school so that after getting up to speed in Finnish they would transition into the normal Finnish/English bilingual programme. Other immersion programmes like this are also run in other schools, listed here: http://www.espoo.fi/en-US/Childcare_and ... nstruction

This is the page you need to read: http://www.espoo.fi/en-US/Childcare_and ... _Education and some links to documentation in other languages here: http://www.espoo.fi/fi-FI/Paivahoito_ja ... kaat(2082)

There is a phone number at the bottom of that page where you can call and ask for more info (they will speak English) and some forms to fill in too. I recommend you call that number, ask for advice and then start searching for a flat as near as possible to the school they recommend. Espoo is a good choice for young families but there are also similar arrangements in places like Vantaa, Kerava, etc

jestun · Post by **jestun** » Fri Feb 06, 2015 3:04 am

Rosamunda wrote:Like I said, the international school in Espoo is in the process of moving to a new location. Currently there is a primary school called Komeetta in Olari (Espoo) and another called Postipuu in Leppävaara (Espoo). The new location is in Suurpelto which is closer to Olari on Ring Road II. There is an entry test (interview and writing test) so good English is a requirement for getting in, especially if your children are moving in to Grades 3 & 4. There are no English-language Special Teachers in those schools (at least there weren't when my kids were there). Generally speaking it is difficult for children to learn Finnish in an English-speaking school (actually, it's almost impossible, I speak from experience).

There are other schools in Espoo which encourage active bilingualism Finnish/English which might be a better solution for you. You could try Tähtiniitty school (again it is in Olari). You might be able to get your children onto the immigrant integration programme in that school so that after getting up to speed in Finnish they would transition into the normal Finnish/English bilingual programme. Other immersion programmes like this are also run in other schools, listed here: http://www.espoo.fi/en-US/Childcare_and ... nstruction

This is the page you need to read: http://www.espoo.fi/en-US/Childcare_and ... _Education and some links to documentation in other languages here: http://www.espoo.fi/fi-FI/Paivahoito_ja ... kaat(2082)

There is a phone number at the bottom of that page where you can call and ask for more info (they will speak English) and some forms to fill in too. I recommend you call that number, ask for advice and then start searching for a flat as near as possible to the school they recommend. Espoo is a good choice for young families but there are also similar arrangements in places like Vantaa, Kerava, etc

Thanks Rosamunda.

I have checked the Espoo site about bilingual shcool and there are 5 schools.
Do you think it is possible to send my kids to those school without exam or restriction? and is it common that the distance between house and school is within the radious 9km?
Thanks.

jestun · Post by **jestun** » Sat Feb 07, 2015 5:18 am

For immigrantor who can not speak english well and can not speak finnish at all, there is no special school for them. So I think I should send them to normal school even if there is no teacher who support such children.
I am a little bit depressed.

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