Finland · Helsinki
This is not International School of Helsinki and not an AEFE French lycée. It is HRSK — a Finnish state language school in Munkkivuori, Finnish curriculum, ylioppilastutkinto. The 2026 introduction PDFs say teaching is free. The lukio page still prints xx.xx.2027 for next year’s joint application.
Dieses Porträt steht noch auf Englisch. Die anderen Sprachen kommen Schule für Schule.
Curriculum laut Schule:Finnish National Core Curriculum · Finnish lukio / ylioppilastutkinto · DELF B2 and C1 offered in lukio
Unterrichtssprachen:Finnish, French
Helsingin ranskalais-suomalainen koulu — HRSK, French name Lycée franco-finlandais d’Helsinki — is a Finnish state language school, not a fee-paying international and not an AEFE lycée. The home page’s own sentence: a valtion ylläpitämä kielikoulu. Finnish and French. Esiopetus, alakoulu, yläkoulu, lukio. About 800 pupils in all; about 650 in basic education. Official site hrsk.fi. Address the invoicing page prints: Raumantie 4, 00350 Helsinki. Y-tunnus 0245912-2. VAT FI27697901.
Rehtori: Johanna Kumenius, 0295 33 2521. Apulaisrehtorit: Pirjo Pippuri (lukio), 0295 33 2522; Anu Piipponen (grades 7–9), 0295 33 2523; Merja Kukkanen (esi- and alakoulu), 0295 33 2524; Mehdi Chergui (French-language teaching specialist), 0295 33 2525. The hallinto page: for applications, internships or a visit, write M. Chergui. Guidance: Anna Mäenpää, 0295 33 2541, anna.maenpaa@hrsk.fi. Office: 0295 33 2512. Emails are firstname.lastname@hrsk.fi.
It is co-ed. It is a day school. There is no boarding house.
It is not the International School of Helsinki. It is not The English School. It is not Deutsche Schule Helsinki. It is not SYK. If a pack says “the French school in Helsinki,” ask which legal name is on the door, and which leaving paper.
The useful questions are Finnish. Can this child sit a Finnish and French language test? Do you want the ylioppilastutkinto, not the French Bac? And do you understand that the 2026 introduction PDFs say teaching is maksuton — and that HRSK is not the assigned lähikoulu, so you pay the commute yourselves?
Families who want a Finnish state childhood with a real French stitch, ending in the national matriculation, not a travelling IB invoice and not a French Bac corridor.
The home page: Finnish national curriculum, the school’s own timetable, a large part of basic education in French, exchange trips to France in grades 4 and 8. Lukio has a special educational task in French language and culture. Students may sit DELF B2 and C1, which the lukio page says can open a French university door without a separate language exam.
It will not suit a family who need English from preschool, a rolling international file in August, or the French Bac as if this were Paris. Walk ISH or an AEFE house in another capital if that is the paper. They share a map and almost no Monday.
ISH is a fee-paying IB continuum in Ruoholahti. HRSK is a Finnish state school that prints no pupil fee.
SYK is a Finnish private sopimuskoulu that also prints no pupil fee, starts at grade 3, and keeps an IB line. HRSK starts at esiopetus, is a state house, and finishes with the ylioppilastutkinto. Same city. Different legal story.
Deutsche Schule Helsinki is a German Auslandsschule with a private-school semester fee and the DIA. HRSK is Finnish state bilingual.
We will not call this an AEFE school. The school’s own pages call it a Finnish state language school. The leaving paper is Finnish. DELF is an extra official French exam inside that lukio, not a substitute for the Bac.
Raumantie, Munkkivuori, west Helsinki — not Ruoholahti and not Etelä-Haaga. Time that tram from the flat you will actually rent.
The 2026 preschool PDF: the free esikoulu day is 8:00–13:15, lunch at 10:30. Afternoon care 13:15–17:00 is maksullinen. We will not invent that afternoon fee. Three parallel groups in esikoulu, in grades 1–9, and in lukio, the grade-1 PDF says. The school cannot offer school transport. It offers group-level support only, not individual support.
The home page’s 2026 start: Wednesday 12 August, 8:15 (grade 1), 8:30 (esikoulu), 9:00 (grades 2–6), 9:30 (grades 7–9 and lukio).
This is a Finnish application year, not OpenApply. Wilma. The language test is free. The school’s own teachers hold it.
HRSK is not the statutory lähikoulu. The admissions page: parents pay travel. The preschool-to-grade-1 page: you still register the assigned municipal place when the letter comes, then cancel it in writing once the rehtori’s HRSK decision is accepted — within 14 days.
Esiopetus, 2026, as the admissions page and the preschool PDF print it. Electronic application in January. Language test Saturday 31 January 2026, Finnish and French, about 1.5–2 hours, in the preschool rooms. The child does not need to prepare. At least 20 pupils from outside via the tests. Both language parts need at least half the marks. If more children pass than seats, siblings first, then a lottery. If seats remain, preschool only may take a child on the Finnish test alone — at least 80%. VASU by the test day. Decision by email from noreply-asha@hrsk.fi by 31 March 2026, the PDF says; confirm the place within 14 days. Children from the parents’ association playgroup (Ranskalaisen koulun ystävät ry) may move to esikoulu without the language test, but they still fill the registration form.
Grade 1, 2026, as the grade-1 PDF prints it. Electronic application. Deadline 30 January 2026. Language test 31 January 2026. 72 grade-1 places in all. At least 12 of those via the language tests (Finnish + French). Decision and results by 31 March 2026. Identity document on the test day. Children already in HRSK esikoulu still sit the language test and still fill the form so the register moves; they need at least half in each language.
Grades 2–6: continuous application if a seat exists. Same two-language pass, siblings, then lottery. Individual tests. Free.
Grades 7–9: continuous application if a seat exists. Tests at the end of April and the start of August if places remain, and more flexibly when a child is still abroad. A child arriving from a Finnish-medium school need not re-prove Finnish; a child from a French-medium school need not re-prove French, if the previous report already shows the level.
Lukio 2027, as the admissions page prints it — and here we stop. The page still shows xx.xx.2027 for Opintopolku, the language-and-aptitude test, and the open evening. We will not invent those dates. What the same page does print: two lines. Special educational task, 45 places — language and aptitude test, or a DELF B1, then theoretical-subject average. General line, 15 places — theoretical-subject average, and an A1 or A2 French mark (or suoritettu) on the basic-education leaving certificate. Later lukio years: ask the office if a seat exists, then pass the language tests. A Finnish-certificate applicant sits French; a foreign-certificate applicant sits Finnish and French.
We will not invent a waitlist.
The 2026 grade-1 and preschool PDFs: maksuton opetus. Teaching is free. That is the tuition fact.
The preschool PDF also prints a free morning and a paid afternoon holding. Lunch sits inside the free preschool day. We will not invent an afternoon-care euro, a lunch euro for older years, or a trip fee.
The invoicing page is for suppliers. The school accepts e-invoices only. That is not a family tuition account.
The ylioppilastutkinto. The lukio page says spring 2025 results sat at the top of the STT lukio comparison. Treat that as the school’s own sentence, not a rank we calculated.
DELF B2 and C1 are extra official French exams. They are not the French Bac.
A child cannot be only-English and leave as if HRSK were ISH.
Ask whether this is an esikoulu file, a grade-1 January test, a rare mid-basic-education seat, or a lukio Opintopolku file — those are not the same Tuesday. Ask how much Finnish a shy seven-year-old will really have by the second spring, and how much French a Finnish-speaking child will actually live in after lunch. Ask what afternoon care costs, because free teaching is not the whole week. Ask whether the 2027 lukio dates have been printed yet. Ask what happens if the posting ends in November: this is a Finnish school year.
We are not ranking HRSK against ISH or SYK. We are not calling it AEFE. We are not guessing a waitlist.
Read the live admissions page and the 2026 grade-1 PDF before you resign a flat. This is a map. The school still has to be the right Tuesday.
Offizielle Seiten und Dokumente, die wir gelesen haben. Wenn eine Zahl für Budget oder Bewerbung zählt, öffnet den Link und prüft, ob er noch gilt.
Freundliche Orientierung, kein Antrag. Termine, Gebühren und Programme ändern sich. Alles bei der Schule prüfen.
Helsinki is not one international campus. It is a Finnish city where peruskoulu is the default, plus six official doors posting families name. Ask which paper the child will hold at eighteen.
16 minDie Buchstaben auf dem Abschlusszeugnis zählen. Sie sind nicht das ganze Kind. So unterscheidet ihr sie ohne Kopfschmerz — und ohne so zu tun, als bliebe jede Tür offen.
16 minIhr braucht keinen perfekten Algorithmus. Nur ein paar wahre Dinge über euer Kind, eine langweilige Liste am Kühlschrank — und den Mut, einen schönen Campus zu ignorieren, der nicht passt.
15 minDas Schulgeld ist die Zahl auf der Startseite. Das PDF ist die Zahl, die im März kommt. Hier steht, wie ihr die zweite lest, ohne einen Euro, eine Krone oder eine Frist zu erfinden.