Finland · Helsinki
This is the Ruoholahti campus, not Hellerup and not a neighbourhood peruskoulu. English in the classroom, Finnish as a legal obligation if the child is a Finnish citizen, and a fee summary the school prints in euros.
Ce portrait est encore en anglais. Les autres langues arrivent école par école.
Programme tel que l’école le publie:Finnish Early Childhood Education and Care (Discovery and Explorers) · IB Primary Years Programme · IB Middle Years Programme · IB Diploma Programme · ISH High School Diploma
Langues d’enseignement:English, Finnish (mother tongue for Finnish citizens; also as a foreign language)
International School of Helsinki sits at Selkämerenkatu 11, 00180 Helsinki, in Ruoholahti — water, newish flats, and a short metro hop from the centre. The official website is ishelsinki.fi. Main office: +358 9 6866160, mainoffice@ishelsinki.fi. Admissions: ishadmissions@ishelsinki.fi. Head of school named on the employment page: Dr Mónica Gilbert-Sáez.
It is a day school. The FAQ is blunt: no boarding, no accommodation. A child must live with at least one parent or a designated guardian. The school wants that arrangement verified.
Do not confuse this campus with International School of Hellerup in Denmark (ish.dk). Same initials, different country, different fee currency, different law.
The About page offers ages 4–19, “over forty nationalities,” and three family types: diplomatic, mobile expatriate, and local families who want an open-minded education. The FAQ says “more than 50 different nationalities.” Treat both as the school’s own snapshots. The language policy, written for 2025–26, prints a home-language mix of about 40% English, 14% Finnish, 46% other. That is a policy-page picture, not a census we counted.
The history page starts in 1963 as a British Preparatory School, moves through Espoo and Töölö, takes the ISH name in 1976, adds upper grades, and lands on this Ruoholahti site in 1996. IB Diploma from 1992. PYP authorised 2003, MYP 2004, and the school calls itself Finland’s first fully IB-accredited school in 2005. CIS and NEASC sit on the accreditation story; the last joint re-accreditation the history page names is November 2020. In March 2026 the Parents’ Association voted to proceed with an ISH Annex; construction is dated May 2026 on that same page. Ask what “Annex” means for this year’s playground before you fall in love with a site plan.
The useful questions are Finnish. Can this child work in English by Grade 9? If they are a Finnish citizen, do you understand they must study Finnish as mother tongue — by citizenship, not by the language written in the Population Information System? Can you pay the published euros, including a non-residency add-on if the child is not in a Finnish municipality? And if you might stay, do you understand that an IB Diploma plus an ISH High School Diploma is not a Finnish ylioppilastutkinto?
ISH “seeks to accept all eligible applicants.” Eligibility, on the admissions policy page, is two sentences: the school can meet the educational need, and the child can meet attendance and behaviour expectations. Then the conditions that actually sort the year.
Space. Admission through the year if a seat exists.
Placement. Age and prior school, with a flexible approach — the school’s words. Final placement is the school’s.
Minimum stay. Generally at least one semester.
Residency. Live with a parent or a named guardian.
Full disclosure. Hide a learning need and the enrolment can be unwound.
It serves diplomats, movers, and Helsinki families who want IB rather than a Finnish municipal school. The Parents’ Association is a Finnish registered non-profit that owns the school; the Board of Governors is elected from that association. That is a parent-governed school, not a chain campus.
It is not a specialist SEN school. Student Support says it is inclusive and will ask for more papers if a learning difference might block success. The expectation is that you share everything so you can decide together. That is a kindness if you use it, and a problem if you do not.
One city site in Ruoholahti, not a forest campus. The About page talks about iPads and laptops in Lower School, a laptop each in Upper School, and a busy After School Activities programme — sports, arts, music, field trips, and CEESA tournaments for older students. ASA is organised in three seasons. Lower School may take up to four activities a season (three in kindergarten). Middle and high school also cap at four, and at two events that travel outside Finland. A club needs 10 students to run, with a few listed exceptions. Fees sit on the registration forms, not on a public price list we could quote. Contact for activities: activities@ishelsinki.fi.
There is a hot lunch programme. There is no school uniform. There is video surveillance on campus, the privacy notice says, for security.
Ask to see an ordinary Grade 3 classroom and the Grade 9 corridor, not only a CEESA trophy cabinet. Ask where Grade 1 plays when the Annex is a building site. Ruoholahti wind in January is a real childhood fact.
Book a visit through admissions. In the holidays, the FAQ sends you to the main office number instead.
Early Years — Discovery and Explorers. ISH is a licensed pre-kindergarten in Finland. Discovery and Explorers run the Finnish Early Childhood Education and Care curriculum inside the IB PYP frame. Teachers are trained in both, the learning page says. Cut-offs on the FAQ: four by 1 September for Discovery, five by 1 September for Explorers, six by 1 September for Grade 1.
PYP, Discovery through Grade 5. Integrated units of inquiry, plus maths, language, and specialists: art, PE, music, Finnish home language, Finnish foreign language, French, and ICT. From Grade 1, students who are not Finnish nationals, not in EAL, and not in Learning Support choose Finnish or French as an additional language and are expected to stay with that choice through PYP. Changes are “exceptional educational circumstances” only.
MYP, Grades 6–10. A full five-year Middle Years Programme. Placement exams for language-acquisition courses on entry to Grades 6–12. A writing sample helps place Language and Literature.
Grades 11–12. Every student who meets ISH graduation requirements earns an ISH High School Diploma, described as equivalent to an American high-school diploma. All students may take the extra requirements for the IB Diploma. Those who complete the IB Diploma also receive the high-school diploma. The language policy explains the IB bilingual diploma (two Group 1 languages, or Group 1 plus a Group 3 or 4 subject in another language). Ask the IB office which of those routes is live for this child.
The learning page’s five principles — individualised, social, reflective, authentic, lifelong — are philosophy. The practical test is whether a quiet seven-year-old can find a friend in week two.
Instruction is in English. Spanish, French and Finnish as a foreign language, and Finnish mother tongue, are on the learning page. Swedish as a second national language must be offered under the school’s permits; the language policy says ISH may offer it in Upper School if enrolment and staffing allow. That is not the same as “Swedish is on the timetable this year.” Ask.
Finnish citizens are the sentence parents miss. The 2025–26 language policy, citing the Ministry permits of 4 October 2021 (basic and pre-primary) and 21 September 2023 (upper secondary), says every Finnish citizen studies Finnish as mother tongue (äidinkieli ja kirjallisuus) from Grade 1 through the end of compulsory education, typically age 16, and continues Finnish Literature in the Diploma. The trigger is citizenship, not the mother tongue in the population register. The school calls this a factual administrative action, not a decision you can appeal. A Finnish citizen who is not yet strong in Finnish is still placed by the school under that legal duty.
Non-citizens may join Finnish or Swedish where the group is viable. Strong non-citizen Finnish speakers may enter Finnish Language and Literature.
EAL. Early Years to Grade 8: no prior English required; targeted support. Grades 9–12: enough English to succeed in high school, judged on the file, an interview, and sometimes an extra assessment. The FAQ says intermediate or above for Grade 9 and up, possibly via an EAL admissions test. The language policy identifies EAL candidates as students whose first language is not English and/or who have not had English-medium school for at least three years. Home languages are encouraged: MYP Independent Language Studies in Grades 9–10; DP School-Supported Self-Taught Literature with online tutoring in Grades 11–12.
If you want a child who can live in Helsinki rather than only commute through it, ask how many hours of Finnish, how sets are made, and what a January arrival is doing by June. If the child holds a Finnish passport, ask the mother-tongue question twice.
Applications run on OpenApply. Documents in English, or originals plus translations.
Early Years (Discovery and Explorers): form, enrolment and payment agreement, passport copy, last two years of reports if they exist, parent survey, Early Years teacher reference, IEP and recent assessments if there is learning support, and €350 application fee per student, card only.
Grades 1–5: the same shape, with a Lower School teacher reference instead of the Early Years one.
Grades 6–12: add an introductory letter by the applicant in English, plus Upper School teacher, English-teacher and maths-teacher references.
A complete file is reviewed. Faulty or thin information can reverse a yes. Interviews happen for Grades 9–12, for learning-support applicants, when papers need clarifying, or when placement is unclear. There are no entrance exams in the FAQ’s sense; there is an English bar from Grade 9.
Placement looks at the previous system, hemisphere, English, and prior grade. The school decides.
Tours: email admissions. Bring the current reports. If the child might need support, say so before you pay the €350.
ISH is a private school on tuition. It receives grants from the Finnish and US governments; the fees page says those grants cover only a portion of costs. A non-residency fee is added where it applies. The 2026–27 summary we fetched does not print that add-on as a number. Ask the Business Office (veronikaa@ishelsinki.fi, hanl@ishelsinki.fi) for the live non-residency figure before you budget a posting that has not yet registered a municipality.
Annual tuition if you pay as a single sum (basic + supplementary, from the April 2026 summary PDF):
| Grade | Basic | Supplementary | Total 2026/27 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Early Years | €12,432 | €0 | €12,432 |
| Grades 1–5 | €8,914 | €4,830 | €13,744 |
| Grades 6–8 | €8,914 | €5,656 | €14,570 |
| Grades 9–10 | €8,914 | €6,470 | €15,384 |
| Grades 11–12 | €8,914 | €7,694 | €16,608 |
Trimester option (the same PDF; includes a payment-option fee). Due 30 June 2026, 31 October 2026, 28 February 2027:
| Grade | Year total on this plan | 30 Jun | 31 Oct | 28 Feb |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Early Years | €12,612 | €4,411.20 | €4,411.20 | €3,789.60 |
| Grades 1–5 | €13,924 | €4,870.40 | €4,870.40 | €4,183.20 |
| Grades 6–8 | €14,750 | €5,159.50 | €5,159.50 | €4,431.00 |
| Grades 9–10 | €15,564 | €5,444.40 | €5,444.40 | €4,675.20 |
| Grades 11–12 | €16,788 | €5,872.80 | €5,872.80 | €5,042.40 |
The summary points to a fuller terms PDF for refunds and what “non-residency” means. We are not reconstructing those rules from an older year’s schedule. Read the live link on the fees page.
Application: €350 per student, card, on the current requirements page.
Kela. Discovery and Explorers with a Finnish municipality of residence are “likely to be eligible” for private daycare support. The school says full-time support typically averages around €500 a month per child, and that it can differ by income or by a municipality other than Helsinki. You apply. Tell the Business Office so they can do the electronic WH2. If approved, Kela pays the school, and the school credits your invoices. That is not a discount OIS-in-Oslo style. It is a Finnish benefit you may or may not get.
ASA, CEESA trips and lunch are extra. Trip invoices go out 6–8 weeks before travel. We are not inventing those prices.
A first-year Grade 6, paid in one sum by a resident family, is not “about €15,000.” It is application + €14,570, plus lunch, ASA, and any non-residency add-on we could not print. Confirm the live PDF.
Support covers additional educational needs (access or extension), EAL, and social-emotional or behavioural needs. The admissions policy still requires that the school can meet the need inside its programme. If it cannot, the honest outcome is a no, not a hopeful yes. Bring the IEP and the recent assessments. Ask what “success” means in Grade 10 English if the child arrived in August with very little.
Ask whether the Annex will move this child’s classroom. Ask how Finnish is grouped for a non-citizen, and how it is grouped for a citizen who has lived abroad. Ask who teaches Self-Taught Literature in your language this year. Ask whether Swedish is actually running in Upper School. Ask what the non-residency fee is this year, in writing. Ask how Kela timing works if you arrive in October. Ask Grade 5 and Grade 9, not only the lobby. Ask what happens if the posting ends after one semester — the minimum stay is generally a semester, and refund rules live in the full terms, not in this portrait.
If you might stay in Finland, ask how the ISH High School Diploma and the IB Diploma sit against a later move into a Finnish lukio or a Finnish university. Do not let a friend’s memory from 2019 answer that.
We are not ranking ISH among Helsinki options. We are not guessing a waitlist or an enrolment count. We are not printing a 2026–27 capital, registration, or non-residency figure that the summary PDF did not show. We are not treating “prestigious universities” on the About page as your child’s forecast.
Read the fee summary and write to admissions before you resign a flat in another country. This is a map. The school still has to be the right Tuesday.
Pages et documents officiels lus. Si un chiffre compte pour le budget ou le dossier, ouvrez le lien et vérifiez qu’il est encore valable.
Orientation amicale, pas une candidature. Dates, frais et programmes bougent. Vérifiez tout auprès de l’école.
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 minLes lettres du diplôme de sortie comptent. Elles ne sont pas l’enfant entier. Voici comment les distinguer sans mal de tête, et sans prétendre que chaque porte reste ouverte.
16 minVous n’avez pas besoin d’un algorithme parfait. Seulement quelques vérités sur votre enfant, une liste un peu ennuyeuse sur le frigo, et le courage d’ignorer un beau campus qui ne vous va pas.
15 minLa scolarité est le chiffre de la page d’accueil. Le PDF est celui qui arrive en mars. Voici comment lire le second, sans inventer un euro, une couronne ou un délai.