City of Tampere - www.tampere.fi

Normal version

Choice of school

Tampere is divided into geographical catchment areas in accordance with which pupils are assigned to schools. There are three catchment areas in Tampere. The catchment areas have been approved by the Committee on Day Care and Education.

The catchment area is defined by the pupil’s home address. The City assigns a school for each pupil within his or her catchment area.

Pupils can choose another school if a certain subject or focus area is not provided in the school assigned to the pupil. A change of school is also possible on other grounds if there are places available in that school.
Maximum class sizes have been confirmed for each school in grades 7-9, and have also been confirmed in grades 1-6- for teaching groups in comprehensive school. Teaching groups for different subjects are formed on the basis of the total number of pupils in the school and the capacity of classrooms.

The criteria that affect the choice of school a pupil is assigned to include the distance between home and school, the traffic (conditions) in the area, the limitations of the school building and the pupil's potential need for special support.In addition, the city aims at starting groups of equal size in basic education.

Pupils in grades 1-6 and 7-9 who reside in Tampere have priority for a study place in a school assigned by the City. If there are places available in the school, even pupils outside the catchment area can be enrolled in that school.

Pupils who reside in Tampere have priority in obtaining a place in city-maintained schools, but pupils residing in other municipalities can also apply to schools in Tampere. For pupils residing in other municipalities, decisions on admission to a school are made by the Head of Education.

Catchment areas and schools (pdf, 626 KB)

Proceeding from one school to another (so-called school paths)

In basic education, pupils proceed and are transferred into the next school following a so-called school path.
The pupils move from one school to the next according to a fixed plan (see appendix below).

School paths 2013-2014 (pdf, 13 KB)