Admissions

The Finnish International School of Tampere has preschool and grades 1-9. 

New students can start at FISTA in preschool, grade 1 or grade 7. It is also possible for new students to apply to other grades if they move to the Tampere region and have attended English medium education before.

All potential new students in grades 1-9 are asked to take a language test before starting at FISTA.  

Priority is given to students who live in Tampere.

FISTA open application

Grade level by birth year in the Finnish school system

Preschool 

When assigning places, priority is given to children who speak English at home or have attended English language early childhood education. There are no language tests for preschool. If there are more applicants than available places, priority is given to applicants living in Tampere. If necessary, the places are assigned by lottery among the applicants who live in Tampere.

Children attending English language preschool education do not automatically transfer to first grade at the Finnish International School of Tampere. First grade students are selected based on the language test in the spring of the preschool year. It is also possible to apply to first grade at FISTA without attending preschool at FISTA. Read more about 1st grade admissions here.

In addition to preschool hours (4h/day, 9-13 in the school year 2025-2026) the child can be signed up for morning and/or afternoon activities for a monthly fee. Read more about the morning and afternoon activities available here.

School year 2025-2026 (children born in 2019): Preschool application school year 2025-2026 Applications open 10.-29.1.2025. Families who are moving to Tampere after the preschool enrollment period closes can keep applying after the deadline. 

NB: Do not try to change the site the language, just click the green button to proceed. The application form is available in both Finnish and English!

School year 2026-2027 (children born in 2020): Applications open 8.-28.1.2026. (Link to come)

1st grade 

It is possible to apply to 1st grade at the Finnish International School of Tampere during the calendar year the child reaches the age of seven. Also a child who is one year younger can be selected providing that the guardian presents an assessment of school readiness made by a Finnish psychologist before the child's participation in the language test.

Online info event about 1st grade admissions Tue 25.11.2025. See the slideshow here

Applications open 5.-21.1.2026. 

It is possible for a student to apply to 1st grade after the application period is over only if the child moves to the Tampere region and the child's home language is English, or the child has studied in an English medium school for at least one school year. If you have moved or are moving to Tampere after the first grade enrollment period closes, please fill in the open application on top of this page, and contact the FISTA coordinator to arrange a language test date.

1st grade language test arrangements

The 1st grade language tests take place 4.-5.2.2026. The exact test time and date will be sent to the child's guardians by email during the previous week. If the child is sick on the day of the test, the guardians must provide a note from a doctor or nurse so that the child can come take the test at a later date. It is possible to participate in the first grade test only once.

The language test tests the child's functional English skills with an interview and listening comprehension exercises. There are no reading or writing tasks in the test. The test takes approx. one hour, and the child does not need to study or prepare for the test in any way.

The students are selected on the basis of their scores in the test. The child must score a minimum of 60% of the total points. The child must score points in each section of the test. Guardians will be informed about the test results by email, by 18.2.2026 at the latest.

There are a minimum of 20 and a maximum of 88 places available in the 1st grade classes at the Finnish International School of Tampere every year. The maximum size of the groups is determined in the service contract. If there are more applicants than available places, priority is given to applicants living in Tampere. No priority is given to applicants who have siblings at FISTA, who live close to FISTA, or have attended the FISTA preschool.

Only children achieving the minimum confirmed score can be admitted into programmes with a special emphasis in the curriculum. The students who were not admitted in February but who obtained the minimum confirmed score in the test will be placed on a waiting list in the order of their respective language test scores, with applicants living in Tampere taking priority. Should places become available, new students are selected following waiting list list until the beginning of the school year in August.

7th grade

It is possible to apply to 7th grade at the Finnish International School of Tampere during the city-wide application period for schools with a special emphasis in the curriculum.

Online info event about 7th grade admissions Tue 18.11.2025. See the slideshow here 

Applications open 24.11.-8.12.2025.  
Students in Tampere schools: Applications in Wilma. In the browser version of Wilma, open "Applications and decisions", then "New Application".
Students outside of Tampere ONLY: Fill in application here

New student can apply to 7th grade after the application period ends only if the child moves to the Tampere region and the child's home language is English or the child has studied in an English medium school for at least one school year. If you have moved or are moving to Finland after the seventh grade enrollment period closes, please fill in the open application on top of this page, and contact the FISTA coordinator to arrange a language test date.

7th grade language test arrangements

The 7th grade language test is on 14.1.2026. Invitations to the test will be sent out by email by 17.12.2026. It is possible to participate in the 7th grade language test once only. 

The language test tests the student's knowledge of the English language, and includes listening and reading comprehension, writing and grammar tasks, plus an interview. The test takes 1.5 hours maximum.

The students are selected on the basis of the total scores obtained in the test.  Only the children achieving the minimum confirmed score (60%) can be admitted into the programmes with a special emphasis in the curriculum. Moreover, the student must score points in each section of the test. The results are published on 11.2.2026. If there are more applicants than available places, priority is given to applicants living in Tampere.

The number of student places available in the 7th grade of the Finnish International School of Tampere may vary by year. 6th grade students of the Finnish International School of Tampere may continue to 7th grade if they want to. They do not have to participate in the language test.

Other grades

The child's year of birth determines their grade level in the Finnish school system (see table on top of this page).

New students can apply to all grade levels at FISTA if the child moves to the Tampere region and

• The child has studied in an English medium school, abroad or in Finland, for at least one school year, or
• The child's home language is English.

All applicants will be asked to take an English language test to ensure their knowledge of the English language is sufficient for studying in English (including reading, writing, and speaking). 

Please fill in the open application on top of this page, and contact the FISTA coordinator to arrange a language test date. 

New students in grades 8 and 9 who don’t speak Finnish yet will initially join a preparatory education class when they start at FISTA, to help them learn Finnish. Read more about preparatory education at FISTA here.

Transition class

The transition class is a special small class for children who are living in Tampere temporarily, but don't know enough English to study in our regular classes. 

It is possible to admit into the transition class of the Finnish International School of Tampere a child

• Who is temporarily living in a municipality of the Tampere region
• Who is not a Finnish citizen
• Who was not born in Finland
• Whose knowledge of the English language is not sufficient to be admitted to the grades of the Finnish International School
• Who has no aptitude to study in Finnish

All the above mentioned five requirements have to be met to make it possible for a child to be admitted to the transition class. The transition class is for gr 1-9 students, not preschoolers. The maximum number of students in the class is 10. A student place can be obtained for a maximum of three school years.

Instruction focuses on studying the English language and mathematics. In some subjects, students can be integrated into a class of the Finnish International School corresponding to their age group.

Students in the transition class do not have the possibility to transfer to other classes of the Finnish International School of Tampere.

Because of their limited English and Finnish language skills, the students in the transition class follow a modified curriculum. That means they cannot graduate Finnish basic education and get the primary and lower secondary education certificate (perusopetuksen päättötodistus in Finnish) at the end of grade 9, which would qualify them for upper secondary education in Finland. Therefore the transition class is not a good option for students towards the end of their lower secondary education studies, unless they are staying in Finland for a very short time only and will definitely not be applying to upper secondary education here. 

If you have any questions about the Transition class, please contact the FISTA coordinator.