A City of Vantaa upper secondary school in Tikkurila, one of the largest in Finland: "Opiskelijoita on 1250 ja opettajia yli 70"; since 2016 it has also included the Vantaa adult upper secondary school (Vantaan aikuislukio). The Finnish side offers a wide course choice and emphases: music, physical education, communication and film, entrepreneurship, mathematics and technology; upper secondary diplomas can be taken in visual arts, physical education, music and media. In parallel runs the English-language Tikkurilan lukio IB World School, authorised by the IB in February 2001: the preparatory pre-DP year and the IB Diploma Programme. The school states it is the only IB school in Finland teaching Philosophy, and its students have regularly represented Finland at the Philosophy Olympics. The school holds Erasmus+ accreditation until 2028, with exchanges with France (Caen, Nice), Spain (Alicante) and Brazil. Language of instruction stated by the school: the Finnish programme in Finnish, the IB line in English.
Key facts
Programmes
IB · DP · National programme
Languages of instruction
Finnish, English
Languages taught
Swedish, French
About the fees The school is municipal; it does not write about tuition for Finnish and EU students. Non-EU/EEA students who come to Finland to study pay, from 1 August 2026, "8953.47 euros / academic year" plus costs for learning materials and meals; the fee for the 2027 intake may differ.
Admissions The Finnish side admits through the joint application yhteishaku (Opintopolku). IB line: 30 places in the pre-DP year for those "born in 2009-2011" who have completed nine years of school; applicants with a Finnish certificate can earn a maximum of 15 points: up to 10 for the certificate, up to 4 for the entrance exam in English and Mathematics and up to 1 for the school appraisal. Applicants with foreign certificates apply through discretionary selection with the application form and the latest school report; they take no exam, there is no quota, each application is considered individually, and the city assesses the need for a study place in Vantaa. The school admits foreigners provided the student has a legal guardian in Finland: "we cannot admit underaged students who wish to move to Finland on their own without their families", and the school cannot help with immigration. The language profile must fit the IB: "IB Diploma always requires two languages. To study English only is not an option"; applicants without Finnish may apply if their native language is on the IB self-taught list. For DP1, "Normally, 1-4 places open up on a yearly basis"; applicants living in Finland take the exam. From 1 August 2026 non-EU/EEA students who come to study pay tuition (see price).
Stages and year groups Grades three upper secondary years: Finnish national programme towards the ylioppilastutkinto; IB line: pre-DP (grade 10) and IB Diploma Programme (DP1-DP2). The Finnish-language lukio programme with emphases ends with the ylioppilastutkinto. IB line: the preparatory pre-DP year (students aged 15-16), then the two-year IB Diploma Programme in English: six subjects from six groups, English and Finnish as Language A, Finnish B and Finnish for beginners, plus CAS, TOK and the Extended Essay. No other IB programmes (PYP, MYP, CP) appear on the website. The school also includes an adult upper secondary school.
Address Valkoisenlähteentie 53, 01370 Vantaa
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
IB · DP · authorised programmeThe IB register lists the Diploma Programme at the school; it runs as a separate English-language line with a preparatory year alongside the Finnish upper secondary programme and the ylioppilastutkinto matriculation exam.
school is in an official registryconfirmed by a school document, by membership or by taking part in a networkclaimed by the school, no confirmation, not counted in the scoreGuide to all organisations → What stands behind each entry
IBInternational Baccalaureate
A Swiss non-profit, working since 1968. Its programmes are among the most widely recognised school programmes in the world. Authorisation is granted stage by stage, so a school with the final stage does not necessarily run the younger ones; which stages this school holds is set out in the line below.
What the badge means for this school. The school is allowed to run this programme and to award its certificate. This is a confirmation of the programme, not a judgement on the school as a whole. The entry stands in the organisation's public register - anyone can check it. At this school: DP (ages 16-19). DP is the final stage, ages 16 to 19: six subjects plus a compulsory core of theory of knowledge, an extended essay and CAS. The diploma is accepted by universities all over the world, and in a number of countries it counts for admission on the same footing as the local leaving certificate.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →National programme
The state school programme of the country the school stands in: it is set by that country's ministry of education, which also licenses the school and awards the leaving certificate. That certificate is used for entry to local universities, and abroad it is matched to the local one.
What this means for this school. This entry does not count towards the score, and that is deliberate. Every lawful school in a country works to the national programme, so on its own it tells one school apart from no other - unlike the French, German or Russian programmes, which are carried abroad and confirmed by the register of their organisation. We show it because a parent needs to know what programme their child is taught and what certificate the child will get. Counting it would lift the whole ranking at once and still tell nobody apart.
Exams and destinations from the school's official website
Where leavers go: Aalto University · University of Helsinki · Tampere University · University of Turku · University of Oulu · Åbo Akademi University · University of Tartu · University of Oxford · University of Cambridge · London School of Economics (LSE) · Royal College of Art (RCA) · University of Edinburgh
and others, 23 universities in the school's list in allList of IB graduates' universities from the alumni experiences page; the school names the universities without statistics or years.
Facilities from the school's official website
·Swimming poolnot stated on the website
✓Sports hall
✓Laboratories
✓Theatre or assembly hall
✓Library
✓Catering
·School transportnot stated on the website
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Also on site: Art studio
Campus: A modern building with light-filled spaces and spacious lobbies: the latest digital technology in every classroom, a library and reading room, a large auditorium of almost professional theatre standard for films, plays, concerts and lectures, a school restaurant, well-equipped biology, physics and chemistry laboratories, a recording studio next to the music room, dedicated spaces for music, visual arts and physical education.
Clubs and activities: Tilun opiskelijakunta, OPKH (student council) · JEE-ryhmä (English performance group) · Study Café · Erasmus+ (international exchanges)
Teaching staff from the school's official website
·Teachers listed by namenot published
·Teacher qualificationsnot stated
·Number of teachersthe school does not say
·Students per teacher or class sizenot stated
The school has more than 70 teachers. The IB line has a DP coordinator, a pre-DP coordinator and an IB study counselor.
Safety and wellbeing from the school's official website
·CCTVnot stated on the website
·Security staffnot stated on the website
·Access controlnot stated on the website
✓Nurse or medical room
✓Counsellor
✓Child protection policy
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
✓Anti-bullying policy
Student welfare: nurses (a health check in the first year, a doctor's check in the second), upper secondary psychologists, curators, special education teachers and contact persons for bullying and harassment. There is an equality and non-discrimination plan; the school asks students to report bullying to student welfare.
Reviews
No reviews yet. The community rating counts towards the score once a school has five verified reviews - until then we do not show a zero, so as not to mislead.
Criteria breakdown criterion weight in brackets
Academics and programmes (16%)82 Community rating (16%)no dataparent reviews are needed: the criterion switches on at the fifth verified one Exams and destinations (12%) scored on disclosed data70 Safety and wellbeing (12%) scored on disclosed data75 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)85 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data85 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data70 Value for money (6%) scored at the median95 "Scored on disclosed data" stands where we count only what the school has written about itself on its own site: exams and destinations, safety and wellbeing, teaching staff, facilities, clubs and activities. A low score here means the school does not write about this, not that the school does not have it: a school with good security and a sparse site will score low. A school can fill in its profile, and the score will be counted again.
The score is counted from 7 of the 9 criteria.Only those with checkable data count: programmes and accreditations from official registers, the fee from a published price list. Where it says "scored on the median", the school has no data and the middle of the list is put in its place, so that a gap gives no advantage. Admissions, teaching staff and reviews come in as their data arrives.
The full methodology → Similar schools in the country
Vantaa, Finland · State