Children start pre-primary school the year before comprehensive school. Pre-primary school teaches them things such as self-care and social skills.
It is a grey Wednesday morning at Laajasalo Comprehensive School in southeast Helsinki. It’s 8.15 am and despite the dull weather, the atmosphere at study group Flamingos is joyful. A row of colourful coats, boots, and name tags made by the children themselves winds its way down both sides of the corridor like a cheerful rainbow. The older students have already started their lessons in the other classrooms, and children pop into the classroom at regular intervals.
The group’s teacher, Riikka Haarma-Sipilä welcomes each child individually and guides them towards the hand-washing station.
The scene is nostalgic. The coat racks feature the same wooden and metal hooks found in every traditional primary school in Finland. Although the environment looks very much like a school at first glance, the classroom is a warm blend of daycare and school: next to the entrance are rows of tiny desks, and next to them is the teacher’s desk and a chalkboard decorated with teaching materials, featuring colourful pictures of numbers and letters. At the back of the room is a separate area for play and rest.
Pre-primary education, or “eskari” as Finns like to call it, is like a gentle transition to school. Most children are used to a similar daily rhythm at daycare, where they play outside and enjoy breakfast and lunch. Along with playtime, there are guided activities and learning sessions in a group. The same safe routine is repeated in eskari—only now much closer to the school world—even in physical terms.
Some of the City of Helsinki’s pre-primary groups operate in daycare centres, and some directly at schools, such as Daycare Ilomäki’s pre-primary group.
“Lunch is a very different experience here compared to daycare, because we’re in the school cafeteria, where there are more children and it’s very noisy. At daycare, they might listen to calm music during lunch and eat only with their own group, so it’s really a different experience. Outdoor play also takes place at the same time as the school’s recess, and that’s a pretty noisy time, too. The children might be a little confused at first when they see hundreds of kids waiting outside”, Haarma-Sipilä explains.
She also notes that to balance out the hustle and bustle, there is a quiet time every day. In eskari, children no longer take naps, but a shared time for rest and calming down remains an important part of the day.
“During quiet time, we listen to good music, calm down, and have mindfulness sessions. The children still need that rest”, Haarma-Sipilä says.
According to Haarma-Sipilä, despite the initial confusion, pre-primary education helps children transition to school. A child gets to explore the school facilities and surroundings at their own pace and see how things work at school as part of the school community. Pre-primary groups always collaborate with the local school.
Each eskari group has its own partner class at the school. Together with the class, the eskari group gets to know the school together with bigger kids and visit a real classroom.
“It’s nice and easy to go on field trips and be active with pre-primary aged children. We’re going to visit the Parliament House with them on Friday”, Haarma-Sipilä continues.
The teacher also mentions that student welfare services are available to families already during the pre-primary year, which is something parents are often unaware of. A pre-primary education psychologist can, for example, provide support for a child’s emotional skills or behavioural challenges, or during life crises, and work with the family to plan appropriate support measures. A pre-primary education social worker provides a wide range of family services and counselling to help smooth the child’s learning path. They can offer professional support for parenting, accessing everyday support services, and school attendance.
Why is eskari an invaluable year in a child’s educational journey? According to Haarma-Sipilä, the most important task of eskari is to help children learn to manage their own behaviour so they can cope independently in school.
“No one here needs to learn to read yet, as we focus on developing the skills and foundational abilities needed to navigate the school environment—making sure they are taking care of their things and that they know how to take care of themselves, dress on their own, and use the bathroom”, Haarma-Sipilä explains.
Even though the children do not need to know how to read or write yet, they are already practicing these skills. For instance, the Flamingos have already started learning the alphabet.
“On Mondays, we learn a new letter and talk about that letter for the rest of the week. On Wednesdays, we focus on fine motor skills and physical activity”, Haarma-Sipilä explains. In her view, 5- to 6-year-olds are eager to learn:
“Pre-primary schoolers are really interested in learning. You can teach them just about anything, and they’re interested, no matter the topic. They’re a joy to teach. They have such a thirst for knowledge.
Although pre-primary school does not have specific subjects or binding learning objectives for the children, they practice a wide variety of skills here with the guidance of an adult. Every child is welcome to join the group just as they are, with whatever skills they have.
Leena Nurmi, the mother of Maija, 6, who attends the Flamingos, explains that many of the skills learned are already familiar from early childhood education:
“For example, social and emotional skills were already taught in daycare. In eskari, children learn to focus, and the day has a much more structured routine. The transition here was easy for Maija, and we were lucky that Riikka was Maija’s teacher already in daycare. Eskari has indeed felt like a continuation of daycare, but with a more school-like atmosphere”, she says.
She points out that there are differences, too. The most significant change from daycare is probably that pre-primary education is mandatory, which means that every child enrolled must participate in the lessons, which may come as a surprise to many.
“In practice, the difference from daycare is that here, the child must be present from 9 am to 1 pm. At daycare, there was more flexibility regarding what time you arrived in the morning and when you picked them up in the afternoon”, Nurmi continues.
According to Nurmi, Maija has settled in well with her group and is eagerly looking forward to starting first grade in August 2026.
“Maija knows what’s ahead and sometimes asks how things are done at school. She already knows that, going forward, she’ll be able to go to school on her own and will be there independently without a parents’ help”, Nurmi concludes.