Tallinn to assign school places based on walking distance from home
Until now, Tallinn assigned children to neighborhood schools based on straight-line distance from home, but this year it will use actual walking distance instead.
Tallinn will begin accepting applications for first grade on March 1. This year, parents must submit requests through a new online platform, Laur. The launch is not the only change, as the method for calculating the distance between a child's home and school has also been revised.
Until now, a child's neighborhood school was assigned based on which school was closest in a straight line to the home address listed in the population register. This year, however, the city will instead use the length of the actual walking route between the child's home and the school.
As a result, parents may not know which school will ultimately be designated as their child's neighborhood school before logging into Laur to submit an application.
Deputy Mayor Andrei Kante said the goal of the changes is to make school placement clearer and more convenient for parents.
"A child's route to school should be as simple and safe as possible. Taking walking distance into account helps ensure that a school place is assigned close to home and gives families a better understanding of how decisions are made," Kante said, adding that the change will make the system more transparent.
When submitting an application, parents can choose either a school with Estonian as the language of instruction or a school transitioning to Estonian-language instruction.
When assigning schools, Tallinn follows the Basic Schools and Upper Secondary Schools Act and the city's own regulations. Priority is given primarily to proximity to the school and whether siblings attend the same school and, where possible, parents' preferences are also considered.
If more children live near a school than there are available places, preference may be given to those whose addresses were registered in the population register earlier. Attendance at a preschool does not factor into school placement.
Parents will be informed through Laur of their child's assigned school no later than May 20 and the place must be confirmed by June 10. Families whose children have already secured a place at a citywide-admission school do not need to submit an application.
According to the Tallinn Education Department, more than 4,000 children will reach school age in the city this year.
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Editor: Karin Koppel, Marcus Turovski
