Please inform the school immediately if any of your contact information changes. This applies to home and work telephone numbers, e-mail addresses and home location. We need to keep our databases up to date as we may need to contact you urgently.

During the school year, questions and concerns inevitably arise. We encourage guardians to communicate directly with the school. For classroom or subject concerns, first contact the relevant teacher. If you are not satisfied, contact the Principal.

Please let your child’s teachers know about anything that might affect your child’s work or behaviour. Guardians are asked to bear in mind that the teachers and the Principal will only discuss matters related to your own child. We do not disclose any information related to other students (eg. their behaviour or academic progress) in the class or school. In cases of incidents or accidents in school, we only contact the guardians of those students who were directly involved.

The school communicates about forthcoming events, holidays, visits, closures etc. through Wilma and on the school website. Another way to stay connected with all the events and happenings at OIS is to follow us on Facebook.

Wilma is an electronic diary used for marking students’ absences, lates, medical appointments, lesson behaviour and any other records regarding learning support or home-school communication, as well as for messaging between school and home. We strongly advise guardians to check their child’s records on a regular basis to keep an up-to-date account of how their child is doing.

General parents’ evenings are organised to inform guardians about general school issues and the IB programmes, and individual Class/Homeroom Teachers may organise class-specific sessions.

Guardians are invited to a Parent-Teacher-Student Conference to discuss their child’s progress at school. The Conferences are a positive way to keep open the lines of communication between home and school and to set goals for the future. We expect guardians and students to make every effort to attend these conferences. Guardians may also request a conference at any other time to discuss their child’s progress. There are two types of conferences; assessment meetings (arviointikeskustelut) and development meetings (kehityskeskustelut).

This is a discussion held with gr 1-4 students and their guardians which substitutes mid-term evaluation. The subject assessment is marked in Wilma as "a".

This is a discussion held with the student and their guardian once per academic year. The topics of the discussion include setting goals for and evaluation of academic progress, learning and working skills as well as any questions related to the student’s learning and the developmental phase.

Our school cannot operate successfully without the support and understanding of the guardians. We are grateful for guardians’ help in school during the day. Many guardians have offered us their help and expertise in organizing many of our theme days, celebrations and fund-raising activities. We hope that all guardians will support these functions and offer all the assistance they can. If you have a special talent or interest which you would be willing to share with a group of students, please let us know. You may have some resources or you may be able to visit a class to share some of your own knowledge and experience relating to some of the units of inquiry or projects, or you would like to run an after-school club. If you would like to know more about helping in school, please contact your child’s teacher, the Principal or the Student Counsellor.

Our school’s parent association OISPA (Oulu International School Parent’s Association) consists of active parents representing different classes. They organize fund raising and other activities for the benefit of the school, and share any school-related thoughts and ideas from the class community with the Management Team. OISPA feels that they have a special duty towards our many international families to welcome them to the Finnish culture and society and support them through their integration.

Chair of OISPA is Holly Conolly. You can contact Holly by sending her email hollyberrycooks@gmail.com. You can find OISPA group @OIS Parents’ Association from Facebook. Welcome to join!