The Suomi School of Madrid was founded by “parents interested in the school’s activities” on 26 January 1982. The first day of school was on 1 February 1982 at the then Madrid Swedish School (later Scandinavian School) in La Moraleja. Today, classes are held in the premises of the Finnish Institute in Madrid, in the centre of Madrid. During the pandemic, the Finnish School was maintained through distance learning.
Throughout its life, the school has remained fairly similar in size. Already at the beginning of its second year of operation, the school had an enrolment of twenty students, which has been the average number of students in the school for many years since then, divided into three groups: a small play-age group, a medium group and a large group.
Since the founding of the Suomi School, the basic activity has been a two-hour lesson for children once a week on Saturdays. Christmas and spring parties have always been held. And, of course, a real-life Santa Claus has always visited, as Finnish children should.
For four decades, the Suomi School in Madrid has been a meeting place that offers children, especially those of mixed marriages, a valuable close contact with Finnishness outside the home. The Suomi School has always been an important link for the parents of Finnish children in Madrid.
The 40th anniversary of the Madrid Suomi School was celebrated on 14 January 2023 at the Finnish Ambassador’s residence in Madrid.