Yesterday we had the opportunity to visit Taavinkyla School. It has around 330 pupils on roll and is set in a community with a small woodland. We spoke to the head teacher of the school who shared some information about the school with us including the roles and responsibilities of children and some of their school council presented information as well. They spoke very good English and this is one of four languages they have lessons for in school (Finnish, English, German and Swedish). It was really good to see the children’s attitudes toward school and learning, the average lesson is around 45 minutes here and school starts and finishes at different linked to their Grade (year group). In most classes there was an emphasis on independent learning and the children working together. When the teachers set the work children moved about and worked in different areas in and outside the class this included working underneath tables, in seated areas and on the floor. When it came to lunchtime the children served themselves and teachers ate with the children. There was very little mess and the noise level was much quieter than our lunch break. Each class take it in turns to have the responsibility of cleaning the lunch tables and floor! For lunch you could have a variety of salad items, salmon pasta, cheese pasta or a potato gratin, it tasted delicious. We then visited more classes before leaving the school.

After school we travelled to the other side of Helsinki to the village of Porvoo, they had some picturesque buildings of a variety of colours. We looked around and stopped in a cafe  before travelling back to Lepavaara where we went to the local shopping centre for food. On the way back to the apartment we passed a karaoke bar, we might visit this another night. What songs shall we sing? All in all a good day.

Mr Allen

Well yesterday morning we visited a Kindergarten called Little Heroes, it was a new Kindergarten that had opened in August, we were shown around the different rooms and Annika (Kindergarten owner) talked to us about how they run the Kindergarten. They spend 2-3 hours outside per day and will only stop going outside at -30 ! A message the Finnish people live by is there’s not bad weather it’s inappropriate clothing. When we were there it snowed!!! We visited a local park where the children played for around 40 minutes. In the Kindergarten they speak three languages (English, Finnish and Mandarin). Children can attend Little Heroes until the age of 6 where they would then go on to Pre-School. There were different areas in the rooms and the children independently went to different activities. They all ate lunch together with the staff (it had been brought in from a restaurant) even at the age of 2 the children were able to use cutlery independently and it was very calm. We had a lovely morning and it was a pleasure to visit.

From there we travelled back to to Forenom Apartments (where we are staying) to add more layers of clothing and it was onto Helsinki. We had lunch in Cafe Ursula overlooking one of the 330 islands of Helsinki then it was onto the British Embassy. We had to travel through security checks and met with Richard Shackleton who is Deputy Head of Mission and Heidi (Finnish national who leads education in the British Embassy) they spoke to us about the Finnish education system and their roles.

After this we went back to Helsinki centre for some food shopping where I saw a tin of ‘Bear’ that’s right 🐻 BEAR! Really didn’t appeal to my appetite and don’t think I will try it, there is also reindeer on the menu in some food places! It was then back to Leppävaara (Forenom apartment) for a meeting to write a report and then bed!

Mr Allen

A lovely first day looking around Helsinki 🇫🇮 , we visited the observatory and talked about the history of Finland. The building we are stood outside is the Helsinki Cathedral but who can tell me what statue is on the square outside?

Mr Allen

Thank you boys and girls for all your comments on the last post. Well I have arrived in Finland (Helsinki/Espoo to be precise). Got to the airport at around 3 o’clock yesterday and departed Cardiff at 5. With a little stop in Amsterdam we arrived in Helsinki at 00:25 (10:25pm St Florence time). So the plan of action for today is a little bit of exploring putting the finishing touches to my presentation for this week and trying to learn some key Finnish phrases.

Mr Allen

It seems like an age ago that I applied for the opportunity to take part in this trip and I remember the excitement that I felt when I found out that I had been accepted as a part of the Portal learning group. Over the past few weeks the excitement (and nerves) have grown as I am about to leave. I will keep you updated with my experiences and am looking forward to replies and comments to my posts.

Work hard for Mr Reed!

See you all soon