Today we visited Mattliden School. This was on the same campus as Mattliden Gymnasium but catered for pupils in grades 1-9 (7-16 years old). We had a brief discussion about the Finnish education system and how it varied being a Swedish-Finnish school. We were shown around the school by three pupils who were very knowledgeable with fantastic English.
A regular day for the students in grades 1 and 2 is to begin at 8:15 and finish at 13:00, this was Monday to Thursday on a Friday they would start at the same time but finish slightly earlier at 12:00. As the pupils get older the length of their school day extends. Grades 3-6 usually begin their day at 8:15 and finish at 13:00 or 14:30. Tuesday are a special day and lots of students don’t start school until 9:45, this gives them the opportunity to attend community clubs such as ice hockey, football, handball and many, many more. Sport is very well attended in the school with children often having over six training sessions a week before and after school. The oldest children in grades 7-9 start the day at 8:15 and finish at 14:30.
We walked into one classroom and there were only six pupils in the actual lesson, there were supposed to be eighteen. When we asked where the rest were, we were directed into the communal areas where the children were sitting on a variety of workspaces including sofas, chairs, benches, beanbags and even exercise bikes. The staff place lots of trust on their pupils and allow them to work in different areas, the teacher said this helps them to develop independence and if they are stuck they know where to find her. I found this very unusual but when we were talking to the teacher a pupil submitted their work for the teacher to look at via google classroom. Behaviour was very good in the school and the pupils attitude to work was excellent, they realise the benefits of education and take this very seriously.
We visited a music lesson where the pupils were able to learn to play a variety of different instruments including guitars, drums and keyboards. The teacher placed three different levels of difficulty on the board (linked to the chords/notes needed) and the pupils were encouraged to just give it a go. The children were really enthusiastic and the teacher was always on hand to help anyone if they were stuck . We also popped into a PE lesson where the children were following plans in order to produce human pyramids, this was quite amusing as they kept falling over, they were able to think about what went wrong and try a different approach. Then we went to the home economics classrooms, I was amazed when we arrived a girl showed us her chopping board she had made from a couple of lengths of wood. She designed her product, cut the wood and glued it together. When it was joined she used a jigsaw to trim it to the correct shape and cut a circle where she could hang it. She was then sanding it down and her next step was to seal it. She had done all this and she was just 13. From there we visited a cookery room where the children were making their own soup and homemade bread, it smelt delicious but we had no time to taste it as we were off for lunch of our own.
After lunch we visited a language class where the children were doing presentations about different cities in Germany (all the presentations were in Finnish). Then one pupil had made a quiz about the different cities. I had a go but the questions were all in Finnish, lets just say I didn’t do to well apart from the flag questions. We visited a few more lessons then it was time to head back to the apartment in Lepparaava. Some food and some work later brings us to me writing my blog. We are going to an education conference tomorrow and then back to schools on Thursday and Friday. My question for you is… What would you like to know about Finland? I will ask a selection of questions the pupils I meet this week.
Mr Allen
That is my favarout school yet!
Wow that school IS INSANE, i’m the same as Cameron my favourite school yet !!!!
Wow you did a lot! Hope your well ^^
I want to know if they ever get fed up of the cold weather ?
Yes they do! The teachers have called November the grey month and I can see why. I think we have only seen blue sky once since we have been here!!! By next month it is a lot lighter as they often have snow.
how meany people are in Finland Mr Allan
There are 5.5 million people living in Finland Molly.
That school looks AMAZING
I have a few questions!
1. What’s their population?
2.What does kittos mean?
3.Can we visit Finland on a school trip? (It will be expensive I know)
4.How big is Finland?
5.How big is the school?
-From Talitha, Libby and me Mia c:
Answers –
1) The population of Finland is around 5.5 million and in the Helsinki area there are around 1.1 million
2) Kiitos means Thank you in Finnish
3) No
4) It is much, much bigger than Wales. It is around one and a half times bigger than the whole of the UK.
5) The schools vary in size. Smedsby was the smallest school we have been to and that was 119 pupils. Most of the schools we have been to have had between 400 and 800 pupils.
wow
What type of food do they have and what is your favourite
From Tilly and Kate
You don’t see much traditional Finnish food here, there are many places to eat that serve a variety of different foods like we have back at home (pizza’s, Chinese, burgers etc). The school meals are usually very healthy, there is no pudding/dessert in most of the schools. Today we had a meat soup which was a lot like cawl (that has been my favourite school meal so far). At all the schools we have been there is salad and bread to accompany all meals. It is all self service and the pupils serve themselves and when they finish their lunch they clean the tables themselves.
Hi sir
Can you teach us a little bit of finnish
I only know a couple of words myself Fabian but I can teach you when I get back!
Sir my question is what is your favourite food in Finland and where do you get it from?
My favourite meal that we’ve had in schools was a cawl that we had in the school today. Otherwise the food is very much like back home.
Also can we get exercise bikes to work on? :3
You never know Mia, maybe that is something we could ask the school council to speak to Mrs Davies about.
Hi sir how is finland, my question is…
why is finland called finland ??? (isabel)
Hi how are you , my question is…
do the school children learn english during school time?? (Macy)
Macy the answer to your question is – They have a variety of lessons taught in their mother tongue (Swedish schools Swedish and Finnish schools Finnish). These lessons are subjects like maths, home economics, PE, music etc but they do have English lessons, (around 2 hours a week in most schools)
Isabel – I don’t know the answer to your question but I wonder if you could find out the answer for me.
can we gone on a trip to that school some day
Unfortunately not Molly.
The schools look amazing. I’m sure you have lots of good ideas to bring back to the class here. The children find the different aspects very interesting – exercise bikes whilst working! Mia asked if they could all go on a school trip over there and the end of year!
My question is do they have Kip McGrath centres there and how many children have extra tutoring in maths, Finnish, English or other subjects paid for by parents? Also how many have music instrument tuition paid for by parents?
From Mr Reed (not Zoe!)
I have actually seen Kip McGrath posters on my travels can’t quite remember where though. The extra tuition is often covered by the schools in forms of study groups and peer learning. I believe very few have outside tuition but I will check tomorrow. All provision for music in schools is paid for but they can have additional lessons in a music studio outside of school. After school clubs run by the school cost between 140 euros (to stay until 5) and 80 euros (to stay until 3) per month.
Do the children have national tests?
No they don’t Macsen, they have weekly assessments given by the teachers and then are awarded points by the teachers. These points are very important as they could decide what school the you go to in the future.
Wow! Zoe and Cameron are right, it is the best school yet! Are you having fun in Finland, sir?
It was a very cool school Connie. I am having lots of fun and learning a lot. Going to watch Russia vs Finland ice hockey tonight I am really looking forward to that.
Charlie speaking what has been your favourite school so far?
My favourite school so far has been Smedsby, I had a very long chat with the head teacher and it was the one that is most similar to our school. I have also been emailing a teacher from Mankkaa school and we will hopefully be doing an E-twinning project when I get back to school. (Sharing information about our different countries etc)
Are you ok so i am ko but we are in are now hows haw fun is it we ant havig fun
are you wot are you doing
I am very well thank you Rosie, I am having lots of fun and I am sure that Mr Reed has had lots of fun activities for you to do!