Off to School

It is mid-August, which in Finland means the end of the long summer holiday.

For Thomas, it was the start of his school career. And for Henry, a move to a new school. Below, a few photos.


Thomas standing in the schoolyard on his first day of school. Note that in Finland there is no school uniform, although for boys, baseball caps seem to be de rigeur.


The Class 1 children lining up. Note that the teachers have a very relaxed dress code, too. Spot Thomas for extra points!

Unfortunately, there are no photos of Henry's first day at his new school - I still haven't managed the art of being in two places at the same time.

You may be wondering why Henry is changing school after only two years? Well, it's not because of bad behaviour or itchy feet, his new school has a class with emphasis on music, and Henry was lucky enough to be selected. The good news is that he has one less P.E. lesson, one more music lesson, music theory instruction at school, and lots of singing; the bad news is that on most days he has to leave the house at 7.15 a.m. to catch the bus to town.

For those of you interested in the Finnish school system, which has done very well in the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) study, below the boys' school timetables.


Henry:
Henry has started his foreign language studies this year. In Lappeenranta, this means English for all pupils. The situation is a little tricky as Henry is, in effect, a native-speaker of English. Next week we have a meeting with Henry's teacher and the headmaster of the school to discuss how to handle this predicament. After one lesson, Henry said that he couldn't understand his teacher's English and that the class had been taught the words; camel, beach, and ball.

Thomas:
Thomas's timetable is for the first month only. The children are given a 'soft landing' to school, which means that there are only three hours of school each day. After a month, a couple of hours are added to the week's schedule. (XXXXXX means school, blank means no school.)

Looking at the very few hours that Finnish children are in school, the conclusion could be drawn that the best way to success in learning is to spend as little time as possible in school!

For many, homework is a problem. Not in the first week, it isn't! Below, Thomas hard at work.