in English

Raahe Upper Secondary School

Principal Heikki Peltoniemi, tel. +358 44 439 3413

Vice principal Jyrki Autio, tel. +358 44 439 3429

School secretary Teemu Porko, tel. +358 44 439 3414

e-mail: firstname.lastname(at)raahe.fi

Address: Merikatu 1, 92100 Raahe


STUDYING IN RAAHE UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL

Our school ’Raahen lukio’ is a medium-sized Finnish Upper Secondary School with its 380 students. We used to receive about half of the age group but recently vocational education has been slightly more appealing to those who complete their mandatory education at 16. There are no other schools on the premises apart from the local Community College (evening classes for adults) and a studio for the Upper Secondary School Distance Learning Network. We also receive students from the three local vocational colleges to study for their A-level exams in addition to their regular vocational studies.

We follow the national Finnish curriculum with special emphasis on mathematical subjects, art and music. We pride in our wide collection of foreign languages which include English, German, French and Russian.

As every Finnish school we work 190 days a year. The school year is divided into two terms and five periods. After each period there is an exam week on the subjects (normally four or five) studied in that period. In other words, the students are graded five times each year. The English version of our curriculum can be found attached above and here.

Like most Finnish Upper Secondary Schools we are a so-called non-graded school, which means that the students have a lot of freedom in choosing what optional courses they choose and in making their own schedules in general. At present we don’t give full freedom to the first-year students as we want to give everyone of good, solid start in a safe home group. The Finnish curriculum traditionally contains a lot of mandatory subjects in which the students can, however, choose the depth of studies. In the final exam everybody takes at least four subjects. Everybody takes Finnish and English, and typical other choices are mathematics, chemistry, physics, biology, history etc, or foreign languages. Everybody studies Swedish but the final exam is optional


STUDENTS

As the sole Upper Secondary School in the area we welcome many kinds of students, not only those who have set their heart on university level studies. We have good resources and a well-functioning support framework for students with learning problems. We can also boast with the services available of a school nurse, school psychologist, and a school social worker. We have a full-time career counsellor. We like to say that we take good care of our students, nobody is left alone. Our student body is very active. Their activities range from arranging parties to bargaining over textbook prices with the local bookshop, or raising money for out godchild Flasira from Mali.



THE SCHOOL

The school building is over 50 years old, but it was completely renovated in 2000. We are convinced that the beautiful, very functional learning environment makes a strong positive impact on our students. The school lies quite close to the sea, and we have many classrooms with a view to the sea. We have two computer classrooms, two multimedia studios, a well-equipped music class, a superb art class, a gym and a library. All language classes are cutting edge.

We have our own school kitchen and dining hall, and our lunches are known to be not only free of course, but also tasty and nourishing.


EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

Extracurricular activities are not typical of the Finnish school system. The students usually work from 8 to 2 or 3, and then go home. They do their sport and other hobbies in their free time in the evenings and at weekends. We strive to do everything including art, theatre and music projects as part of the regular schoolwork. There is usually quite a lot of homework, too. The highlights of the school year are the “housewarming” party to welcome the new students, an old-fashioned ball for the 2nd-year students and a farewell party for the last year students.


INTERNATIONALITY

We like to concentrate on the daily grind and do it as well as possible, but there is something international going on all the time as well. First of all, we always have exchange students in our school through different organizations. They are welcome to our school, and they settle quite quickly not least because we provide them with tuition in the Finnish language. Every year we also send some of our students to different parts of the world. Right now we are in the middle of our third Comenius language project, and we have made one Euroscola excursion, too. Our contact with a German Technical Upper Secondary School since 1997 generates a yearly exchange of students, and gives an excellent boost to German studies in our school. The Raahe Youth Choir most of whom go to our school travel far and wide.

Photos of our international projects etc. are found from Kansainvälisyys site.

WELCOME TO RAAHEN LUKIO

We are an open, friendly house and welcome contacts and visitors. The atmosphere in our school is relaxed and peaceful. All teachers are qualified and all of them speak at least some English. The student-teacher –relations are good and uncomplicated.

See you by the sea!

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