Enthusiasm and respect for tradition key values at 60-year-old English School

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The English School of Helsinki is quite a special package, although there does not seem to be anything strange about it at first. Young children run around and play, as teenagers hang around and talk everywhere. The noise level is moderate at the very least.
      "We are known as the nuns’ school," Principal Juhani Kulmala says in his small office. An order of American Catholic sisters founded the school after the war in 1945. They were given permission to teach in English on the condition that Finnish would also be used.
      And so it remains, although the last of the sisters left ten years ago. Until then they lived on the fourth floor of The English School on Mäntytie, where the school building was built in 1952.
      Today the school's high school classes are situated on the fourth floor. A one-room chapel remains as a reminder of the school's Catholic heritage. The Catholic Church also has a representative on the board of The English School's foundation.
     
The tuition fee of the private school is EUR 600-700 a year. "The expenses for each pupil are much higher than that. We receive state funding," says Kulmala.
      The school has about 500 pupils with 20 nationalities, and the teachers also come from all over the world. "We don't hold favourites when it comes to English accents in our school. Respect for diversity is an important value for us."
      The school is mainly for Finnish children who learn English sufficiently in preschool and wish to continue their studies in English. The school also provides an opportunity to take and pass international examinations, which open the doors to various top foreign universities.
     
Both Finnish and English have an important role in the curriculum. Finnish, religion, Finnish history and biology are taught in Finnish.
      "Students come here after two years of preschool. It gives their language skills a strong foundation, since English is the only language that is used. Some of the children speak fluent English already in the spring of the second year of preschool."
      "There aren't many schools where you can have the same classmates from preschool through high school," boasts Kulmala. He emphasises the importance of a family-like atmosphere.
      Everyday things also have their own unique flavour. There are no bells to signal the beginning of classes, but the lessons still begin on time. There is also no detention. If problems arise, they are immediately dealt with together with the children's parents.
      The number of students per class is high - 36. "The idea behind this is that the children learn to be patient. The students know how to wait for their turn."
     
The main celebration is on Sunday in the Culture Centre of Espoo. The pupils have prepared a musical play called Flashbacks, which tells about the school's colourful past. Along with the teachers, about a hundred students have been preparing for the show since last spring. Among them are 7th graders Meeri Klemola, Karen Soinila and Erno Laakso .
      They seem to genuinely like the school. "This is a demanding school, because it is bilingual. There are numerous challenges and sometimes it feels like it is too much. On the other hand, you know that you will survive one way or another, and you cannot get skills like this in a regular Finnish school," says Klemola.
      The number of children per class is quite high according to Soinila. "Most of the pupils have been here from the start. Everyone knows one another well and our class has a positive atmosphere."
      "Fun and pretty unique," summarises Laakso.
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 30.9.2005


Links:
  English School website

MARKKU KARUMO / Helsingin Sanomat
markku.karumo@hs.fi