Schools
Riga First State Gymnasium, Latvia
The school is proud of its 1035 students and 95 staff members. The school has its deep-rooted and much strengthened traditions and definite priority – deepened studies of mathematics, sciences, computers and foreign languages. Every year students participate in various regional, national and international subject Olympiads and scientific research conferences. Our students get high scores in centralised state examinations, thus last year again placing our school as number 1 in top high schools in Latvia. None of this success could be possible without hard creative work and commitment of the staff.
The gymnasium is recognized as the school of mathematicians. The school hosts state Olympiads and team competitions in mathematics; a successful cooperation with the Math distant learning school under the University of Latvia had been started.
High results are obtained also in sports and creative arts. Our pride is the school choirs “Kamer”, “Sapnis” and “Jaunais Viru Koris” that have received prizes not only at local, but also international level.
Vilnius Vytautas Magnus Gymnasium, Lithuania
In 1915 on October 18th the first Lithuanian school was opened in the city of Vilnius and the Vilnius county. It was named after the men who established it- “J.Basanavichius, M.Birzhishka and P.Gaidelionis city of Vilnius Lithuanian gimnasium curriculum.” It had soon been sponsored by the public society “Rytas” which gave it its own name.
Times had been hard- World War I was going on. Lithuania was occupied by Germans, the people were impoverished. However, the enthusiasts who founded this school were optimistically inclined. Even though there were only 47 students there in the beginning, later their number was growing very fast. Young people from the city of Vilnius and the region began joining the gimnasium. This tradition is alive to this day — a number of students come from regions around Vilnius. This difficult time gave birth to the gimnasium traditions, priorities and students’ self-_expression. One of the first traits of the gimnasium was the community coming together. The most important issues were discussed by teachers, students’ parents and gimnasium students themselves. Today, the community involvement again became a priority.
In 1921 the gymnasium was named after Vytautas Magnus (the Great). For a long time this educational institution was the main supporter of the Lithuanian spirit in the land. In 1939 the gimnasium split into two: Duchess Birute gimnasium for girls and Vytautas Magnus gimnasium for boys. During World War II, the Soviet and German occupation forces kept changing the school’s face and name. In 1957 the gimnasium was called Antanas Vienuolis secondary school. In 1990, when Lithuania became an independent state, the school looked back at its roots, and started its rebuilding. In 1999 the school became a gimnasium again. In 2005 it got back its historic name of Vytautas.
Magnus gimnasium. This name behoves its community to continue the beautiful and honorable traditions of this educational institution.
Gustav Adolf Gramma School, Estonia
The first modern school that prepared students for university, was opened in Estonia on the 13th of August 1631, by Gustavus II Adolphius, the king of Sweden who opened a grammar school and a university in Estonia.
The Grammar school began to work in the old building which was a convent from the 13th century. The Grammar school consisted of four forms: prima, secunda, tertia and quarta. The head of the school was a rector who was chosen from among proffesors and his duty was to teach theology. The study-programme was oriented towards academic humanities, where great attention was paid to Latin because it was the language of teaching. There were also several other subjects: history, geography, French, Old Hebrew and mathematical programmes. Music was also important.
During the Great Northern War one part of the schoolhouse was used as a warehouse. The war and plague killed 75% of the citizens in Tallinn. At school the only remaining living lecturer was a rhetorics and history professor, rector Johann Rudolf Brehm. In autumn 1710 he started working with three former students. The schoolhouse which had stood without changes since convent time was partially rebuilt in 1740-42. The main aim remained that graduates could continue their studies at university.
In 1805-1890 the name of the school was Tallinn Province Grammar School. Czar Alexander I school reform set the educational system in the towns of Estonia. The language of studying was changed from Latin to German. The teachers were local Baltic Germans who had mostly been educated at Tartu University, but also in Germany, Switzerland and France.
In 1890 the school was renamed Tallinn’s Emperor Nicholas I Grammar School. This was the beginning of the total Russification of the schools. From 1892 the teaching took place in the Russian language. From 1890-1917 the pedagogical staff was mostly of Russian origin. Little by little the number of Estonian teachers grew and there were more Estonians among the students.
In October 1917 the Bolsheviks seized power. Regular schoolwork began at the beginning of 1918. Most students started to study in the Estonian and special Russian classes for Russians. On November 11th, 1918 the First World War and the German occupation ended. At the end of November the Estonian War of Independence began making school life more complicated. 129 students and 11 teachers from this school took part in the War of Independence in order to defend the independent statehood of Estonia. Aleksis Kuusik, the headmaster of our school who participated in the War of Independence, was the leader of the teachers` troop. That struggle ended in victory. On the 3rd January 1920 Estonia and Russia signed an armistice followed by a final peace treaty on the 2nd February. The Tartu Peace Treaty meant official recognition of Estonia as an independent country by Russia.
In autumn of 1944 the school’s name was again the First Gymnasium of Tallinn. In 1945 and 1946 younger students (from the first to fifth grade) started to work here. GAG had been a boys` school since the beginning, but from 1950 girls could attend the final class. It created many problems. From 1967 French is taught according to a special programme. In 1961 a special class to teach mathematics in grater depth was formed, but later in that class also the number of physics lessons increased. Our school has got many good results in mathematics and physics competitions because of that.
The independence of Estonia was restored on the 20th of August, 1991. In the same year on the 6th of November the school got back the name of its founder and it is now Gustav Adolf Grammar School. The same day the school’s flag was inaugurated. Also the former uniform – school cap, tie and badge were included. On the 2nd of April, 1992 the Swedish Queen Silvia visited our school. From the 1992/93 academic year there are continuing Swedish intensive classes. This year the school celebrated its 380th anniversary. On the 3rd of November 2006 the school’s museum was opened. Among the people who have played and play an important part in building up our Estonian Republic are many of our graduates.
Today there are 34 sets of classes in Gustav Adolf Grammar School: 22 of them are in the basic school and 12 in the secondary school. Our fields of study in basic school are French, Mathematics‑Music, Science and in the secondary school Science, French-English, Swedish, Mathematics-English. There are 1062 pupils and 74 teachers in our school.
Munkkiniemi School, Finland
Munkkiniemi School (also called as MYK or Munkka) was founded in 1938. It provides its students with a modern, cosy and safe environment to study in. MYK consists of a secondary school and an upper secondary school, and offers a wide selection of subjects. Traditionally MYK has emphasized sciences. Secondary school students can choose to study in a class specializing in mathematics, whereas students in upper secondary school can study advanced and extra advanced courses in mathematics, as well as take advanced and applied courses in both physics and chemistry.
We value, respect and appreciate the environment and nature at MYK. Furthermore, the principles of sustainable development are followed. There is an active group of students who innovate and carry out our environmental projects. Since 2006 MYK has participated in the Green Flag –program. In addition, in 2010 MYK – as the first school in Finland – joined the Baltic Sea Action Group. Protecting the Baltic Sea is the common denominator in our co-operation with schools is Denmark and Sweden.
Rudbeckianska Upper Secondary School, Sweden
Sweden’s first upper secondary school is situated in a wonderful cultural environment in the centre of Västerås. The school was founded by bishop Johannes Rudbeckius in 1623. Today the school offers academic facilities that are modern, but built in sympathy with the historical and traditional surroundings combined with numerous sporting and cultural activities. Tradition and social activities go hand in hand creating an environment for top rate academic results.
Our vision
Rudbeckianska upper secondary school, combining tradition and pioneering methods which provide students tools for life-knowledge, self-esteem and empathy.
Our aim is personal development. As a student you will naturally learn many new subjects. In addition you will be given the opportunity for personal development. Our goal is that you will leave with a strong self-esteem and a capacity for social collaboration and understanding, and a desire for further learning.
Rudbeckianska upper secondary school offers the following courses:
– The Arts Programme with a focus on art and form.
– The Child Recreation Programme. We offer two national profiles, healthcare and pedagogical and our own social science local profile.
– The Introductional Programme for immigrants. A program that prepares students for upper secondary school focusing mainly on the subjects Swedish for immigrants and Swedish as a secondary language.
– The Natural Science Programme which has been available for many generations. At the moment we offer two profiles, natural science and environmental science.
– NVSP is our own profile where students combine natural science and social science.
– The Social Science Programmme is also one of our long time programs. Today we offer two profiles, language and social science. In the long run we also will have culture profile.