Ruukki
Ruukki is a small village in Siikajoki (white fish river) Commune in Northern Ostrobotnia in Finland.
There are about 1700 inhabitants in Ruukki, and about 5000 in Siikajoki Commune. So, we are a small rural village with a beautiful landscape and farming.
More pictures and info about Siikajoki commune:
https://www.visitsiikajoki.fi/siikajoenkyla/siikajoki-luonnonkaunis-jokemme/
Ruukki School is a new building in Opintie. 2016 we combined preschool, primary school, lower secondary school and upper secondary school to this new building.
There has been about 400 pupils in our school each year in comprehensive education, and about 50 pupils more in upper secondary school.
There are special education groups and preparatory education for immigrants in our school, but we integrate a lot. We also organize before and after school activities in the school building. There is a library and a sports hall next to the school.
More info about our school https://www.siikajoki.fi/ruukin-koulu
There is a personnel of (teachers, teaching support personnel and management) about 50 in our school.
- The principal,
- two assistant principals with teaching duties,
- student guidance Councillor,
- school curator (the school's social worker),
- teachers (class room teachers and subject teachers)
- assistants.
- We have a school doctor and psychologist in the commune that visits our school each month.
- There are also kitchen workers, maintenance workers, and the cleaning crew.
Also, the physio therapists, speech therapists and occupational therapists use the school premises during the school day to train with pupils if needed.
In Finland we have the policy of the nearest school. That means that all the pupils can go to the nearest school to them. For special education pupils there is a group in every commune if they can not got to the nearest school to them do to their difficulties. In the big cities there are some private schools like the French school in Helsinki, The international school,or the Steiner school. There aren't many or any of them in every commune.
Pupils come to school on foot, by bike or by school bus if they live more than 5 km away from the nearest school.
The school day in our school is from 8.30 until 14.30 or shorter. There is free warm lunch for all pupils at school at the school canteen.
The subjects we teach at the primary school are:
Finnish
Mathematics
English
Environmental studies
Social studies
Arts
Music
Crafts (technical and textile work)
Religion or Ethics
History
PE
Swedish
Lower secondary school includes all the primary school subjects and:
Biology
Geography
Home economics
Chemistry and Physics
Student Guidance counselor lessons
Health education
IT
+ three weeks of introduction to working life (TET/PRAO)
In Finland we have two official languages, Finnish and Swedish. In addition to that, we start learning the first foreign language from the first grade and it is also possible to learn other foreign languages during the school years. So, all Finns can speak at least three languages by the time they finish comprehensive school. Our school offers German as an additional language.
Our school also offers Finnish as a second language lessons for pupils that do not have Finnish as a mother tongue.
More about the Finnish school https://www.oph.fi/en
Ruukki School has taken part in Erasmus+ and eTwinning since the beginning. 2022 we applied and got accreditation. The main focus for the previous Erasmus+ project was sustainable development and now with the accreditation we are aiming to build future skills to our pupils, and give them experiences in international cooperation.
More about the international activities of our school: https://ruukkischool.blogspot.com/
