Huutoniemen koulu (Huutoniemi school)

In Vaasa, language enriched teaching is offered in three Finnish primary schools: Huutoniemi school, Tervajoki school, and Onkilahti comprehensive school. The students automatically participate in Swedish language showering, so a separate application process is not needed.

Huutoniemi school participates in the Green Flag Programme (internationally known as Eco-school sustainable school programme). We operate according to the sustainability principles of the Finnish Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) and learn to respect the environment. The Green Flag Programme assigns all the pupils in all grades with environmentally educative activities.

• The first graders get advice on how to sort their waste. They also learn about The Old Vaasa.
• The second graders get acquainted with the EnergyVaasa project (the Nordic Hub for Energy Technology) and visit Vaasan Sähkö (a local electricity company).
• The third-graders get further advice on how to sort and recycle their waste. They learn about “Merellinen Vaasa” – a multidisciplinary module about living in and with the nature, learn about the UNESCO World Heritage Site at our coast, and the museum Terranova.
• The fourth graders study sustainable living in their everyday life at school, go to nature school, and learn about Vaasa region by visiting the local museums, art exhibitions and the library.
• The fifth graders get further acquainted with EnergyVaasa (the Nordic Hub for Energy Technology) and visit Westenergy (a local waste refinement station).
• The sixth graders learn about “Merellinen Vaasa” (Vaasa by the sea) – a multidisciplinary module about living in and with nature, learn about the UNESCO World Heritage Site at our coast especially through its history.

The Green Flag activities follow a set of codes created in cooperation with the pupils:

1. Let’s be fair and friendly towards everybody.
2.   Let’s take care of ourselves.
3.   Let’s take care of our environment and its vegetation.
4.   Let’s travel to school by foot or by bike.
5.   Let’s sort our waste.
6.   Let’s save energy.
7. Let’s only take as much food as we can eat.
8. Let’s have environment-related theme days.

In the spirit of the Green Flag Programme, certain classroom activities are taken outdoors over the course of the year. Huutoniemi school has 1–2 Green Flag theme days a year. The theme of the ongoing school year 2022–2023 is “healthy life.”

Our school has a school team. The school team has one representative from each class. The sixth grade has two representatives in the team. The school team actively participates in planning the school routines with the instructors of the team. The school team meets regularly.

Our school closely cooperates with Kohtaamispaikka Huudi, the youth club and library premise in Huutoniemi, on the bottom floor of Huutoniemi school.

The pedagogical information specialist Leena Seppänen is responsible for the library operations in Huudi.

We learn about the library services together. The classes visit the library every week. We encourage the students to read. Trying different approaches to it, we try to find something interesting to read for every pupil. The pupils can complete reading diplomas, visit “kirjavinkkaus” (an interface for offering reading tips to other readers), and tip each other about great books. We have adopted the library as one of our learning environments.

Huutoniemi school has an active parents’ association called “Hutskin koulun vanhempainyhdistys ry” – the Parents’ Association of the Huutoniemi school.

The Parents’ Association participates in the school photo sessions and organises diverse events, such as discos.

The Parents’ Association provides financial support to all the grades for bus transportation and entrance fees in connection to visiting the locations that the study curriculum involves.

The Parents’ Association has a Facebook-page by the name “Hutskin koulun vanhempainyhdistys.” The email address of the Parents’ Association is hutski.vanhemmat@gmail.fi