This is an opportunity for Rothesay Joint Campus pupils from P6 up to S2 to become part of an exciting joint project involving schools throughout. While working on the project pupils will have the opportunity to communicate with pupils in schools in Finland, Poland, Turkey and Spain and via the internet using school websites, e-mail and blogs. Each project will end with a group of pupils meeting at one of the school centres as each school will play host to the others in turn.

 

Mr Kelley visited Moisio School in Salo in Finland, the host school of this project, to help set up this series of partnerships which will involve Rothesay Joint Campus pupils in a programme of  ‘rich tasks’ across the curriculum involving Art, Biology, English, History, Home Economics, IT, and Music. The partner schools are located on coastal areas of Europe. The project therefore is on: ‘The Sea as a Connecting and Separating Influence’ and schools taking part are Moisio School in Salo Finland; Gimnnajum Sportowe no. 46 in Gdansk Poland; IES San Benito in Tenerife, Spain; and Aydin Ataturk Anadolu Lisesi in Aydin Turkey.

 

The project will start with the partner schools all visiting Rothesay for an Art, Photography and Food Exhibition, bringing with them their own art works, photographic works and recipes in May 2010. The exhibition will then go on tour round the different partner schools. Out of this the best presentations from each school will be selected for a joint calendar and recipe book. 

 

Further projects will involve working on a play, a musical concert, a presentation on the historical impact of the sea on each community and the imaginative approach to recycling of beach waste. These projects will continue through to the summer of 2011 with each project coming together at a different centre ending with a musical concert in Gdansk in May 2011. There will be an opportunity for pupils from the present P6 up to S2 to be involved both in the projects and in visiting participating schools.

 

 Moisio School is in the town of Salo, a ‘Nokia’ town between the modern capital Helsinki and the ancient capital Turku. In Finland pupils do not start Primary School until they are 7 years old. Between 13 and 16 they attend a secondary school like Moisio School and follow a common general curriculum between the age of 13 and 16. There are 4 timetables throughout the year and pupils study subjects in blocks. Interestingly this is partly similar to what is being proposed for the new Scottish curriculum. To graduate from Moisio School at 16 they are graded 1-10 and must achieve at least a grade 5 (or they may be forced to repeat the year). When they are 16 pupils can go to a High School to sit exams that will take them to College or University.   Ice Hockey and Handball are extremely popular sports in Finland and pupils get these sports along with Athletics, football and golf as part of their PE curriculum at Moisio School.

 

 

 

Every pupil in Moisio School like all pupils in Finland get free school meals. The majority of pupils travel to school by bicycle – the bicycle park is bigger than the car park - and there are plenty of cycle paths to allow them to do this safely. The town of Salo is on the edge of the Turku Archipelago, a collection of islands that spread across the Gulf of Finland almost to the coast of Sweden. These islands are served by 14 ferries all of which are free to both foot passengers and cars.