OUTRES

Jakob Westholm Gymnasium (JWG) was established in 1898 as a school for poor Estonian boys. The school was named after Jakob Westholm became the director of the school in 1905 and he was famous for his vision: “Only the best is good enough for my boys.” The school was renovated in 2006. It is an urban institution situated in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia and Capital of Culture 2011. We are very close to the beautiful Historic Centre (Old Town) of the city, which is in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites and also inspires to write an interesting “Tales and Legends” book that would be like the sequel of the collection of Tallinn poems. The town is worth to make a presentation about it. Through this project pupils can become more aware of their own unique territory, its culture and potentiality, its history and transformation, and at the same time widen horizons for their future life chances.

 

Our primary school building (pupils aged from 7 to 11) is located ca 7 minutes walking distance from the secondary school (pupils aged from 11 to 18). The School accommodates 806 pupils that come from diverse backgrounds or levels of knowledge, and over the last two years some non-Estonian students from different cultural groups have been admitted. There are 65 teachers and a well functioning supporting system. Regarding the subjects taught we can mention: advanced groups in music, English and economy; humanities, science directions and national defence are also taught from 10th grade. Languages taught are: A-language is English (from 1st/3rd grade), B-language is Russian (from 6th grade), C-language is Spanish/German (from 10th grade). An academic year lasts 175 days and includes 4 terms and 4 holidays.

 

Our institution was awarded “School with Good Extracurricular Activities” in 2008 by the Quality Prize of Tallinn Educational Institution. Being winners of this quality award, we are very interested at participating in this project on both practical and theoretical themes. We want to keep ourselves well informed of new quality benchmarks, and we are eager to improve further our professional skills in school self-evaluation. The school is always seeking ways to involve pupils in their own learning and to create relevant and real personal opportunities to challenge their perceptions and opinions of what it means to be a European citizen, through communication and cooperation with other pupils in different European countries.