School has started – welcome to the new school year!

Yesterday, 2,651 new first-graders started their schooling in Vantaa. Sixty-six of them are Swedish-speaking. Anni Jansson, who teaches grade one in the Pähkinärinteen koulu primary school, said that the first day of school was exciting for many, but the nervousness mellowed out once everyone found their own place in the classroom and could get to know the teacher and other pupils. Actually, the teacher might have been more nervous than the pupils! Anni summarised the content of the first few days:

- Today, on the first day of school, we told each other about our summer experiences, played a song game, explored the school yard and listened to a story. Today's pen exercise went really well, I am proud of my pupils! The children wore their yellow first-grader caps with pride. On Friday, we will play an ABC game. We have a puzzle that shows the cover of an ABC-book. The pieces of the puzzle are hidden in the school yard and the pupils get to work together to find them. Once the puzzle pieces have been found, the pupils will get their own ABC-books.

Getting your own schoolbooks is something that pupils look forward to very much, but they still need to wait a little longer; the first two weeks are about the pupils getting to known each other and the school environment without being distracted by books.

Secondary schools are living in exciting times

Starting lower secondary school is also a significant event. Primary school pupils have their own class teacher, but in secondary school, the pupils have several subject teachers. Of course, each class have their own class supervisor, but the pupils do not see the supervisor every day. There are more subjects and for some seventh-graders, even the school building might be new. Linnéa Lindqvist, who just started grade seven in Helsinge skola, described her feelings on the first morning of the school year:

- I feel good. In the morning, I was a little nervous, because the previous school was just 900 metres away from my home, but now I come to the school by bus. The school is also bigger, so if I cannot find the classroom, I might have to ask for directions.

Linnéa says that she and five of her friends got into the same class. There are also other pupils she is familiar with. She is most excited about the start of the lessons. Is there a particular subject she is looking forward to?

- Physical education. I want to concentrate on football so that I become a good footballer. I mean, I am already good, but I am aiming higher, Linnéa says.

Pupils in grade nine, on the other hand, are starting their final year of comprehensive school. Some of the big events of grade nine are the introduction to working life period and, in the spring, the application for further education. A year from now, today's ninth-graders will enter a new phase in their education when they move on, according to their own interests, to general upper secondary or vocational education.

Dennis Larkiala has attended the International School of Vantaa since pre-primary education. He ended up in the school because he had lived in Thailand as a small child and wanted to continue studying in English. Now, he is starting grade nine. How does it feel to be starting your final year in comprehensive school?

- It is exciting to be starting a new chapter in your life: the end of comprehensive school and the start of general upper secondary school. Of course, it is also a little stressful as this is the final year and you need to get good grades. At the same time, you need to make sure to enjoy the good and fun moments you get - focus on the best things about this final year! The nicest thing about the new school year is probably that you get to see a lot of friends and just spend time at school.

How has Dennis prepared for the year ahead?

- I have put myself in the mindset that I will take this year a little more seriously. I will try to get as good grades as possible in all subject, so that I can be happy with what I have achieved in grade nine, Dennis says.

According to Dennis, after this school year, he would like to move to Kuusamo where Finland's only snowboarding-oriented general upper secondary school, or snowboarding academy, is located.

- I have a really goal-oriented approach to snowboarding, which is why the plan is that I move there and attend the academy. The Olympics are the goal.

New school year has also begun in general upper secondary schools, Varia and pre-primary schools

In addition to comprehensive schools, the school year started in the City of Vantaa's general upper secondary schools, the vocational college Varia and pre-primary schools. A total of 1,337 new students started in the city's general upper secondary schools. Fifty-six of them started in the Swedish-language Helsinge gymnasium.

The new school year started in Varia a little earlier, on Wednesday, 2 August. In August, approximately 1,119 new degree students will start in Varia, in addition to whom a total of 217 students will start in basic education for adults and preparatory education for an upper secondary qualification. Continuous admission makes it possible for new students to start their studies at any point of the year.

This autumn, there are about 2,600 children in pre-primary education. Fifty-two of the children started in Swedish-language pre-primary education.

Police emphasise the importance of safety in both traffic and social media

Safety is an essential part of the start of the school year, regardless of the grade the pupil or student attends. Caution is key in traffic, because small children are not always able to observe the traffic properly. Chief Inspector Katri Lehti from the Eastern Uusimaa Police Department says that the police supervise how well the rules concerning pedestrian crossings, in particular, are followed and that in connection with the start of the school year, the police's attention will be focused on the surrounding areas of schools, especially at the beginning and end of the school day.

Lehti says that parents and guardians should walk through the way to school a few times together with their first- and even second-graders. Parents should also plan the way to school based on how safe it is, even if the safer options make the route a little longer. Dangerous situations, however, may arise on the way to school when, for example, children do not pay attention to traffic when they stare at their phones, play with their friends or rush across the street to their friends.

The Eastern Uusimaa Police Department states that over time, every child will learn the regulations and general rules of traffic, but it is important that the rules and guidelines issued by the school are also learned and followed. However, the most important thing according to the police is that nobody is left alone or bullied. Senior Constable Hanna-Liisa "Hissu" Hartikainen says that bullying takes increasingly place in social media, hidden from adults:

- Friend groups have shared WhatsApp groups where they talk about everything related to school. In a typical case, one of the group members is subjected to negative talk and bullying. Parents and guardians should learn what TikTok, Instagram, WhatsApp, Snapchat and Facebook are and what their age limits are.

Hissu's advice to anyone being bullied is to save the messages and images as proof of the bullying. "Cases of bullying must always be investigated with adult support and the victim of the bullying should never be left alone. The times and dates when the bullying has happened, the bully's name or user name, email address and IP address will help solve the case. Do not hesitate to contact the police, if the bullying is severe.

Have a nice school year, everyone!

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