Apollo School consists of the comprehensive school (grades 7-9)
and the upper secondary school. Founded in 1919, the school was originally
located in Kruununhaka. In 1936 it moved to Apollo Street which gave the
school its current name. From 1985 onwards, Apollo School has been situated
in Malminkartano, which lies approximately 10 kilometres from the centre
of Helsinki. Most of the students are from Malminkartano and the surrounding
area.
The comprehensive school has grades specialised in music and arts. The students in these grades have to pass an entrance exam. The school follows the national curriculum and most of the subjects are obligatory. As Finland is a bilingual country, also Swedish is studied in addition to the Finnish language.
After the 9th grade, the students continue their studies either in vocational institutions or at upper secondary schools.
The national curriculum is also followed at the upper secondary school. The students choose either the advanced or general level in mathematics, and the choice of languages includes English, German, French and some Spanish. Apollo School also works in close co-operation with companies such as Grundfos Ltd and ABB Ltd.
The comprehensive school has about 260 pupils, while the number of students at the upper secondary school is 220. There are 40 teachers at Apollo and 12 other members of staff. All the teachers are experienced, qualified and highly motivated.
The school year is divided into five periods each of which is seven weeks long. In addition to the summer and Christmas holidays, there is a one-week winter holiday in February and an autumn leave, which lasts a few days.
In the years 2008-2010 our school is participating in a LLP Comenius project together with a Spanish school from Alicante, a French school from Dax, a German school from Eberbach and an English school from Alderley Edge. The title of the project is "We are tomorrow's Europe" and it consists of producing four radio podcasts and carrying out two student meetings, the first one in March 2009 in France and the second in February 2010 in Spain.
At Apollo, all the students receive guidance both individually and in groups in order to help them with their further studies. The students themselves have an important role in familiarising the newcomers with the school by telling them about the daily routines and other practical things. The students at Apollo School are provided with a tasty and free meal every day.
For further information, contact Hannu
Karvonen, the headmaster, or Kirsti
Järvinen, the guidance counsellor.