Tartu Veeriku School is a relatively young primary school. During the 30 years, we have spent enormous amounts of energy to make the school unique. Today our school is proud of its traditions, it is a joy that all of our students continue their studies after main school and take along a rich luggage of skills acquired in hobby groups. The teachers in our school value the development of general competences alongside the overall knowledge. We are proud that one third of our teachers is an instructor of a hobby group, giving a personal example and creating a bridge for the development of common values. Last academic year over 140 students took part in different competitions. In the academic year of 2010/2011 there are 19 classes and 397 students, and 57 teachers and serving staff. The amount of students is exactly as big that we love to say everyone knows everyone. The priority of the previous development plan was a development of a functioning support structure. Both the social pedagogue and the psychologist work in the school, the school nurse is also actively involved in the studies.
The conscious mapping of the moral values of the teachers and other employees of the school started in Spring 2010. For this purpose, a work group of nine dealing with moral values was put together. During an intensive two day work trip, the employees of the school shared their vision of the most important values of Tartu Veeriku School. The list was long. The next step was to list the ideas in subcategories, then specifying and opening them. The result of this work was a four-word concept related to moral values.
The concepts:
Patriotism – the knowledge and respect of our people, country and culture.
A sense of cohesion – showing off trustworthiness, responsibility, continuity and rescpectful behaviour towards other people.
Readiness – acquisition of learning skills, use of innovative tools and methods.
The joy of going to school - physical and mental health and well-being, pleasant work environment, the appreciation of good relationships, goodwill, friendliness, positive outlook on life, adequate self-esteem.
The expression of values in the environment, hobby activities and joint activities in Tartu Veeriku School Classrooms are decorated thematically and equipped with the necessary technology (computers, touch screens, projectors).
A large number of different hobby groups operate at the school, many of which are guided by their own school teachers. Examples include the acrobatics club “Akros”, gymnastics, folk dance, choir, crafts, woodwork, art, nature science, mathematics, English, judo, floorball and football. All this gives children the opportunity to develop their skills to deal the leisure time in the most pleasant way.
For example, the values of the school are strongly connected to the traditional school events: annual autumn hiking day, health day, autumn exhibition, charity campaign for the animals of Elistvere zoo, Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, folk calendar celebrations, Citizen’s Day, speech competition, gymnastics festival, Christmas concert at the church, participation of teachers in sport events and other health promoting events, celebration of subject weeks with interesting tasks, school anniversary, celebration of the anniversary of the Republic of Estonia. For the first time organized but hopefully becoming a tradition, School Olympics is also a great example of successful initiatives and important values (honesty, respect, creativity, courage, etc) of the whole school.
