Normal Lyceum Secondary

Normal Lyceum

Normal Lyceum in the news

Today we visited Normal Lyceum, a Helsinki Lower Secondary and Upper Secondary school. Lower Secondary consists of 13 to 16 year old students and Upper Secondary is for students aged 17 and up. Students attend the Lower Secondary school of their district, but must apply to attend the Upper Secondary of their choice. Normal Lyceum is a very popular school due to its central city location, so it is a highly competitive choice for Upper Secondary students. There are 290 students in the Lower Secondary school and 245 students in the Upper Secondary. The school employees 60-70 teachers and hosts up to 170 student teachers each year. Students must pass four matriculation exams on subjects of their choice to be eligible for University or higher vocational training. This is Norssi's 150th anniversary year. 

While visiting Norssi, we discussed science at the high school level with Nelly Heiskanen, a chemistry teacher, and Johanna Jauhianen, a Physics teacher. We discussed teacher education and training with teacher, Irina Penne.  We discussed the structure of lower and upper secondary schools and Norssi in particular with Vice Principal Jaena Silvennoinen. We observed a Physics class for 17 year old students in their first year of Upper Secondary school.

  

  

Norssi Teachers Lounge

  

Part of a newly renovated section of the school

   

  

  

A typical teacher made Norssi assessment

  

The school media center. The media teacher told us that many Finnish schools do not have school libraries and rely on strong partnerships with the local public libraries, but that Norssi, being in the city and not a small town, is in a different situation.

  

  

  

  

   

The Norssi cafeteria- student meals are free for all students

The Physics class that we observed was working out an experiment concerning voltage. The class has a student teacher, the young man in the maroon shirt and pulled back hair.