In September 2005 children at Almondbury Infant and Nursery School became involved in an EU funded Comenius project, managed by the British Council in the UK. Over 3 years, project schools apply for funding to promote learning about life and culture in other European countries. Almondbury is linked with schools in Finland, Germany, Norway, Slovakia and Sweden.
The school was awarded funding for 2 members of staff, 4 pupils and 4 parents to visit our partner school in Finland to experience life just below the Arctic Circle in the Finnish winter. Interested parents were keen that as many children as possible were given the opportunity to travel. Parents agreed to pay their own air fares so that all the funding was available to pay for children’s fares. Early on the morning of Sunday 12th February, 7 Year 2 children, each with one parent, met at school. Accompanied by 2 staff, they set off for Manchester Airport to fly to Helsinki and then on to Oulu in the north of Finland. Our partner school, Jakun Koulu is a small primary school in the remote village of Yli-Ii, 40 km from Oulu, on the southern edge of Lapland.
Preparation for the trip was extensive because of the young age of the children. We were well prepared for the very low temperatures, but the children were amazed and excited when they saw such deep snow everywhere. After a welcome party given by our host families we set off to the various houses where we would be staying for 4 nights. Travelling to school the next morning was an adventure. Some children were driven to school across the frozen river (on the ice – not across a bridge) and others walked across. Some children followed paths cut into the deep snow. Going to school was a lot of fun!
Each morning the Almondbury children worked alongside their Finnish friends in school. Playtimes in the snow were very popular, sliding down slopes and making snow angels. School lunch was served at 11.30a.m. each day, after which we went on local excursions.
We visited the Snow Castle and Ice Hotel at Kemi and enjoyed trying out the beds, tables and chairs made from blocks of ice taken from the Baltic Sea. As our party left the hotel we were fascinated to meet 2 people booking into the hotel for the night!
In temperatures of -20C we visited a reconstructed Stone Age village at Kierikki. We walked through the forest to the shores of a frozen lake, spent time making jewellery in the huts, warmed ourselves by open fires and tried some archery out of doors. The children showed themselves to be very capable with longbows!
Our host families kitted us out with boots, cross country skis and ski poles and we joined the Finnish children for their sports afternoon on the school’s cross country ski track. Our children loved skiing and also enjoyed riding on kick sleighs. The adults provided the power for the kick sleighs, which can best be described as an ice scooter on two runners with a chair on the front for a child to sit on.
Most evenings with our host families were spent skiing, sledging or socialising with other families, but our final evening was a well kept secret. We were driven into a forest to where large fires had been lit for us. To everyone’s delight, out of the darkness Father Christmas appeared on a reindeer sleigh with presents for everyone. For the remainder of the evening we enjoyed reindeer and snow mobile sleigh rides across a frozen lake. After we had cooked sausages over the fires and shared a meal with our hosts the evening and the visit drew to a close.
The benefits and learning from the visit far outweigh all the pre-trip anxieties about organising foreign visits for young children. Ian Kirby, Educational Visits Advisor, gave valuable support to the school during our preparations for the trip. Yli-Ii community is keen to continue the link with Almondbury after the project ends and I have no qualms about organising further foreign trips for our pupils. On the flight back to the UK one of the children summarised everyone’s feelings about the visit – it was awesome!
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