F.E.Sillanpää Upper Secondary School in Hämeenkyrö!

Welcome to read about life in F.E.Sillanpää Upper Secondary School!

Thursday 20 February 2014

A day for real-life princes and princesses


The second graders of the F. E. Sillanpää senior high school danced their prom last Friday, at Valentine’s Day. The prom for second graders is an old habit in Finland, and it usually takes place in February when the third graders have ended their school journey. That’s why the prom is called “Wanhojen tanssit”, in English “Prom for the old ones”.  “Wanhojen tanssit” is generally known for girls’ glamorous outfits, boys’ handsome looks and well-practiced dances.




The second graders’ day started at ten o’clock am, but of course most of the girls had woken up very early in the morning. Hairdos, make-ups and dresses had to be perfect. At the beginning of the day the second graders arrived at the school gym, which was beautifully decorated by the first graders. They toasted for the long-expected party, and then it was time to dance. The last graders of the junior high school and the first graders of the senior high school were there to watch the dances. The Old ones danced four dances, from which “Cicapo” with the junior high school students. There was also a surprise number, a dance that the Old ones had made themselves. Everything went very well, and after the dances in the high school the Old ones traveled to Kyröskoski primary school to perform some dances in there, too. They also danced there with the last grade pupils of the primary school. After that the job was done, and the Old ones had a little break before the Evening party at the high school. Some of the Old ones still had to head for other primary schools or nursing homes to share the joy of dancing to the students and the old persons.









The Evening party began at 6 o’clock pm at the high school. The Old ones took relatives and families with them to watch the dances, and there were a lot of viewers. First the Old ones and the relatives enjoyed good refreshments and relaxing music, which was played by the first grade music group students Kalle Koivisto and Olli Luomajärvi. At 6.30 it was time to move on to the gym to watch dance performances. First the speakers Helena Saarinen and Teemu Märri introduced the dance pairs for the audience, and then it was time to dance. The Old ones performed 11 dances and their own dance number. In the evening the family members and relatives also had a chance to dance the “Cicapo” with the Old ones. After these practiced dances it was time for photographing and free dancing while the first grade music group members played beautiful music.
















When all dancing had ended, the Old ones headed for a restaurant to celebrate the memorable night. After good eating they left to continue the successful evening together. All in all,  “Wanhojen tanssit” was a day to remember.

Written by Sanni 1B 
Photos by Mari 3B and Annamari 2B

Thursday 13 February 2014

The school leaving party



Today, on 13th of February, it was time to say goodbye to our senior high school´s third graders. It is every year`s tradition that the third graders organize this show and leave the school behind massively. 

This year the third graders had again organized a big party for their last school day before the final exams and graduation. This year`s theme was The Lord of the Rings, so I wasn´t really surprised when I came to school and saw everywhere elves, hobbits and orcs. I thought that the topic was an awesome idea and really looked forward to seeing the show.







The thing I was not so excited about was the mess that waited in school.  The third graders had made an awful mess in our school hall way. It is a tradition, so it was not really any surprise. So, why was not I so happy about this? Well that´s because we, the first graders had to clean the mess up after the show. However, I realized it was not so big a thing after all. I mean, we, first graders with a little bit help from the second grader´s, cleaned it pretty fast and it was not so awful a thing after all. Well that’s about it, I should probably tell something about the show and the rest of the day. You are probably more interested in that. Well I will start with the show.

All the students of our school, including the middle school pupils, were sitting in our school hall and waiting for the third graders. The hall was of course decorated according to the topic, for example there were Mordor and Shire. Then the lights went down and Gandalf (a third grader who was dressed like Gandalf) stepped inside and walked in front of us and welcomed us to the show. Then the rest of the third graders came inside and then they started to dance. 









After that started the teachers’ humiliation, the whole day was full of the teachers’ humiliation, but anyway let`s carry on. So the third graders had made some funny tasks for the senior high school teachers. For example the biology teacher had to mime animals and the English teacher was looking for hidden mobile phones while the Swedish teacher was jumping on them. Yes, sounds pretty crazy.

There were a lot of different kinds of tasks for other teachers too, for example cooking healthy snacks, rapping and recognizing students. All the other teachers except for our Swedish teacher Taina ended up in Mordor. Taina, on the other hand, was frolicking in Shire. This was the senior high school’s third graders’ decision. 





At the end of the show we saw some third graders´ baby pictures. That was a good ending for the amazing show.

Well, after the show, the first graders went to clean and the third graders went touring our school and throwing some sweets for the students. A tradition again, if you are wondering why.
Then all the senior high school students went to the auditorium to see a video made by the third graders. I think the video was hilarious and it must have taken a lot of time to make it. So it was really awesome that we had an opportunity to see that video. The video was full of teachers´ humiliation, with the third graders dressed like them, but it was also the third graders’ way to say thank you and a way to remember their past years in this school. The video really summed up all the years they spent in this school and it was funny to see how well the third graders performed high school teachers in that video.   



The day ended really wonderfully. The third graders were going to go a little ride with their truck around our little village. They were also going to primary schools throwing candy for the little ones. So the third graders left the building looking very happy and I just want to wish them good luck for the future and thank them for this day. 




Written by Miranda 1B