• Joy of learning
• Community
• Respect
• Responsibility

"Joy of learning in a diverse and caring community"

The aim of Oulu International School is to educate children to become interculturally minded, active and co-operative citizens, who have good learning skills and knowledge to contribute positively to society.

In practice, this means that we aim to:

• provide students with skills they need to thrive in an increasingly interrelated, diverse and complex world
• appreciate people of many languages and backgrounds
• ensure that students receive the individual attention and support they need to succeed
• encourage students to become creative problem-solvers and independent thinkers
• create an active concern for a sustainable community and environment.

The International Baccalaureate aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect.

To this end the organization works with schools, governments and international organizations to develop challenging programmes of international education and rigorous assessment.

These programmes encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right.

More information about the IB mission and strategy

OIS is a CLIL (Content & Language Integrated Learning) school, which means that students are learning content and language at the same time. The majority of our students are learning in a language which is not their mother tongue - English. According to our admissions policy, students should be able to cope with English tuition and express themselves in English.

At OIS, we are combining two requirements in language skills. We follow the National Core Curriculum and the IB guidelines and standards. Our students are aiming at Level B2.2 in the European Language Framework for English. Our students also have to be able to continue in secondary education either in Finnish or English. We are therefore aiming to educate students to be balanced bilinguals, who are highly proficient, literate and knowledgeable in two or more languages.

Language of Instruction

• The language of tuition is mainly English, except in other language lessons.
• Teaching and assessment of languages is differentiated to allow for diversity in students' development.
• All teachers are language teachers. We encourage students to use English by answering them in English and giving them the words they want to use.
• When students have language difficulties that hinder them from learning subject knowledge, teachers may use the student's mother tongue.
• In subjects which have technical vocabulary or differences in the way concepts are expressed, materials are provided in both languages.
• Special Education is given in Finnish to Finnish students and in English to non-Finnish students, in order to help them understand concepts more clearly.

IB programmes aim to develop internationally-minded people who, recognizing our common humanity and shared guardianship of the planet, help to create a better, more peaceful world. We hope that families will be able to support their children as they, along with the teachers and administrators of the school, strive to be: