Welcome to Oulu International School

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OIS Mission Statement

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 the skills they need to thrive in an increasingly interrelated and complex world;
accommodate speakers of many languages and backgrounds who may join the school at any time of the year;
ensure that students receive the individual attention and support they need to succeed;
encourage students to become creative problem-solvers and independent thinkers;
sustainably develop ethical standards, appreciate diversity, and create an active concern for care of the community and environment;
allow students to make smooth transitions to other international schools or back to their national school systems.

Language Policy

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 knowledgable 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.

History of OIS

Oulu International School (OIS) is an IB (International Baccalaureate) world school owned by the City of Oulu and exists to meet the educational needs of the international and internationally minded community in and around Oulu. As an authorised IB school, we offer the Primary Years (PYP) and Middle Years (MYP) programmes. We started in Kasarmintie 4 in August 2001 under the administration of Myllytulli Primary and Secondary schools and opened our doors as an independent school in August 2002. The teaching staff is highly qualified and experienced and offers a wide range of expertise to support all areas of the curriculum through the first nine years of Basic Education. We currently number 320 children and approximately 25 staff members. Students are taught in 18 age-based classes, supported by a team of auxiliary staff.

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