The Minna Canth School is a secondary school in the central area in Kuopio in Eastern Finland. It is located about one kilometre from Kuopio Market Square in the Niirala district, in the middle of a traditional and quiet wooden house area. In Minna Canth School there are about 620 pupils in grades 7-9, and 25 pupils in grade 10. The school has six music classes and three dance classes. Other strong fields of interest in our school are also a long term student exchange to northern Germany. We consider essential to widely integrate physical activation of students, special outdoor education course and expression skills. Minna Canth school has students from large area around Kuopio with different cultural and socio-economical backgrounds. Most of the students come from the Haapaniemi, Kurkimäki and Martti Ahtisaari primary schools as well as from the western rural schools - Hiltulanlahti, Hirvilahti, Rytky, Vehmasmäki and Kaislastenlahti. Students in the music and dance classes also come from the Rajala, Kalevala and Pohjantie schools as well as small numbers from other primary schools in the city. The key persons in this project have done international cooperation for many years. Irmeli Miettinen has been coordinating seven Comenius and Erasmus projects and has been a member of the international team in Kuopio. Mikko Vainio has been organizing student exchanges to Northern Germany for a long time too.

FINLAND_School Presentation.pdf