Introduction
Pärnu Free School is a nine-year private school owned by parents, which operates according to the Estonian national curriculum. The school is inspired by Danish free schools, where the main keywords of everyday school life are experience, cooperation, freedom, and a sense of security. In its activities, Pärnu Free School relies on the traditions of Estonian schools, as well as the views of Johannes Käis and the Danish educators N. F. S. Grundtvig and C. M. Kold. The free school values a sustainable lifestyle.
Mission
The mission of Pärnu Free School is to create opportunities for students to develop their abilities in a well-rounded way and to foster lifelong learning with the help of professional tutors in a secure and collaborative school environment that values individual growth and community spirit.
Vision
Pärnu Free School is a general education school based on humane pedagogy, whose students, teachers, and parents are self-directed and cheerful individuals.
An average of 160 children study at Pärnu Free School. The highest governing body of the school is the general meeting of the Pärnu Free School Society (parents’ meeting). Being a parent at a Free School means taking responsibility and consciously supporting the school in mind, word, and deed. This is a school for all of us.
Each class has its own home classroom at Pärnu Free School. In addition, the school has a music class, a band room, a workshop, a library, a mobile computer class, a support room, and a large gym. Moreover, Pärnu Free School has the opportunity to use the hall and other rooms of the Youth Center for teaching. After class, students can participate in several clubs at the school’s Creativity Center. The outdoor area is fenced and safe, featuring an outdoor classroom, a sports field, and a bicycle storage room.
The main goal of a free school is to nurture a conscious, healthy, creative, and happy person.
Values
Members of the free school community – students, teachers, school staff, parents, and alumni – create and maintain a shared space of values that ensures a favorable social and spiritual learning environment for the development of each learner.
A free school aims to bring children and parents into a unified community with the school while also respecting the values and freedom of each individual. We do everything we can to ensure that our children feel safe and secure at school as an integral part of the community. Experience, love, and security are the keywords we have followed for 25 years, which have been an important foundation in creating a learning environment that values healthy choices and creativity.
As a community, we value our members’ open-minded and fair attitudes toward one another, their ability and willingness to create a supportive and attentive atmosphere, and their courage to take responsibility through personal example and commitment. Bullying is not acceptable in any form at school. To develop social interaction and create an equal and friendly learning environment for all students, the use of cell phones is limited during school hours and breaks.
We want to include parents in the free school community who share the school’s values, are open, and are cooperative. A Free School parent is their child’s greatest supporter, who cares for and respects their child even through the most difficult stages of growing into a balanced and harmonious adult. It is very important that all families who bring their children to our school respect the existing community and the responsibilities that come with it.
Teaching is aimed at developing the child’s imagination, emotions, and awareness. Following the example of adults, teachers, and parents, we encourage openness, entrepreneurship, goodwill, and responsibility in our students. We inspire them to value the environment, healthy lifestyles, as well as the Estonian state, language, and culture.
The whole idea of the Free School is to instill confidence in one’s school choice, the Free School, and its teachers, and to believe that trusting cooperation between the school staff and parents brings out and develops the students’ best potential, both in acquiring knowledge and in personal growth.