воскресенье, 2 сентября 2012 г.

September, the 1st - Knowledge Day in Russia

Yesterday on the first of September all Russian schools and educational organisations (colleges, Universities) celebrated the beginning of a new educational year. And I also visited my school from which I graduated 12 years ago.


Русская версия >>>



If you want to know something about Russian  educational system, I'll tell you briefly. Starting from 2 or 3 years of age, a child starts to go to kinder garden. At the age of 6 or 7 years a kid goes to school. Studies at schools starts from the 1st of September and last till the 31st of May. It is common dates for all Russian schools not depending from the region. All the educational year is devided into 4 quarters and vacations between them: the first quarter lasts from the 1st of September till the 31st of October then from the 1st till the 10th of November pupils have a vacation period. The second quarter begins from the 11th of November and lasts till the 29th of December and then from the 30th of December till the 11th of January kids have Christmas and New Year Vacations. The third and the longest quarter starts with the 11th of January and lasts till the 31st of March and after that again Spring vacation from the 1st till the 7th of April and then the fourth and the last quarter which lasts till the end of the educational year at the 31st of May and finishes with 3 months of Summer vacations before a new educational year. At the end of the year in June pupils of the 9th and 11th grades pass their graduational exams and tests. Ah, yes, pupils can graduate from school after the 9th grade (in this case his education is considered to be an incomplete secondary education). If a pupil decides to study at school further and graduates after the 11th grade, then his school education is considered complete and after that a pupil can pass preliminary exams to Universities where as a student he or she will spend five or six years more studying for a future occupation.
Speaking more about schools I can add that school education occupies 11 years of education and devides into elementary school (1-4 grades) where little pupils go to one teacher common for all disciplines and get a primary skill in maths, native language, foreign language, reading, counting etc. Then they pass to senior school (5-9 grades) and they start to study new subjects which are taught by separate teachers who are professional only in this or that subject. As I have written higher any pupil can graduate from school after the 9th grade and go to college to get some working occupation such as a builder or weldor or something like that. After the 9th grade pupils pass to a high school (10th and 11th grade).  During these 2 years they begin thinking what education to choose after graduating from school, what they what to be. I can add that in the 10th and 11th grade Russian pupils don't choose subjects for further studying at school which will be useful for higher educstion at Universities and study only these chosen subjects. In Russian schools pupils have stable schedule and have all subjects at once: all pupils till the end study algebra, geometry, chemistry, literature, Russian and foreign languages, history etc. If a pupil of a high school has already chosen his/her future occupation, knows that he/she will become a doctor, IT specialist or a teacher for example and already knows to what University he/she will bring his/ her documents and will pass the enrance exams there, a pupil can sign up and visit preparative courses which any University offers to any school leaver. I used to visit such courses and they were very useful.
As the addition to constant schedule of subjects I can add that the content of each class doesn't change a lot. All classmates pass through school years together.


Well, now about yesterday's celebration of a new educational year.

School was decorated with Russian flags


This is thig with unknown symbols hanging above the entrance. I remember that at my very first September the 1st at my frist grade I was looking onto this thing and thought what could all those symbols mean :)




School territory is being cleaned before celebrations





Some pupils went to school earlier and decorate walls with baloons and prepare some other things




At last the first pupils began to come


Time passed and all schhool yard was becoming full of pupils and their parents. As the first of September turned out to be a Saturday, parents should ask their bosses at work to let them share this day with their kids.




In the corner where the 1st grade pupils were gathering, it was a real mess. All moms and dads with their kids were running about in search of their teachers and future classmates. In order the search was faster teachers held such papers with the indication of classes.


Here are 1st grade pupils themselves :)
















1st gradies are lined up for outcoming to the celebrations


With tremor and interest parents were looking at their kids. This moment is very exciting for parents as well: they lead their kids to scholl for the first time and then they will see their first written flourishes, summate their firat 2+2 and get the first rates (rates differs from 1 to five where 1 is the worst rate and 5 is the most excellent one).


The first-gradies are sooooooo serious :)






The official celebrations started with the National Anthem and making the colors.












Pupils were watching attentively and listening to the Director of the School (unfortunately, I didn't have good shoots of this nice lady).
















Some pupils showed their dances. They were so cute and sweet.















This young lady sang a song about Russia. She was really good.


To my surprise at our school a separate gym class was created (maybe they have mor gym lessons than other pupils) and they showed their basketball skills.







After all shows pupils heard their first bell. Traditionally the first bell in the beginning of the year for all pupils and the last bell for pupils who graduate from school in the end of the educational year is performed by a schoolgirl from the elementary school carried by a boy from some higher grade.





After the bell teachers lead their classes to the school. I don't know how it is in schools of other countries but in this country every teacher can take any class (starting from the fifth grade) under the patronage and become its leader till the graduation. And in addition to the fact that of course this teacher gives his/her lessons to this class, he/she also resolves some organisational cases of this class and any pupil of this class can address to such teacher with personal problems etc. And the teacher who takes class under patronag is also responsible for some out-of-school development. I mean that sich teacher can taka the class to museums, theatres and turn kids to some cultural aspects. And of course his/her responsibility is also to communicate with parents of pupils, tell them about successes and troubles of their kids at schools.
 







Here are some pupils of secondary and high school. They are beautiful, aren't they?










 You can also watch a little video.



What about me? I remembered my first of September when I went to school for the first time. It was in 1990. I remembered my sweet school years and these memories were really pleasant. Here how I looked like in  my first grade. Enjoy :)



А это был наш класс







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