We want the school to have professional teachers who understand the values of the EU. The positive experience gained with Erasmus+ learning mobility is a counterweight to Russia's disinformation about the EU. Based on the school's development plan, our goals are the development of employees' teaching capacity and competences. We wanted: 1) to develop the school's curriculum (innovative teaching methods, integration of teaching subjects); to develop students' creativity and the use of innovative teaching methods (e.g. filming, use of drama and playful elements, critical thinking, CLIL method, yoga); 2) to develop an environmentally sustainable way of life and environmental awareness in students, to implement outdoor learning; 3) to create new, up-to-date elective courses; 4) to promote extracurricular activites in the school (new courses, creative contests); 5) to improve management and coaching skills, create a mentoring system; 6) to raise the level of professionality in the school projects, to create new curriculum development (international) projects; 7) to learn about teaching methodologies and innovation in other EU schools; 8) to learn how to maintain a good school environment and mental health among the students.
Maardu Gymnasium is a municipal school located in the town of Maardu. The languages of instruction are Estonian and Russian, there are many nationalites studying in the school and therefore the languages and cultures of many ethnic students is valued. We have created classes for students with special educational needs, language immersion classes, classes with late language immersion and deep learning of the Estonian language. Integrated subject and language teaching (LAK teaching) is used in the teaching of the Estonian language. From 2020 we are developing the Estonian-language high school class, e.g. in 2023, we will open three tenth-grade classes, among them there is one 100% Estonian-language class. Studying is supported by after school programs which offer a variety of activities and great attention is paid to environmental activities, healthy lifestyle and nutrition and also to activities promoting the school values and integrating different school subjects. We have organized trainings for the teachers in the school and sent teachers to Erasmus+ learning mobility programs. The school has 918 students (74 from Ukraine and 94 non-stationary department students. We have a total of 130 employees, 91 of them are teachers.