Acting Head of School’s Speech for the Opening Ceremony, school year 2023-2024

Welcome everyone to the Opening ceremony of the new school year at VFIS. Thank you all for being here today. As your Acting Principal, I feel privileged and looking forward to working with you all. Together with the hard work and dedication of your teachers, TAs, and staff, we truly have a world-class school ready for you to start this new academic year. At VFIS you can expect to find a place where inspiring teaching, problem-solving, and engaging activities, as well as cultural traditions, are harmoniously integrated.

We have excellent resources and facilities, and you are the most fantastic students to grow and learn with. We are a school community that values vitality, flexibility, inclusion, and “sisu”.

We are here to gain the necessary skills & competencies,.... character qualities, …..and an international mindset…. to successfully navigate the challenges and opportunities of an ever-changing world.

I am passionate about students being empowered to succeed. My job, as acting principal, is to use all tools available to inspire the school community to work together to promote students’ achievement and well-being.

The ability to be innovative and creative is very important to me and I encourage you all to be ……inquirers, creative problem solvers, and learn together.

I also enjoy celebrating successes and acknowledging the hard work of students and the community. I believe this is an essential contributor to a happy school environment, where you, students, will feel valued and appreciated.

Finally, I would like to share with you some school news:   

Firstly, this year we start the Foreign languages for all. This brings us the opportunity to learn Chinese, Japanese, or French. Learning foreign languages widens your international perspective and increases your linguistic abilities.  Another thing I want to bring up is the student council. It represents all our students and it increases students’ involvement in decision-making. I would like to welcome the high school members of the student council to come forward onto the stage. Student council, Please come forward.

Dear students, 

Imagine what you will be in 15 years. Among us, we have future engineers, doctors, lawyers, teachers and professional workers, businessmen, and businesswomen, artists and influencers, mothers and fathers. Besides learning, you get connections and friendships that can last for a lifetime.

What do we need to learn for the future? We learn lots of knowledge by studying and reading,.... we understand it by doing and testing,..... and we learn skills by practicing. Altogether, we study to be able to face future challenges.

Learning is not to memorize the ready-given answers, but it is about getting the tools to solve problems, connecting worldwide topics to everyday life,  and being able to express yourself in a variety of ways. 

I finish with the saying: “Give a man a fish and you’ll feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you’ve fed him for a lifetime.”
 
I wish you all an excellent new school year. Thank you.