School Office

Visit address: Savonkatu 39, 79100 Leppävirta
Postal address: P.O. Box 4, 79101 Leppävirta

Contact information

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Early childhood education

There are daycares in four of our villages: Sorsakoski, Oravikoski, Timola and the town center.

Oravikoski and Timola offer pre-primary education (compulsory for children aged 6) in their local daycares whereas Sorsakoski, the town center as well as Konnuslahti are served by the Leppäkerttu, the town’s largest primary school.

The daycare in the town center has flexible hours and offers shift-based childcare to suit your family’s needs.

In Kurjala, there are no daycares, but pre-primary education is offered by its primary school.

There also exist family daycare units in the town center, Sorsakoski and Konnuslahti.

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Primary and lower secondary education

Education at this level usually starts the year a child turns seven and lasts for nine years. Basic education is split into primary (years 1-6) and lower secondary (years 7-9) education.

Leppävirta has five primary schools, and one lower secondary school.

The largest primary school, Leppäkerttu, is located in the town center.
The other primary schools are located in Kurjala, Konnuslahti, Timola and Oravikoski.

The lower secondary school, Kivelä, is also in the town center. It shares a building with The Leppävirta Gymnasium.

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General upper secondary education

The Leppävirta Gymnasium is the only public institution in the town to exceed lower secondary education.
It’s a tight-knit school with about 80 students, known to be more than the sum of its parts when compared with other Finnish gymnasiums.

The gymnasium’s biggest strengths include small group sizes, personalized teaching, and an easy-going atmosphere. Despite sharing a building with Kivelä, students have plenty of space with their two leisure rooms: room number six (“Kutonen”) on the top floor as well as the basement room.

Room number six is ideal for grabbing a coffee, snacking, listening to music, studying or just relaxing whereas the basement offers movement-based activities such as boxing, weights and pool.
School life is continuously improved through surveys and students’ wellbeing is supported by communal theme days as well as an active student council that speaks on behalf of the student body and organizes events for the youth.

The gymnasium also employs a school psychologist, nurse, a special education teacher and a school counselor.
In addition to state-mandated courses, the gymnasium also offers additional education on topics such as business, creative writing, drama, support on starting Swedish and English, as well as revision for the matriculation exams. Through online learning students may pick up higher education courses, learn extra languages, and study religions or ethics.

International education is made possible through study trips abroad, an active student exchange program as well as projects and general cooperation with a Swedish-speaking gymnasium.

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School transport

All school children in Leppävirta are entitled to school transport free of charge if the way to school is too long or other reasonable factors would make the journey too dangerous, difficult or straining.

Preschoolers as well as those in the first or second grade are entitled to transport if the distance is over 3 km.

Older students’ entitlement to school transport begins at 5 km.
Details on the routes and schedules for school transport can be found on the town’s official website.

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Child Friendly Municipality

The town’s status as a UNICEF-certified child friendly municipality partner means we’re committed to following guiding principles that mirror those of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Leppävirta was the first North Savonian municipality to qualify for the initiative. The town’s implementation of each principle is evaluated yearly
The principles of a child friendly municipality:

• Non-discrimination
• Best interests of the child
• The inherent right to life, survival and development
• Respect for the views of the child