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On the 18th of December, class 2 spent a wonderfully magical day at Rakvere Castle for a Christmas programme. The students were transported to a fairytale world where they were greeted by Christmas magic, merry elves and a jolly Santa Claus.

We were also accompanied by guests from Italy (Erasmus+) who were genuinely excited to have the opportunity to get to know the Estonian Christmas traditions and experience the warm, joyful and fairytale-like atmosphere. A big thank you to the parents and the children for this wonderful and memorable pre-Christmas day!

But it should be added that November set a new record for visits to our educational programmes! This month we visited four different educational sites.

For each programme, we prepared carefully – familiarising ourselves with the topics in advance, brushing up our vocabulary, reading books and creating our own creative work. The children demonstrated their excellent knowledge by confidently answering the museum staff’s questions and working actively in groups.

New programmes await us next year! We wish you all a Happy New Year!

Jelena Suits

Who hasn’t dreamt of meeting the real Santa Claus as a child? Our students were incredibly lucky – their dream came true! From 18 to 20 December, a group of schoolchildren and their parents set off on a real winter adventure to snowy Lapland. The trip was organised by NOLTA-TUR in cooperation with history teacher Igor Kalakauskas.

In the early morning of 18 December, while the city was still asleep, the group had already gathered at the Viking Line terminal in the harbour to sail to Helsinki. During breakfast, they could watch the dawn over the Gulf of Finland.

At 9.30am the group arrived in the Finnish capital and headed straight north to snowy Lapland (by the way, it’s almost a thousand kilometres from Tallinn to Rovaniemi!). On the way, they stopped at the unusual café Vaskinkello, famous for its collection of a thousand bells and chimes from all over the world. Late in the evening we arrived in the university town of Oulu, where we were welcomed by the cosy Scandic Oulu City hotel – right in the heart of the city.

On the second day, right after breakfast, we drove to Rovaniemi, the capital of Lapland – Santa Claus’s homeland. There you will find his official office, post office and the wonderful amusement park “Snowmen’s World”. In the village of Santa Claus, we were treated to a number of experiences: crossing the Arctic Circle – everyone received a certificate confirming that they had been to the Arctic Circle; meeting the real Santa Claus and his helpers, the elves – the very moment we had come all this way for! Some got to meet the Nordic animals – the fluffy huskies and the dignified reindeer. Others visited “Snowmen’s World” – an amusement park where they could drop tubes down the hill, walk in a snow maze and admire ice sculptures. The last stop in Lapland was the unique Arctic Museum, a giant glass tunnel 172 metres long.

In the evening, full of impressions, we returned to our hotel in Oulu, from where we started our return journey the next day. The drive was uneventful: young tourists shared their impressions, looked at photos and explored the souvenirs they had bought in Santa’s village. Igor Kalakauskas was not silent either – both on the way to Lapland and on the way back, he shared interesting information about Finland and told stories about his life.This trip was not just a tour, but a real dive into the winter wonderland. Many thanks to NOLTA-TUR for the excellent organisation of the trip.

Photos of the trip participants.

On Monday 15. On 1 December, representatives from schools in the three countries met online at Zoom to sing Christmas carols together. The event was a follow-up to the Erasmus+ project for schools, which saw Mila Chastukhina, Inna Rüü, Natalia Jemets and Zinaida Troitski visit the Portuguese city of Figueira da Foz in October. During the visit, pleasant contacts were also established with other participating schools from Italy and Slovenia. In the run-up to Christmas, the idea was to meet again online and sing Christmas carols with the students in their mother tongue.

On our school’s side, 1st grade students participated in this online evening under the guidance of Inna Rüü. Anton Ilves provided technical support. It should be noted that our students performed the most songs and their performances were very emotional and of a high professional level.

Our sincere thanks to all the participants and helpers of this special concert.

This week, primary school students Timofei Voronkov, Sofia Loginova and Ilaria Novikova visited pre-school classes and congratulated the young children on the upcoming holidays. Playing the roles of Santa Claus and Snowman, they created a joyful and festive mood for the children. The children enjoyed reading poems and singing songs. Santa Claus and Snow White did not come empty-handed – they also brought little treats for the children.

Thanks to Timofei, Sofia and Ilari for their initiative, responsibility and friendly attitude towards their youngest schoolmates!

Yevgenia Zovmer

On 9 and 10 December, our school held its traditional charity Christmas fair, where students once again joined Radio 4’s “Blagovest” campaign. This year, the event took place in the auditorium, where the atmosphere was truly festive. Grades 1 to 4 and 10 to 12 attended the fair on 9 December, while grades 5 to 9 took part on 10 December.

The fair delighted shoppers with its diversity. The students presented a wide variety of masterpieces: from culinary – sweet and savoury dishes to handicrafts. Each table was unique and the atmosphere was really warm and friendly. Thanks to the proceeds of the feast, €3517,19 was donated to the Foundation of the Estonian Association of Parents of Children with Cancer to support the treatment of children with cancer.

Students in class 5c and their parents were particularly active, raising €480 – the highest contribution of all classes. Thank you to everyone who took part in the fair – both sellers and generous buyers! Together we did a great job!

Yevgenia Zovmer

For two weeks in December, the history classroom had a creative atmosphere, more like a film set or an artist’s studio. Students in Years 7 and 8 immersed themselves in a unique project: the creation of historical comic strips and media using the power of artificial intelligence.

The project covered different periods of history. Year 7 students embarked on a fascinating journey through the Middle Ages, exploring the lives of knights, great battles, cultural traditions and the lives of the people of the time. Year 8 students dived into the modern era, exploring the great geographical discoveries, scientific revolutions and political changes.

The project was characterised by an active use of modern technologies. Students learned to work with neural networks, generating historical-style images, creating dialogues for characters and even producing short video clips. This allowed not only to visualise historical events, but also to understand how technologies can help in the learning of the humanities.

The most difficult part was to achieve historical authenticity in the images generated by the neural network. Some comic book creators spent a lot of time tweaking costume details and correcting the lighting architecture to get the AI right. The results exceeded even the most daring expectations. The work varied from classic comics and illustrated presentations to animated video clips and short films. Each group chose its own unique approach to presenting the material.

A presentation of the projects took place last week. The students looked with interest at each other’s work, appreciating not only the historical accuracy but also the creative approach, the quality of the visualisation and the ability to present the material in an interesting way.

After viewing all the entries, a vote was held to select the best projects. The winners received special prizes.

This way of working allowed students not only to learn about dates and events, but also to come into direct contact with history. Students in Years 7 and 8 became co-authors of a historical narrative, learning about teamwork, the use of new technologies and the critical evaluation of information. Most importantly, many developed a genuine interest in the subject.

The project showed that history is not just the pages of a textbook, but a living, multifaceted world that can be explored with the most modern tools. Most importantly, it proved that creativity and technological literacy can go hand in hand with an in-depth study of the humanities.

All the works created are available on Google Drive, where a special folder has been created to allow interested people to appreciate the work of our young historians and designers.

Igor Kalakauskas.

On 6 and 7 December, the stage of the Mere Cultural Centre once again became a centre of movement, emotion and inspiration. It was the venue for the international dance festival DANCE EXPRESS 2025, which turned the start of winter into a real dance party.

More than 50 dance studios from Estonia, Latvia, Finland and Sweden took part in the festival. Participants shared their creations, energised the audience and competed for the festival’s prestigious prizes.

The organisers express their sincere gratitude to all the collectives, their leaders and dancers for their talent, commitment to the arts and the development of dance culture. The atmosphere of healthy competition, mutual support and respect for the opinion of the professional jury deserves special mention.

The international jury made a significant contribution to the success of the festival: Anna-Maria Laius (Estonia/Netherlands), Anita Sawicka Abramowicz (Poland), Akim Bakhtaoui (Finland), Alisa Koseleva (Latvia) and Sini Morgan (Finland). During the two intense days of competition, nearly 260 dance routines were judged by experts. Thank you to the jury for their professionalism, objectivity, openness and hard work!

Special thanks go to the audience, who warmly supported the artists, from young debutants to seasoned performers. Your applause inspires and motivates us to keep moving forward! We wish everyone good luck, inspiration and new creative triumphs in 2026. See you soon!

On the 11th of December, our school hosted a charity Christmas concert that brought together talented performers from different age groups. The concert included songs, instrumental pieces and dance numbers.

The concert was opened by the younger children’s choir of grades 2 and 3 and the children’s choir of grades 4 and 7 with the work “Snow Mill” conducted by Julia Orlova. The ceremony was addressed by the Principal, Mr Andrei Kante, who thanked the school family for their joint work, wished our school family all the best and handed over the reins of power to the Acting Principal, Mr Oleg Zahharov. Oleg wished everyone a wonderful evening and happy holidays.

The musical programme was continued by choirs and dance groups: the younger children’s choir 2-3 and children’s choir 4-7 grades, younger choirs 1st-3rd grades, as well as the duet Sofia Osipova and Eskar Murtazaliev, and the dance group Neposedõ presented unique dance numbers to the audience.

The audience was delighted by the lottery, conducted by Oleg Vares from the NGO “Friends of TTRK” and Jevgenia Zovmer, and the music group Exploding Tomatoes performed exciting tunes. Nikita Lednei – saxophone, Semyon Turovsky – trombone, Alexey Burdin – drums, Alexey Smolyanitsky – guitar, and students from other Tallinn schools . The concert ended with a performance by the children’s choir of 4th-12th grades with the song “Christmas is here again”, soloists – Adele Räppo and Eskar Murtazalijev, and the familiar “Song of the Bears” performed with the audience under the direction of Vassilisa Krivablotskaya.

The evening was hosted by Vassilisa Krivablotskaya and Nikita Nesterov. Andrei Fil and Vladislav Poplavnyy were responsible for the musical side. Thanks to the concert, 548,52 euros were donated to the Tallinn Children’s Hospital Foundation. The concert offered warmth, festive mood and creative joy to all the audience, becoming an important part of the school’s Christmas tradition.

Our sincere thanks go to Inna Rüü and Julia Orlova for preparing the songs and music pieces, to Liina Baranova and Jelena Mazurenko for preparing the dance numbers, and to everyone who took part in organizing the event, as well as to those who supported the charity initiative!

Yevgenia Zovmer

From 8 to 12 December, our school hosted expromt concerts. Each class had the opportunity to step on stage and perform their own song.The performances were truly varied: from calm lyrical compositions to bright and exciting numbers. Some classes made costumes, others added dance elements to the song – giving each performance its own character and mood.

Improvised concerts filled the school with a warm and creative atmosphere. We thank all the performers and their class teachers for their contribution to creating a festive atmosphere and bringing a real New Year spirit to the school.

Yevgenia Zovmer

This week saw a rather unexpected exchange of New Year greetings between TTRK students and students from Kharkiv School for Children with Special Needs No 12. It all started when former Kharkiv resident Anželika Ibrahimova, who now lives in Lithuania, took part in an Erasmus+ education project in October 2025, where she got to know a project participant from Estonia – TTRK teacher Igor Kalakauskas. On the eve of New Year and Christmas, Anželika appealed to everyone she had met in Tallinn (representatives of seven countries) to support the students of this school.

Those who have been following the situation regarding Russia’s attack on Ukraine know that almost every night there are rocket and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities. The city of Kharkiv, just thirty kilometres from the Russian border, is no exception. School No. 12 was attacked by Russia in July 2022, and the building suffered significant damage as a result of that bombing, as well as subsequent attacks. This did not, however, prevent the school, which, incidentally, is attended by visually impaired children, from functioning.

In addition, Anželika Ibrahimova is the founder and leader of Asteriks, a Kharkiv-based youth volunteering organisation for high school and university students. The members of “Asterix” help children with disabilities in boarding schools in Kharkiv and the region. Special School No. 12 is one of the boarding schools whose students were unable to evacuate, many staying in the city on the frontline.

Igor Kalakauskas, with the support of 3rd grade teachers Alla Vares, Olesya Ofitserova and Ella Polovinchyuk, recorded a New Year’s Eve performance by TTRK 3rd grade students for the 3rd and 4th graders of Kharkiv School on 4 December. This video clip was published on Youtube and a link was sent to Ukraine. 8. On 5 December, those who were approached by our Year 3 students (and these were personal appeals to each of the 15 students) saw the video and couldn’t help but respond. 9. On 1 December, TTRK students saw a video map of Kharkov sent in response.

For ethical reasons, we do not consider it appropriate to provide a direct link to both videos, but only provide screenshots. However, we feel it is necessary to note that the spontaneous exchange of congratulations was intended to create what is commonly referred to as empathy in Estonian schoolchildren. We know that many of those who watched these videos could not hold back tears – so sincere were the children’s emotions in these videos.

We are all familiar, to one degree or another, with the horrors of a war that has been going on for almost four years. But we often forget that it did not only affect the military, but also ordinary people. It hit children particularly hard, who lost loved ones and were forced to leave their homes. In our school, children of Ukrainian refugees are enrolled in almost every class. Therefore, the story of this video exchange can be seen as a lesson in humanity.

We would like to express our gratitude not only to the teachers and students of TTRK, but also to the parents of our students who helped the children to find the right words.