Once a year the school is open on a Saturday for families and other students to visit the school. But the main idea is to show the ninth graders what upper secondary school is like and help them to chose a program they would like to study next year when they begin at upper secondary school. It’s supposed to be like an ordinary day with ordinary lessons, but each year the classes are representing their programmes in a more fun and unusual way than the programmes really are. At Parkskolan we have many different programs, among them a lot of practical programs.

The programs are: Construction Programme Energy Programme Hotel and Restaurant Industry Programme Natural Science Programme Technology Programme

Electricity Programme Vehicle Programme Handicraft Programme- Hairdresser Media Programme Social Science Programme

The Social Science Programme
The Social Science Programme has three profiles at Parkskolan. At our profile, internationalisation, we’re studying international politics and other world-wide subjects. Right now we’re studying the international economy. At the Open House we had a role-play
where we were different characters. The play was about writing the debts off and we were discussing the dept of a made-up country. The seven characters were three inhabitants in the developing country- the president, a contractor and a student. The others were an economist from the World bank, a German minister from G7, an investigator from IMF and an economy-student from Sweden. Together we were trying to solve the problem by discussions and persuasions. It was supposed to be like a realistic meeting. The point for us was to enter deeply into the world-economy.

One of the senior-classes at the Social Studies Programme, Sp3b, had an exhibition about South Africa because they are planning to go there in spring. Some South Africans wanted an exchange with students from the Western World and Sp3b thinks it could be interesting. They are financing the journey by trying to get contributions.

Hairdressers

At Parkskolan we have a handicraft Programme with the profile Hairdressing. It’s an education that’s not so common. You learn how to cut, colour and perm hair. They have a hairdressing saloon which is open daily for students and the public. The prices are lower then at a regular hairdressing saloon. At the Open House anyone could drop in and have their hair fixed. But the first graders were only allowed to serve people they knew like their friends and parents because they haven’t got so trained yet. Many people took the chance to get a cheap haircut this day so the hairdressers had plenty to do.

Ordinary lessons

Some programmes had their ordinary lessons. Like the Technology Programme which had just regular lessons like maths, the Hotel and Restaurant Programme which showed their daily duties by ironing clothes and making sandwiches, the Natural Science Programme which had chemistry were they showed the visitors different experiments and the electricians who had a presentation for the first graders.

The whole school did something at Open House even if they didn’t belong to a class. The language-teachers had an exhibition where they showed the languages you can learn at Parkskolan, like French, German and Spanish. In the cafeteria the workout-group had a dance-show. In the refectory the everyone were offered soup and bread, even for free for the visitors. The parents seemed to enjoy the day, they were the ones who liked it the most. Among the student there were mixed feelings. Some thought it was fun to show their parents the school and have differently lessons, while others thinks it’s just bothersome and unnecessary with days like this. Our conclusion is that this was a pleasant day for almost everyone involved! Do you have a day like this at your school?

Written by:	Emma Bylin, Sp03-53@park.se
	Malin Byström, Sp03-54@park.se

© 2001 Freeway
Writers: Emma Bylin (sp03-53@park.se), Malin Byström (sp03-54@park.se)
HTML by: Emil Wiberg (te03-63@park.se).