About IB at SYK

Contact Details:

• IB Guidance and Careers Counsellor Anu Havula, anu.havula@syk.fi,  +358-40-5717586
• IB DP Coordinator Anni Grönroos, anni.gronroos@syk.fi,  +358-40-4825509
• Head of School, Sari Tiitta sari.tiitta@syk.fi,   +358-40-6739359

School profile

SYK School Profile 1.11.2023

Facts and figures

Helsingin Suomalainen Yhteiskoulu (SYK for short) is an independent grade 3-12 coeducational day school located in Helsinki. The school was founded in 1886; and our IB programme was started in 1990. For 30 years, SYK has successfully offered the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme. SYK IB students achieve outstanding results. The average score of our graduates from the past 10 graduating classess is 37/45, which places us among the top IB schools in the world. The worldwide average is at around 29 or 30 points.

SYK offers both the IB diploma and the Finnish national matriculation exam. Both students attending the national section and those attending the IB section undergo a selection process. Our school receives most of its funding through the government. Students attend at no cost. Of the IB graduates virtually everyone plans to pursue studies at university level. SYK IB graduates have continued their academic studies at some of the most prestigious universities in the world. SYK is a school with an illustrious past, with many graduates who have gone on to become political, cultural, and industrial leaders within Finnish society and beyond.

SYK’s modern facilities include an auditorium, art and music rooms, state-of-the-art language and computer laboratories, laptop carts, physics, chemistry, and biology labs and a well-stocked library. The school also has a separate sports building, and SYK students have a chance to use a well-equipped gym and a full size swimming pool.

Today’s SYK is more than our illustrious alumni, more than our facilities. Our Mission takes its inspiration from the IB (The International Baccalaureate Organization) that declares its goal to develop inquiring, knowledgeable, and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect.

Mission statements and school policies

IB Mission Statement

The International Baccalaureate aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect.

To this end the organization works with schools, governments and international organizations to develop challenging programmes of international education and rigorous assessment.

These programmes encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right.

About the IB Mission

IB Learner Profile

The International Baccalaureate® (IB) learner profile describes a broad range of human capacities and responsibilities that go beyond academic success. They imply a commitment to help all members of the school community learn to respect themselves, others and the world around them. Each of the IB’s programmes is committed to the development of students according to the IB learner profile.

IB learner profile