St Peter’s Lutheran School of Tartu, opened in 2013, is the successor to St Peter’s School, which functioned in Tartu from 1906 to 1944. The school, founded by St Peter’s Lutheran congregation, started to operate on 4 September 1906 and back then, it was the very first school in Estonia where children received Estonian-language education (in czarist Russia, the language of instruction was Russian and private schools were allowed to start teaching in languages spoken by ethnic minorities only in 1906). The congregation kept the school running as a private institution up to 1918. In 1918, the school was nationalised by the newly formed Republic of Estonia and it was renamed City School No. 10, but was still popularly known as St Peter’s School. St Peter’s School was closed in 1944 by the Soviet occupation authorities and the schoolhouse, destroyed during the war, was rebuilt as a factory. Currently, the reopened St Peter’s School is a private Christian school, providing education from the nursery school level up to that of the lower secondary school. The majority of the members of MTÜ Tartu Luterlik Peetri Kool, managing the operation of the school, have professional background in pedagogics and a number of them have studied pedagogy of religion at the Faculty of Theology of the University of Tartu.
At St Peter’s School, Estonian culture and Christian upbringing have always been highly valued. Today’s St Peter’s School is a contemporary educational institution where the learning and teaching process go hand in hand. Our school stands for cultivating Christian values by example and developing empathy in children. Every child receives individual attention due to small class size. We provide intensive classes in German as well as classes in media and communication studies, and religious education. To achieve set goals, we work closely with our students’ families, and a parent council actively supports the school. At our nursery school, Waldorf educational principles are applied in teaching Christian values.
St Peter’s School was one of the founding members of the Union of Estonian Christian Private Schools in 2014. The Union of Estonian Christian Private Schools is a member of the International Association for Christian Education (Internationaler Verband für Christliche Erziehung und Bildung).
For additional information, please do not hesitate to contact us at luterlik@luterlik.edu.ee.