About school

Pärnu Sütevaka Humanitaargümnaasium is a small school with friendly people located in Pärnu, Estonia, on the shore of the Baltic Sea.

The school was founded by the Sütevaka Society, a group of local young intellectuals wishing to offer an alternative to the outdated Soviet educational system, and obtained its first education license on August 30, 1990. We were the first private high school established in Estonia after it regained its independence. During its first year of existence, the school moved to the current building – a red brick house located in the historic centre of Pärnu. Today, this cosy building has already become too small for our almost 400 students and a contemporary extension to it was added in 2014.

Pärnu Sütevaka Humanitaargümnaasium is well known for its intellectual spirit, openness and caring environment. We strive towards widening the worldview of our students, encourage them to be creative, make good life choices and act responsibly. We wish that our graduates were well-prepared for university and we are delighted that more than 90 percent of them decide to continue studying in Estonian and foreign universities.

Every spring we accept new students to grades 5 and 10, and we are pleased to see that our school continues to be popular among the youth from both Pärnu County and other regions of Estonia.     

Our school has participated in many international projects and has several partner schools in Europe. We have the longest cooperation since 1991 with a school in Bochum, Germany. Currently we are preparing two international projects in the framework of Euroscola and Erasmus+ programmes. We are always open to new project ideas!

Our students and teachers often say that Sütevaka is not a school but a lifestyle. We feel strong support from the families of our students, our alumni and the local community. Come and visit us to learn more!  

In case you wish to contact us, please write gerli@sytevaka.ee (you can write in English, French, Russian or German).