The school's pedagogy is based on the Orthodox anthropology of finding an answer to the question "who is man, how is he formed and how is he transformed?" This is the Orthodox understanding of man translated into the school environment.

Our pedagogical aim is to put into practice at once timeless spiritual truths hidden from the superficial viewer and a vision of the school of tomorrow. Today we hear a lot about schools lagging behind other spheres of life and how difficult it is to bring about change in the existing system. 

The inspiration for the school begins with the ideals, world view, and conception about man of Orthodox Christianity, incarnated in progressive classroom practices. Outwardly differing little from quality schools employing classic and innovative teaching methods, the school will nevertheless function in the spirit of the Christian values as they have been lived out in the two-thousand-year tradition of the Eastern Church.

Recently, the need for more value-based education has been the topic of public discussion in Estonia. In the latest National Curriculum for basic schools value competence is listed as most important, ahead of learning and social competences. To realize this objective, St John the Evangelist School does not have to "reinvent the wheel" from a host of positive but unclearly defined notions. It has the advantage of simply employing the centuries old wisdom reaching back to early Christianity.

"Seek to acquire inner peace,
and thousands around you will be saved"
St Seraphim of Sarov

We embrace the valuable, insightful and confirmed Orthodox teaching about the process of man's growth and his glorious potential. We believe this teaching is universally applicable. This is why the school is open to children coming from all backgrounds. The method in applying Christian values is not to impose the dogmas of the Church, even when religion is the topic of the class, but to penetrate to the universal qualities of the human soul and to aid their coming to fruition.

A healthy approach to influencing the world in a good way can only start with looking inside oneself. In the words of one 18th century Russian Saint, Seraphim of Sarov, "Seek to acquire inner peace, and thousands around you will be saved". The Orthodox tradition already possesses concretely defined methods that help achieve this goal of acquiring good inner qualities.

Why does the school carry the name of St John the Evangelist?

The founders of the school are members of the Orthodox Christian parish of St John the Baptist in Tallinn. The patron saint of our church, St John the Baptist, was a great ascetic and a precursor of monasticism. Another St John, the Apostle and Evangelist, is closer to the central ideas of the school: he was Christ's disciple and His closest friend. Later he wrote down and passed on His teaching. He was like a son to the Mother of God after the crucifixion of Christ. St John has been called the apostle of love and his symbol is a humble eagle with a halo around its head. An eagle flies high and can see everything from above; it can see the whole picture.