SOS Schools in Croatia

SOS Nursery School Lekenik

Update report from Lekenik, Croatia for 2008:

At the end of the year, there were 71 children in all of our nursery programmes. Of the total number of children from the SOS Children's Village, 9 attended the nursery.  In the course of the year, the number of children and composition of playgroups varied. 18 children were about to start school in autumn of 2008, so they withdrew their papers from the nursery in June.  In May 2008, we announced that we are receiving registrations for new children, and we received 30 applications for the educational year 2008/2009. Number of children in pre-school at the end of the year was 19.

We continued the “Open Curriculum” project with our external collaborator, Prof. B.P. Sočo, with increasingly good results. Programmes, activities and educational responses were geared towards understanding and mastering different life situations. “KROMOPAK” from Valpovo donated the educational “shopping store” for permanent use. This playroom served as a new centre of activities, as a shared centre to encourage social interaction and symbolic playing between all the children from the nursery. It also helped establish bonds between children, introduced children to basic math operations, and fostered understanding of value of money, goods, and the importance of saving money and buying products made in Croatia. This educational game, which is also designed to develop social skills, has continued throughout the year.

In the course of the year, our educational goals and tasks were geared towards furthering the programme of education about human rights, particularly the rights of child.  Most important activities helped children to raise their self-knowledge, to develop responsibility for oneself and others, and to understand communication skills and importance of non-violent conflict resolution.  During the year, we also worked intensely on raising standards concerning healthy eating and portioning. We were particularly concerned with connecting healthy diets to physical activity and normal growth and development.  We also wanted to educate parents on issues of healthy diet and eating habits.  In May, Prof. Sočo gave a lecture for all parents on topic of “Cooperation between nursery and parents”.

We celebrated all the significant dates during the year, including the Day of Lekenik Municipality, where our children gave a wonderful performance.  Children from older playgroup and preschool visited the elementary school “Mladost”, the Zagreb airport, and theatre “Velika Gorica”, where they saw a play entitled “The Christmas Gown”.  On Nursery Day, the Zagreb Puppet Theatre performed the play “Red Riding Hood, This Time Without the Wolf”.  As always, our celebration was attended by the children from the first and second grades of the neighboring elementary school.  All our celebrations and recitals, as well as the final recital at the end of the educational year, were also attended by the Lekenik Mayor, Mr. M. Crnkoci, and member of the Nursery School Managing Council, Mr. V. Havidić.