Primary School Savsko naselje

Primary School Savsko naselje is one of 47 schools in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. The school is located in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. It is situated in the centre of a housing settlement called Savsko naselje. The settlement itself is located approximately 20 minutes form the city centre if you go on foot, or approximately 10 minutes by car or bus.

Brief History The school started being built in the Spring of It opened its doors to first pupils on 1 st of October, There were 291 pupils in grades 1-8, and school lasted from Monday to Saturday. Works on school continued so the official opening was on 23rd of May The school was named Boris Kidrič Primary School.

Throughout the following years the school continued to grow – extensions were built to provide space for a kindergarten, a library, a staff room, a dining room with a kitchen, a small and a big gym, a swimming pool, playgrounds, as well as some additional classrooms.

The school changed its name into Primary School Savsko naselje in the Autumn of Today, it is a medium-sized, state-owned school with approximately 300 pupils in grades 1-9, and a staff of 40.

School year School starts on 1st September and ends on 24th June which means Summer holidays last about 10 weeks. During the school year pupils also have 4 other holidays: -‘’potato’’ holidays (last week of October/first days of November) -Christmas holidays (from around 25th December until around 1st January) -Winter holidays (one week in February) -May holidays (from around 27th April until 2nd May).

National Assessment of Knowledge (NAK) At the end of 6th and 9th grades pupils take a National Assessment of Knowledge (NAK). All pupils in Slovenia take the same test on the same day at the same time. In 6th grade they take the test in their mother tongue (Slovene, Italian, Hungarian), Maths and a foreign language (English or German). In 9th grade they take the test in their mother tongue (Slovene, Italian, Hungarian), Maths and another subject.

Marks The marks in primary school start with 1 (insufficient) and it is the only failure mark. The second one is 2 (sufficient), the next is 3 (good), then 4 (very good) and the best is 5 (excellent). At faculty, marks are from 1-10, 6 means that a student has passed the exam.

A typical day at our school Children start going to school at the age of 6. Primary school lasts 9 years. Lessons start at Each lessons lasts 45 minutes, then there is a 5 minute break. Pupils in grades 1-5 stay in the same classroom the whole day, while pupils from grades 6-9 change classrooms. Pupils have a morning snack from 9.55 to Pupils in grades 1-5 eat in their classrooms, while pupils in grades 6-9 eat in the school canteen. A typical snack is bread and a spread. They also get something to drink (tea, milk, cocoa, juice). If pupils don’t like the school snack, they can bring their own.

Lunch starts at and the canteen is open until 1.45 p.m. Pupils have lunch after their last lesson. Lunch is cooked by another school and is brought to our school. It is served hot. After school, pupils can have extra curricular activities. Pupils from grades 6-9 go home after their last lesson, while pupils from grades 1-5 can stay at school until 5 p.m.

What can you find at our school? Classrooms: Grades from 1-5 have their own classrooms – each classroom is equipped with its own PC and internet access. Grades 6-9 have a home classroom, but they change classrooms for individual subjects. Each classroom has a PC with internet access, and a projector.

Research & reading: Our library and reading room has around 10,000 books. There are also computers with internet connection where pupils can research topics that interest them or that are related to school projects.

Science, Information Technology, Craft Classrooms: The school has two Science classrooms, a Computer classroom, and a Crafts classroom. Computer facilities include a 30-workstation computer laboratory with internet connection. Three classrooms also have an interactive board.

Dedicated classrooms: There are also dedicated classrooms for language learning (English/German/Slovene/Spanish), Social Studies (Geography/History), Music, Art and Home Economics.

Sport: Pupils can do sports in two gymnasiums, an indoor swimming pool, and an outdoor all-weather playing area.

Kitchen and the canteen: We provide breakfast, mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks, as well serving hot lunchtime meals. Breakfast and mid-afternoon snacks are only available to pupils from grades 1-5 who are part of the morning and/or afternoon care.

Extra-curricular activities: An interesting programme of extra-curricular activities is offered at the beginning of each school year. Activities take place in the afternoon. Most are available at no extra cost, and they run until the end of May.

Projects Each year we do projects on school level, city level, state level and international level.

Every year we have a contest Create an Original Christmas Tree, in which pupils (and their parents) create Christmas trees from recycled materials of their choice. At the end of the competition we organise an auction at our Christmas bazaar; the money we raise goes into the school fund and is spent on providing school material for less-privileged pupils.

Thirty of the most diligent readers are invited to our Night of Stories at the Library. It is a night full of activities – from playing in the swimming pool, participating in workshops, eating pancakes, to reading stories late into the night. It definitely is a night they remember for a long time.

Pupils with a desire to perform are also able to try their hands at it. They can join the school choir, or if their forte is acting, they can take part in the school’s theatre club. They usually perform at various school receptions and celebrations, as well as on cultural marathon day which we have at our school.

Every year, pupils from grades 5-7 go on a winter camp.

Gifted students from grades 5-9 go on a summer camp at the end of the school year.

Pupils also take care of our small garden.

In the school year 2012/2013 we also created our own project called Diversity enriches us. Pupils at our school come from different cultures and nationalities, and we wanted to include all of them in this project, thus showing everyone that we are all the same. The pupils learnt a dance, and then performed it in flashmob style in the city centre:

Pupils from the 7th grade also helped develop the architectural plan for a basketball court, the hill and the playground in their settlement.

Our school was also chosen to organise a cultural performance in honour of Chinese New Year on 8th of February, Our pupils performed a play based on the book Ferdinand Avguštin Hallerstein – A Slovenian in the Forbidden City by Huiqin Wang. The scenery and the costumes were all made by teachers of our school. You can see the whole performance, including the opening speeches here: itajsko_leto/

At the end of primary school pupils have a junior prom that they organise themselves. It takes place at our school.

After primary school All children in Slovenia have to go to primary school (it is compulsory). After primary school, pupils go to secondary schools. Most are vocational or technical and they last 2-5 years. Pupils can start working after graduation. Some secondary schools are general (we call them ‘gimnazija’) and usually only the best pupils enrol in them. They last 4 years. At the end of secondary school they write ‘matura’ (exam in 5 school subjects) and the score determines what faculties they can go to.

After secondary school they can study at a faculty. Public primary and secondary schools in Slovenia are free (there is no tuition) – parents only pay for workbooks, notebooks, pencils, pens, etc. There is also no tuition at faculties – students have to pay for textbooks and other material. Some faculties also offer places for people who already work. Lessons usually take place on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning and such students have to pay a tuition fee.