I am being an ecological person

CROATIA

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Osnovna Skola Izidora Poljaka

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Website: os-ipoljaka-visnjica.skole.hr

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Izidor Poljak Elementary school is situated in north-west Croatia, in the region Hrvatsko Zagorje, in a small village called Višnjica. It is near Trakošćan – the most famous Croatian medieval castle, and near Lepoglava – the town that is internationally known for lace-making. The school is surrounded by woods and beautiful countryside, there is little traffic, and it is not crowded.

The school building is new, it was built in 2006. It has well equipped sports gym and outdoor sports fields and playgrounds. Classrooms are equipped up to standards – there is a digital whiteboard, laptops, projectors and all the necessary kits for each subject, including an ICT classroom with computers for students to work on. Students are provided with free bus drive to school and with canteen where warm meals are prepared daily.

The school is part of Croatian public schools network where education is compulsory and free of charge. Children start the education at the age of 7 and stay together in the same class through eight years of primary education. Lessons start in the morning at 20 to 8, and finish at 20 to 2 in the afternoon. There are 210 students in 21 classes with up to 24 students in each class. They learn up to fifteen subjects till the eighth grade and also join different extracurricular activities: a choir, sports group, art group, dance group, music group, eco group, project group and school cooperative.

Project group is very active – currently we work on two eTwinning projects. Seventh-graders cooperate with a Spanish school in the project “Being a journalist”. Sixth-graders have started the eco project “The tree of hope” in which many activities are held, but the emphasis is on planting a tree in the school yard. This project will be carried out with 12 European school partners.

Students which work in school cooperative learn how to produce handmade baskets using natural materials like corn husk, twigs or pieces of wood. They organize workshops and presentations and join different manifestations outside the school.

Eco group  focuses on raising the awareness of the necesity of protecting the nature. The school is a proud of  having  the Green flag and has the status of European eco school. The school have our eco codex and school eco patrol which checks that everyone follows the eco codex. The students work in school fruit garden and take care of flowers around school. Every spring the school join the national initiative called The green clean up, during which they go in the village and clean it. A group of students do the research of protected animal called the freshwater crayfish which has its natural habitat in the small stream which flows through our school yard. They collect plastic bottle caps and donate them for recycling. They also recycle old paper and produce new products.The school organize eco quiz and have open door eco day with different workshops. Each class has their own eco activities during the school year.