Zagreb, (IKA) – The First Catholic Elementary School in the city of Zagreb, which opened its doors in the autumn of 2013, has recently obtained additional premises at the address Ivanićgradska 41a. Now the children have larger classrooms and staff members have more suitable offices. Until now, the school shared its entrance with the Peščenica Cultural Center and now has its own entrance. The new facilities were adapted for the use of the school with the support of the City of Zagreb and several donors.
The head of the school, Fr. Vinko Mamić, Ph.D., the Provincial of the Croatian Carmelite Province of St. Joseph, which is the founder of the school, proudly points out that there is great interest in this school, which teaches 141 students in grades one through eight and has 33 staff members.
When 18 eighth-graders leave the school in June, under current conditions there will be the same number of vacancies for first-graders. However, there are already nearly 70 candidates for the first grade. Moreover, notes Director Mamić, 35 children have already been registered for first grade in the 2015/2016 school year and two children have been registered for the 2019/2020 school year. Parents, in the desire to have their children educated in a Catholic environment, are registering their children as soon as they are born.
Regarding enrollment requirements, Director Mamić told the Catholic Press Agency (IKA) in an interview that children with siblings already at the school and the children of disabled veterans of the Homeland War have priority. The director hopes that the enlarged school premises will make it possible to enroll children in several first-grade classes. He notes that the school is free of charge. “We want to avoid elitism so the school is free to all students. The school was established with this intention,” said Fr. Mamić.
In connection with the curriculum, Director Mamić says that the curriculum of the first Catholic elementary school in Zagreb follows the curriculum of elementary school education and is implemented according to Catholic moral principles. This right and obligation were established by the Implementation Agreement on Catholic Elementary and Secondary Schools, which was signed in 2011 by the Government of the Republic of Croatia and the Croatian Conference of Bishops. In this respect, Director Mamić told IKA that the agreement applies not only to health education but also to all other subjects, including eventual civics instruction. “Everything we teach is taught in accordance with Catholic moral principles, especially health education. As a Catholic elementary school, we conduct our activities pursuant to the stipulations of the Agreement, so there is no room for any other interpretation,” said the Director. “If we were to implement something that is not in keeping with Catholic moral principles, we would not have a Catholic school, that is, the school would not have the right to be called Catholic, because the two are mutually exclusive. Ultimately, the reason for establishing the school was to teach children in the Catholic spirit,” said Director Mamić, observing that this is not only the rule in Croatia. In the world in general, all Catholic schools, even those financed by the state, have the right and responsibility to teach in keeping with Catholic moral principles.
Among the subjects offered to students, the director mentioned supplemental media training. This school year, that program is offered to eighth-grade students. Starting next year, it will also be offered to students in the fifth to eighth grades. “We want to teach our students about the power of the media and how to use them. We tell them that news or information is one thing, the effect that a given piece of journalism achieves is something else, and that the goals of such effects are not infrequently of a propaganda nature, with the desire to spread ideas and points of view. Sometimes, the media ignore the real needs of the young and instead attempt to create artificial needs for the sake of profits. In order to teach our students about this, we conduct practical workshops,” explained Dr. Mamić.
The students’ parents are able to follow the educational development of their children because they receive a written report from their teachers. This report is highly comprehensive and covers all segments of the intellectual, emotional, social and spiritual development of the child.
The school also has extended afternoon hours organized for all students in grades one through eight. During this period, students are offered free instruction to help them master their schoolwork. This initiative has been well received by the parents.
Additional information on the First Catholic Elementary School in Zagreb is available at the website http://www.katolickaskola.com.