Having more than 1000 students and 100 employees, the primary school'' Petar Leković'' is one of the largest schools in the district. It is consisted of a school building in the town and 9 separate buildings in surrounding villages, where classes are attended by pupils from rural areas. Primary education in Serbia includes 8 grades, divided into two cycles. In the first cycle classes are attended by 7 to 11 year- olds ( one teacher teaches all the subjects, except a foreign language). In the second cycle (grade 5 to 8) classes are attended by 12 to 15 year- olds. In this cycle, each subject is taught by a different teacher. Beside the regular classes at school, there are numerous extracurricular activities (cultural, sports, ecological ...) in which the school cooperates with other institutions and the local community. Since it is located in a small town that does not offer many educational and cultural contents, the school plays a key role in the organization of such activities and development of students' competencies for community participation. In spite of poor socio-economic conditions, the level of teaching is above average, it is proved by the success of our students (20% of students achieve excellent results at national competitions) and teachers (teachers have been awarded at numerous national and international competitions for improving teaching practice). Our school has a high grade in the national school evaluation system.
Since our school has a large number of students, we face numerous problems in adapting students to the school environment. Our school is attended by pupils of different material status, both from the town and rural areas; we have a large number (about 2%) of students with learning disabilities; with which the principles of inclusive teaching are applied; we have pupils of Roma nationality, as well as pupils from dysfunctional families. In our school, we try to undertake various activities in order to ensure equal conditions for learning to all pupils in accordance with their individual needs, and in order to overcome the differences caused by social and economic conditions and developmental difficulties. We cooperate with all important local community institutions (social service, health center, non-governmental organizations, cultural center, local companies ...). The annual school work plan envisages regular activities to support students for adapting to school life: regular monitoring by the professional service, individual interviews with a school psychologist, forms of peer education, organization of workshops, cooperation with the Child Abuse and Neglect Team, inclusion in extracurricular activities, development of individual educational plans. Special attention is paid to students who move from the first to the second cycle of elementary education, as well as to the preparation of final grade students who want to continue education in other schools. The school actively participates in international cooperation through eTwinning projects. In the past three years, 12 eTwinning projects were realized and 9 of them received the European Quality Mark. Within these projects, the school cooperated with more than 40 organizations from different European countries.
Also, the school is the bearer of the eTwinning Label mark for Outstanding Dedication and Quality achieved in these projects. During 2017 and 2018, the school successfully implemented the KA1 project, whose aim was to train teachers for the application of innovative teaching methods.
The school team for writing projects consists of 4 teachers. The co-ordinator is an experienced teacher in writing and implementing projects of international cooperation, eTwinning and Erasmus + ambassador of Serbia, winner of 8 European Quality Labels, winner of several republic awards for improving teaching practice through the use of digital technologies and an author of several published works. Two English language teachers and an ICT teacher actively participate in eTwinning, and two of them are also award winners for innovative work and participants in several international seminars. All participants are members of various teams involved in improving school performance and are directly involved in working with students. Team members were involved in the implementation of the Erasmus + KA1 project. Since Serbia has been granted the right to part in KA2 projects as a partner this year, we have no experience in KA2 projects, but we feel that we are strong enough to fulfill all the requirements of this program and to make progress.
People
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Olgica Spasojević is the contact person of the coordinating team from Petar Leković Primary School. She has been teaching Serbian for 20 years.She is an eTwinning and Erasmus+ ambassador of Serbia.She empowers teaching practice through the use of digital technologies and project based learning. |
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Jelena Aleksić is the co-manager of the coordinating team from Petar Leković Primary School. She has been teaching English there for 16 years. She has been experienced in the implementation of various eTwinning projects. |
