The large educational complex of the Polish Gmina Kobierzyce near Wroclaw is an elementary school and a kindergarten with spacious bright rooms, where children eagerly study and teachers have full freedom of teaching approaches.

This space of childhood was attended by the heads of the departments of education and science of amalgamated hromadas, heads of education and science departments of the Mykolayiv and Kirovohrad Oblasts together with the regional representatives of the U-LEAD with Europe Programme in the frames of the study tour to get acquainted with educational management at the local level, organised with the support of the SKL International, U-LEAD with Europe and Solidarity Fund PL Kyiv Programmes.

More than 500 pupils study in this educational complex. However, there are schools for 700 and even 1000 pupils. Light, spacious, minimalistic classrooms have just the most essential appliances.

“Nobody is surprised either by interactive whiteboards, modern teaching materials or by microscopes. Technical and methodological support is not a guarantee of high performance, it is just auxiliary means. Children and teachers are accustomed to this, it is very convenient,” says Ivanna Antman, director of the educational complex.

The school is open from 7.00 am to allow parents to leave their child before work, schoolchildren study in two shifts, lessons end at 14.30, but there is a prolonged-day group as well. The library with e-books is successfully operating, and there are garbage-sorting boxes at every step. According to the law, the class should consist of up to 24 pupils, and if there are 25 children in a class, two parallel ones are created. There are all the conditions for the comfort of parents and children. Every week, pupils attend a swimming pool, where they get to by a school bus.

The project of this new type of educational complex was prepared in advance. Initially, a competition for the best school project, its concept was announced, and then tenders as well as the very construction were carried out.

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