Vrtec Hansa Christiana Andersena

We are a fairly big public kindergarten in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. We are named after the famous Danish fairy-tale author Hans Christian Andersen because of Ljubljana’s good cooperation with Denmark in the 1960’s. We now have 6 separate units with 43 kindergarten groups in which we care for around 770 children aged from one to six. At the moment there are 17 children with special needs included in the groups and six children in a special department for children with severe disabilities. Every group of children is professionally lead by a kindergarten teacher with the help of an assistant. We have around 140 employees, and most of them are kindergarten teachers or their assistants. In addition, we have teachers for children with special needs, counsellors, administrative staff, cooks, janitors and executive staff. Our programme is based on the Kindergarten Curriculum. This is the main national programme document adopted in 1999, which specifies kindergarten education as part of the education system. The curriculum covers the following areas: movement, language, art, nature, society and mathematics. The common “subject” areas are defined for both the first and the second age groups. Especially in the fields of society, language, and art, intercultural education plays an important role. It contains the principle of equal opportunities, respect for diversity between children and the principle of multiculturalism. The latter refers to the level of choice of learning content, activities and materials that should allow children to experience and learn about the diversity of the world. The goals of the Kindergarten Curriculum are also implemented through different contemporary educational concepts. This is achieved by setting up professional teams of our kindergarten teachers and their assistants, who then attend training courses in various relevant topics. The main goal of these groups is the exchange of the knowledge they acquire with their colleagues. This way children have the opportunity to engage in a variety of activities resulting from different approaches. We currently have 7 active professional teams • Methodology Step by Step which is based on the belief that a child can develop best if he or she is an active participant in the learning process; • The programme Playing - Moving and Development which considers playing as a child’s basic activity and primary need. • The programme Secrets of the forest which is based on the principals of forest pedagogics; • The Creativity programme through which the child explores and develops various techniques and strategies of creative thinking; • The NTC Programme (founded by dr. Rajović) is a programme of activities designed to promote development of motor and cognitive abilities; • The Montessori programme, a programme that introduces the elements of Montessori pedagogics into the daily activities of kindergarten life; • The Mindfulness programme which emphasizes the importance of maintaining attention in children and encourages them to be more persistent and patient Within the framework of the basic programme we offer various activities through the year: sports activities, field trips, visits to galleries, museums and theatres, musical events or workshops. In addition we organize 3- to 5-day camps around Slovenia for children aged from three to six. Some of these "extra" activities require additional fee payments. Because we want to provide equal opportunities for each child in our kindergarten, we have established the Hans Christian Andersen’s Fund. In order to raise money for the Fund, we organize different charity activities in cooperation with the local community and parents.With the money from the Fund we help socially disadvantaged families and improve the work and life in our kindergarten. Our target groups are: children from the age of one to six years, kindergarten teachers, their assistants and parents of children. We provide education and care in two age groups: