GRM PRIMARY SCHOOL, NOVO MESTO, SLOVENIA

Grm Primary School is one of the five primary schools in Novo mesto. It has 640 pupils in twenty-seven classes. There are 60 teachers at school and 24 additional workers that take care of the other activities at school.

Children in Slovenia start primary school at the age of 6 and finish it at the age of 15. Pupils start learning English in the third grade. From the fourth to the ninth grade their knowledge is graded with numerals from 1 to 5.

In addition to studying standard subjects, we offer elective subjects such as learning foreign languages (French, Spanish and German), different sports activities, cooking, modelling various materials, art, music, computer studies and many more. Beside sports competitions we also encourage knowledge competitions. These include almost all school subjects: Maths, Slovene, English, History, Geography, Physics, Chemistry, Information Technology, General Knowledge Quizzes, Craft, Lego Construction, chess, traffic, and many more.

Each year pupils in classes 4, 5, 7 and 8 spend a week either at the sea or in the mountains studying nature and also developing their physical abilities. Our aim is to explore the way in which the human, animal and plant kingdoms can live together in mutual respect.

We also have a swimming pool at our school and the children sometimes go swimming during PE.

The school staff as well as the headmistress and her assistant constantly search and develop the hidden talents in pupils and that is why our pupils are successful in different fields. The school halls and the school exterior boast with pupils’ art work.

Our athletes and basketball players have been the best in our country for the past 20 years. Our school has been proclaimed The best sports school in Slovenia three times.

Besides the usual curriculum we also offer our pupils a numerous choice of after–school activities.

The school is famous for its drama – dance projects where up to 100 pupils take part in. These projects are viewed by other Slovenian schools and on TV.

The school is also famous for its thriving three choirs where up to 130 pupils take part in. Due to the quality offer of cultural activities the school has been nominated for the cultural school several times.

Last year we also formed a teacher choir where almost half the teachers sing.

All the events at school are carefully documented at our school paper Najča which gets awards for its excellence every year.

Grm cultural gatherings are organized at school with many well-known artists.

Twice a year we gather old paper and clean the school’s suroundings. Last year we gathered 105 tones!

We participated in a Comenius project from 2006 to We collaborated with schools from Spain, Germany and Northern Ireland.

We are also concerned with the environment and have investigated activities to encourage pupils to understand conservation and nature. Project ECO school

Carinthian Slovenes from Austria come to our school every year in summer to improve their knowledge of Slovene.

We are eager to participate in the new Comenius project