On the 18^th and 19^th of February 2016, Elementary School Loka held the 9th International Sculpture Colony for Youth. The colony was attended by two of our students from grade 9, Matjaž Črnič and Matej Muc.
The theme of the colony was “Loose your mind.” Matjaž and Matej created two abstract images from clay using all their imagination and skill. During the day they got a short visit from the pupils from our school, which could experience the creativity of the artists. On Friday, at the closing ceremony, the most successful artists were declared and all works were exhibited to the public. Matjaž and Matej were very happy with their final work and the colony itself.

School head teacher Mr. Matjaž Baric received an invitation from the Society of Defectologists of Serbia, and attended the international conference, from 11^th till 14^th February, together with four colleagues from Slovenian schools. The conference hosted over 450 head teachers, special educators, speech therapists, surdopedagogics and tiflopedagogics educators, social educators and subject teachers from Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Croatia and Slovenia. The event offered a number of new examples of positive practice methodology in the field of education of children and youth with special needs.
The head teacher held two short presentations in the conference. In the first, he presented the project My communicator (www.mojkomunikator.si), which got a lot of positive reviews and interests as well. At the second presentation, he outlined the international cooperation with the Youth Care Centre ¨Centar za odgoj I obrazovanje djece I mladeži Karlovac¨and the Institute for Raising and Education of persons with Disabilities ¨Zavod za odgoj i obrazovanje osoba sa smetnjama u psihičkom i tjelesnom razvoju¨ Tuzla. This presentation was interesting, because we are one of the few schools for pupils with special needs, which is actively involved in international network of institutions in Europe. Several schools in Serbia showed interest to cooperate with our school in the future.
When international cooperation is good and strong, and has the intention to enrichen the achievements in the curriculum, then intercultural dialogue fills those present with a broader sense of adaptive skills.

Shrove Tuesday, on the 9^th of February 2016, at an elementary school Milka Šobar – Nataša was really ‘fat’. Even on a lunch break we were sweetened with donuts. And the joy with dancing, singing and small cranks continued the fifth school hour, when the carnival gathered in the multipurpose room, in which the carnival dance took place. The head teacher awarded the best masks. Among teachers, the first place went to the hen, second to the knight and the third to the baby. Among the pupils won the clown, the second was the Japanese princess and the third, Charlie Chaplin.

On Saturday, 6^th of February 2016, Elementary School Milka Šobar – Nataša had its Open Day with this year’s topic ‘The World of Music and Games’. Our aim was to prove to the pupils, parents and all visitors that with music one can also learn something new. So in the morning, we got a visit from some students from The Music School Črnomelj, which present their instruments and played on them.
We were very pleased as so many parents, friends and various guests visited us. We prepared four different workshops for the pupils. In the recording workshop with tamburitza and the group Vodomec, the pupils learnt about the process of recording a song as they participated in the making of one song. The music workshop with Martina Mravinec and Markom Simčič, sang and played on different guitars. The instrumental workshop with musicians from folklore group  Dragatuš, showed the instruments they use in their performances. In the next workshop, pupils made two cajon drums, which will be used in the music classroom.
The workshops were a lot of fun for the children. This was so obvious in the final ceremony, in which each workshop presented its work. They have performed exceptionally well as they played on new instruments that were purchased with donations Rotary Club and Bar Piccolo.
We were very honored by the visit of the two representative of Rotary Club Ljubljana, Mr.  Janko Rome and Mr. Jaka Pucihar. We were also honored by the visit from the US Embassy Military Attache, Lieutenant Colonel Todd A. Scattinija and his family and the vice-mayor of the Municipality of Črnomelj, Mr. Štefan Misje.
Translated by: Jožica Lah

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On Saturday, 6^th of February 2016, the counselling office, which is located at the formal hall of residence (Oton Zupancic Street 7, Črnomelj), officially opened its doors. Visitors could see the prepared didactic material, which makes our work easier and helps children to overcome their difficulties.
Deputy Mayor of the Municipality of Črnomelj, Mr. Štefan Misja, and the school’s head teacher, Mr. Matjaž Barič, cut the opening ribbon together.
In our line of work, we often meet students who are less successful in integrating into schoolwork. Both educators and parents are facing a great challenge in how to help such children. Children’s problems in schoolwork start to pile up, which affects all areas of one’s life – on the lower level of educational attainment, lack of motivation and, consequently lack of self-esteem.
With the use of our experience, we are sure we can help these children, parents and teachers in the ​​Bela Krajina area. Therefore, we decided the school should open a counselling office, where our team of experts – teachers, speech therapist, social educators, physiotherapist, could offer advice and individual assistance to children, parents and others, who teach these children. The counselling office will also be actively involved with the psychologist from the Medical Centre Črnomelj.

Translated by: Jožica Lah