Local people still like to call our school “Special School”. ‘Special Elementary School Črnomelj’ was our first name, which was used until 23^rd April 1978. At that time, in accordance with the new law on education and training of children and adolescents with disabilities in physical and mental development, the school was renamed to Milke Šobar – Nataše Elementary School Črnomelj.

And why exactly this new name, which in those years was also the name of today’s Šmihel Elementary School?

Since 1974, the school has had a pioneering movement named after Milka Šobar – Nataše, a local partisan commissar who fell during World War II and was declared a national heroine. The school organization then unanimously agreed that the school should bear this name, and the surviving relatives of the late heroine also agreed.

Nowadays, we call our school MŠN or Milka for short. Who knows if it will keep the name for the next 50 years?

New decades have always been something special for the school. We remembered the paths we had taken and enthusiastically expected new challenges.

For the school’s 10th anniversary, in 1980, the school published a brochure Our ten years. A special issue of the school newspaper Zvončki was also published, and the news about the jubilee could also be read in the national daily newspaper Delo (December 23, 1980).

Ten years later, we again published a special issue of Zvončki, and some articles were published in other media (for example in DELO, 27 December 1990).

In 2000, on the 30th anniversary, a special issue of Zvončki was issued, and in the local paper Belokranjec, an article written by the headteacher Ema Šujica, was also published.

The celebration of the 40th anniversary was very special. As part of the celebrations, we recorded the school anthem (text and music: Vlasta Lah, Nina Aupič, arrangement: Primož Vranicar). On April 15^th, 2011, an event was held in the Črnomelj Cultural Center, which was followed by a school open day. For the occasion of the 40th anniversary, a book was published.

How will we celebrate the 50th anniversary? You just might be surprised…

We all do things in life at our own pace. Eventually, we all reach our goal. The Milke Šobar – Nataše Elementary School first opened its doors with a delay. Literally. As part of then Črnomelj Elementary School (now Mirana Jarca Elementary School), classes began on October 1^st, 1970 with only two classes and 18 students. On December 2^nd, 1970, the school got its own premises, which represented the end of the first construction stage. The second part of the school building was completed in May 1973 and in the 1973/74 school year, and on September 14^th, 1973, the so called Special Elementary School was officially established. At that time, the school had 7 classes and 80 students. Today, on the threshold of its 50th anniversary, the school has 11 classes and 82 students.

The school never had an easy road. Nevertheless, we just might reach our goal…