First Year: the Beginning and Youth
It was the beginning! Everything was new and fresh... Youth and enthusiasm dominated along with a desire to create an extraordinary kindergarten and school. From the first day on, we were an educational system which was created to meet the needs of every child through inclusive education and provide support for children with special needs, as well as those who have remarkable talents. It is safe to say that it was a year which demanded a lot of work and commitment.
Second Year: Changes
Our goal in the second year was to grow and develop according to our vision. We installed an interactive display board, a modern device that created many possibilities when working with children in every classroom. As founders and owners of an educational system, we strived to create a better, more successful and contemporary school. We were led by our own educational experience and the firm belief in the importance of education.
Third Year: Professional Development
The third year was marked by getting the approval to work bilingually and making our school international. We concluded that the best thing for us was to invest in people, and that was exactly what we did. Our meeting with Maria Theochari, who is a world renowned consultant in the field of education, opened the door that led to new projects that went along with our goal to develop and advance. The teachers’ professional development contributed to our kindergarten and school in every way (approach to children, the school’s appearance, international orientation of Kreativno Pero and bilingual classes).
Fourth Year: a New Academic Dimension
The cooperation and teamwork in the educational system contributed to the strength of Kreativno Pero. It gave a new dimension to our work and it was visible in our achievements. Everything was in balance: work organization, new projects, extra-curricular activities, competitions, Kreativno Pero Plus and Summer school. Furthermore, the kindergarten and school were in the same building at 58 Tolstoy Street. Kindergarten and school were both at 58 Tolstoy Street. Expanding the multicultural spirit helped to include children from all over the world, as well as from international schools. We were finally able to see our vision come alive.
Fifth Year: Cambridge Program Licence
January 2012 is an important date in the development of our educational system. This is when our institution became a part of the Cambridge International Examinations system. As a part of an important and renowned international educational platform, we began the realization of the Cambridge programme and the programme of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technical Development of the Republic of Serbia. Acquiring a licence made us proud, but also inspired us to be even more responsible in accepting the obligation to educate students in a worldwide recognizable way.
Sixth Year: the First Year of Implementation of the Cambridge Programme
The school year 2012/13 was marked by the integration of two vast educational programmes which became a unique trait of our institution. Students’ activity and development of critical thinking became our main focus. The headquarters of our institution was in 58 Tolstojeva street, and due to an increasing number of students, a part of the school was moved to 51 Tolstojeva street. The Flipped Classroom project was realized thanks to the Edmodo learning platform. As a part of this project, teachers uploaded various materials relevant for the topic that would be covered in class later and in that way encouraged students to give their own opinion about the topic. Also, learning platforms are used in this way as a research tool.
Seventh year: First Primary School Prom
The first generation to finish primary school has matured with exceptional results on Cambridge exams. The whole year went in preparations for the real world through professional orientation programmes and career advising. The very same year, the first elaborate for the opening of a Secondary School was planned for the upcoming school year and initiated by our parents.
Eighth year: Opening of the Secondary School
The school year 2014/15 saw the inauguration of the Secondary School, making our educational system a whole. This year we became a two-class school in the younger grades and due to the increasing number of students and opening of Secondary School, we expanded our facilities to 3 Cakorska street. As the result of a year-long partnership, our eighth year of existence was notable for the activities of the Parents’ Association on stimulating the cultural and public life of the Institution, as well as the launch of various humanitarian activities. The Parents’ Association greatly helped to promote the importance of cooperation between parents and the Institution. The bond between our children, parents and the Institution became even stronger, and a new spirit of change and partnership was set in motion.
Ninth Year: Tablets in Teaching
The ninth year of Kreativno Pero ES was marked by projects that improved the quality of teaching by introducing modern technology. By doing so, we met the needs of a contemporary generation of students. The school provided tablets for them, and other projects were realized in this year. Apart from Edmodo platform for online learning, our students also use other educational platforms such as Khan Academy and Moodle and take part in the Gamification project and use classroom management applications such as Class Dojo and Classcraft. The successful year was crowned by winning the first place at the Republic competition of the Serbian language for Secondary school students.
Tenth Year: International Projects
We were stepping into our jubilee, tenth anniversary year with achieving the goal of connecting our school with other schools on an international level. Kreativno Pero participated in the CARnet conference in Rovinj, and our teachers successfully presented their work on algorithmic thinking and online learning platforms. In December 2016, we cooperated with six European schools in order to do the Advent calendar project, within the Etwinning platform.
In January 2017, Educational System Kreativno Pero became an official Cambridge Professional Development Center and acquired a licence to train other teachers according to Cambridge standards, as well as to issue Cambridge certificates. Our teachers showed examples of excellent teaching at an important conference, New Technologies in Education held in Belgrade in February 2017.
The peak in the field of international cooperation was our participation in the International Robotics Olympiad in Washington in July 2017, and the students of our Secondary school represented the national team of Serbia. The main goal of this project was to strengthen awareness of the importance of STEM career (STEM - science, technology, engineering and mathematics) as a long-term option for the future of young people and to provide support for intercultural cooperation and exchange, which is in accordance with our concept and long-term goals.
Eleventh year - intensive professional development, improvement of the thematic and interdisciplinary approach to teaching and a magnificent New Year's concert
This school year was marked by intensive professional training for teachers, within the Center for Professional Development of Teachers, in the field of Teaching and Learning. The training was carried out according to the Cambridge programme, with a program of 120 hours of professional development. Six of our teachers received very high external evaluations for their portfolios and obtained valuable certificates. We will remember the magnificent New Year's concert performed by our students, parents and teachers for a very long time. Within school we further developed different models for the implementation of thematic planning in classes and found that our students really like thematic days! The thematic and interdisciplinary approach facilitates learning, provides more permanent knowledge and helps build competencies important for life in modern society.
Twelfth year: Project European Experiences for a Quality School and outstanding results in the final exam and IGCSE and Cambridge exams
Considering the priorities for the further development of our system, we prepared a project for the mobility of teachers and professional associates, European experiences for a quality school, which was approved by the Tempus Foundation. We are the first private school to be approved for such a project! We incorporated the knowledge and experience gained in Finland and Estonia into our development plans and applied them in strategic planning and organization of teaching, improvement of project and thematic teaching, greater use of ICT and further development of the professional training system. The basic approach is encouraging curiosity and motivation, research and creativity, connecting with the real world, learning outside the classroom and providing support for students. In addition, we shared our experiences and examples of excellent teaching through our social networks, media, expert forums and trainings.
Continuous work on improving teaching, introducing innovations and the best European experiences in education, led us to excellent results in the final exam in primary school, in the IGCSE and Cambridge exams, which once again showed that we share common values and goals, understand the needs of children and students and we successfully integrate two programmes, the Ministry of Education programme and the Cambridge programme. Our students had the best results among private schools and achieved results well above the national average! Our students were also very successful in the Cambridge exams in English, Mathematics and Science. We are particularly proud of the second grade students of our Secondary school, whose average result on the Mathematics exam was 92%.
Thirteenth year – distance learning in Kreativno Pero
After the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development informed institutions about the transition of the educational system to distance learning due to the pandemic caused by the coronavirus, ES Kreativno Pero (Preschool, Primary School and Secondary School) used its many years of experience in using different platforms and digital tools. We started from what we have been building for years, from mutual trust and partnership with our parents, whom we have enabled to follow our digital classrooms and all activities. The platforms and digital tools we use have enabled us to create stimulating and creative teaching and to successfully monitor work and progress. The students had a lot of support and help, they could communicate directly with their teachers and the Professional Team with the help of digital tools, ask questions and ask for additional information. And we celebrated the School Day through online platforms, in a creative way, as only we would know how! We can proudly say that we are the first preschool institution in Serbia that implemented activities through the Edmodo platform! This year was also significant for our support to the improvement of the work of Preschool Institution Akvica (development of the program, visual identity of the institution, training of employees, activities of our teachers with children in their kindergarten).
We continued with the implementation of the Mind UP programme, which is promoted by the Novak Djokovic Foundation. This programme helps children to recognize, understand and properly express their feelings. In addition, we started implementing their ABC of Better Me programme, in which children learn about healthy eating habits every day, prepare and grow vegetables in the garden.
Fourteenth Year – support in distance learning and high achievements
Our persistence and knowledge, as well as patient improvement of the competences of our employees, enabled us to provide additional support to our students - they could attend classes which were held in the classroom and participate in them via the Internet, from their homes. We very successfully realized a number of model classes, and we demonstrated our online competences during the performance of the Svetosavska hymn. At the International Olympiad in Robotics, we took 7th place, in very high competition and with small differences among the best teams! We received two national awards at competitions in Serbian language and literature. Students of the 4th grade of Primary school participated in the international PIRLS research on reading literacy, which is being implemented in Serbia by the Ministry of Education and the Institute for the Evaluation of the Quality of Education. In this way, our school also wants to participate in ensuring the quality of education and designing strategic decisions in the field of reading literacy. We are proud of our Secondary school students who have all enrolled in prestigious faculties in the country and abroad. Kreativno Pero participates in projects related to ecology and sustainable development, and our team has put a lot of effort into designing innovative technology that could help preserve tropical rainforests. With this project, we represented the only team from Serbia that participated in the large scientific XPRIZE Rainforest competition, and we were among 33 teams in the world.
The sixth-grade student won the first prize at the 26th Republic Festival of Children's Musical Creativity Deca kompozitori (FEDMUS 2021), with the performance of the vocal composition The Wish. Preschool children, Primary and Secondary school students and our entire team responded to the #jerusalemachallenge and gave the dance of Jerusalema to the bravest and most humane - fighters for life. The School Day this school year was celebrated by our movie Romeo and Juliet.
Fifteent Year – successful projects and our awards abroad
Our school has won the prestigious award - Climate Action Project School of Excellence, an award given by Cartoon Network and Climate Action Project, under the auspices of Take Action Global, and was among the 250 best schools in the world! We received the award for our efforts in the field of climate change education. Secondary school students again achieved great success at the international FIRST Global Challenge competition in robotics - we were eighth in the competition out of 178 teams. We also received the European quality label for the exceptional work within the eTwinning project - Traveling in a yellow submarine.
