Základná škola Staničná 13

Základná škola Staničná 13 in Košice is located within a ten minute walk from the historical centre of the second largest city in Slovakia. It is a state schol with two educational levels: primary level for students from 6 - 10 and lower secondary for ages 10 - 15. There are 787 students in both levels (417 in the lower secondary level) and 48 teachers (27 in the lower secondary level). There are 13 educators in the after-school club, 1 psychologist, 1 special needs teacher and 1 teacherʹs asistent. There are 10 people in the Administration and Services Department.

The school was founded in 1963 and since then it has educated thousands of students many of whom were later successful in their secondary school studies or at universities. Many of our former students have become famous in commercial, sporting and media field. Not only our former students, but also our present students are often very successful in district, regional or even national rounds of various competitions (Reciting Competitions, Foreign Language Competitions - English, French, German, Russian; Science, IT, Art, Singing, Sports and Games).

The assessent method in the first year is different from all the other levels. The first year students get comments on their skills and abilities. In years 2 - 9, the students get marks from 1 - 5 (1 being the best) based on the tests thoughout the year, oral exams and direct observations. The students get their reports twice a year (in January and in June). The last year students take National Exams in March from Slovak and Maths. The school year starts on 2 September and finishes on 30 June.

The school day starts at 8:00 a.m. and finishes depending on the timetable of each level. Most students finish at 1.30 p.m., some younger students finish at 12.35 p.m., some older ones can finish at 3 p.m. some days. The students come to school five days a week. They have a short break from 30 - 31 October, winter break for 2 weeks at Christmas, a day off after the first term, usually on 1 February, a week of spring break at the end of February or the beginning of March and a week at Easter. Their summer holidays start on 1 July and finish on 31 August as 1 September is a Bank Holiday (Constitution Day in Slovakia).

The students in our school do not wear uniforms as it is not a custom in Slovakia. The students wear casual clothes.

The school has a website: www.zsstanicnake.sk where the school organization is presented, the achievements, activities and the news announced. The parents and the teachers can communicate through edupage.org platform. The parents of the students meet their teachers four times a year at parentsʹ conferences.

After School Club forms a part of our school. Here, the children are looked after by qualified educators in the afternoon. There are various activties organized for them until 5 p.m.

Foreign language education is a very important matter in our school. Therefore a language school, as part of our school, opened in 2011. It offers language courses not alone for our students, but also for their parents and teachers. The school has a language lab equipped with modern facilities for their use. We are also a training centre of Cambridge exams for children YLE and KET.

Good foreign language skills enable our students to visit foreign countries and get the opportunity to practise the language in everyday communication. Our students visit Paris, London, Vienna, Prague, Krakow or Budapest every year. The students who participated in Socrates or Comenius partnerships in the past and Erasmus+ in the present, visited their partner schools in various European countries (Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Holland, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Romania, Spain).

Apart from the above mentioned trips, each class has a school trip at the end of the school year to interesting places in Slovakia that usually lasts 1 - 2 days. Third year students have a week swimming programme in June, seventh year students have a five - day skiing trip in one of the skiing resorts in Eastern Slovakia in January/February.

Language learning is not the only priority of our school. The school management supports all innovative and creative methods of working with pupils, not only in education, but it also creates a wide range of opportunities for the development of all the students' various interests and activities. Leisure time centre has been part of our school since September 2008. This gives our students a chance to develop their skills and knowledge as well as a healthy lifestyle in a lot of after school activities. Sport activities are supported by the school as well. The school management has always been enthusiastic about sport. Our students take part in collective and individual sports. Basketball, football and handball coaches offer our students professional guidance. We have a multifunctional playground that is used at P.E. classes and for after school sport activities.

As well as cooperating with the parents of our students, we also value their opinions. Proof of this is where the school provides free access to buildings not normally open to the public during Doors Open Days. Parents have a chance to visit the school premises and experience a school day personally, at least twice a year. The classrooms, Language and Science labs, school gym, after school activities classes, school canteen etc. are all open to the public. The headmistress receives the visitors in her office which is open to them not only on those days, but anytime during a school year. Here is where parents can get answers to their questions.

The parents are not the only ones to participate in running the school. The work of the student parliament is appreciated not only by the school management, but is also valued by the mayor of Košice who voted them the best school parliament of 2006-2007 among all Košice schools.There are lots of other interesting activities organised for our students and their parents every year. Christmas and Mother's day performances, discussions with writers at our school, theatre performances or field trips are just some examples. All the activities can be seen on our school website or in a school magazine "Staničiarik" which has been awarded third place in school magazines competitions. "Cool School" magazine promotes the school activities in English.

The school tries to offer the public something new and unusual in order to make prospective parents aware of the school's quality education. Our school gets involved in lots of projects such as Erasmus+, eTwinning, Green School, DigiSchool. The Project of transforming a traditional school into a modern school lasted from 2008-2011. Thanks to the hard work done during these years, the school is able to integrate innovative teaching methods into education.