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Preparing for the Real World: Learning Critical Thinking from a Young Age

Why shouldn’t attending school be like an adventure? Wouldn’t smaller classes allow for greater teacher dedication to each child? Instead of sitting in a classroom, why not spend more time outdoors learning? These are some of the questions raised when discussing the challenges in primary education that remain unanswered. School is often perceived as a threatening and serious institution, a place filled mostly with obligations and responsibilities. To address these questions and challenges, perhaps the answer can be found in private primary education.

Development of Key Skills

Starting primary school is a significant milestone in the lives of children and parents. In many cases, it seems that parents also go back to school when helping their children master the material and complete assignments. The importance of primary school for a child’s future is clear, as abilities necessary for later life are developed from a young age. Public schools often struggle with upbringing and education, but in private schools, it is possible to implement what is otherwise thought to be difficult to achieve. The innovative approach of the Primary Year Program of the International Baccalaureate (IB PYP), which has existed worldwide for years, has also come to Croatia to show that education is not a bogeyman. Therefore, the private primary school Linea from Sesvete, Zagreb offers a different approach to education according to the Croatian curriculum through the prestigious IB PYP program, enabling students to acquire necessary skills such as critical thinking, knowledge connection, and preparation for the real world. Independence is thus encouraged through the development of key skills in students to make them as capable as possible for future life challenges. The transdisciplinary approach, which addresses one theme across all subjects, erases the boundaries between subjects, and since it involves small groups of students, it is possible to tailor the learning plan to each child.

By applying different learning styles according to the needs of students, teachers continuously monitor student progress and regularly collaborate with parents to adapt the approach to the child as much as possible. Parents are involved in school projects and joint activities, thus achieving a tripartite partnership in which parents, students, and teachers work together to create a positive environment for children’s development.

Child-Centered

The school is an eight-year institution, with small class sizes, allowing for a tailored approach to each child, and classes are conducted in both Croatian and English. Students are encouraged to independently set goals and to understand how successful their learning is. In various projects, students engage with issues of ecology and sustainable development, such as planting in the school garden or visiting a nursing home. In this way, awareness is developed about how their actions affect the world.

Classes run from eight to sixteen o’clock, and children are provided with breakfast, lunch, and snacks prepared according to nutritionist advice. From 1 PM to 2 PM, the material is reviewed, and from 2:30 PM to 4 PM, artistic workshops, religious education, drama club, computer science, additional language (German), sports, music school, programming, or socio-emotional development workshops are held. Daily physical education takes place in the secured yard (garden) of the school, which is designed as a sort of extension and addition to the classroom. In classrooms where desks are arranged in a circle, children can move freely and use the common room where learning occurs while sitting on the floor, playing, reading books, and using various devices.

For interested parents, Linea regularly organizes workshops to explain the learning methods and the PYP program. Enrollment of children in the first grade is similar to that in standard schools after testing at the school to which the child belongs according to their place of residence and a check-up with the school doctor. Conversations and enrollments for the 2025/2026 school year take place from January 13 to June 23, and enrollment in Linea school is possible throughout the entire school year.

Content created in collaboration with the Private Primary School Linea.