Orangery Primary School - About us

At Orangery we have a sophisticated system of English language teaching based on tandem cooperation of a Czech teacher and a native speaker. Each class has its own native speaker who is present during the teaching of all subjects and, depending on the level of knowledge of the pupils, gradually gets involved in the teaching not only during English lessons. For example, in Year 3, the children do not have 'Art' but 'Arts and Crafts', and in Year 5, in 'Geography', the pupils learn about European countries through English presentations they prepare themselves.

Initially, we focus on children's ability to understand and use English in everyday situations to encourage them to enjoy every little bit of progress. Grammar teaching only comes in the upper classes when pupils usually begin to prepare for the Cambridge Language Examinations (YLE) as part of their learning.

Tandem teaching (or also dual, Co-teaching or Collaborative teaching) is one of the organizational forms of teaching in which two teachers participate in a lesson.

The advantage of tandem teaching is that the student learns actively, not passively, as would be the case if he or she only observed the accompanying teacher's explanation. Paired teaching is a way to increase the potential for professional development.

The importance of native speakers for students:

• increase motivation to learn a foreign language
• breaking down inhibitions, fear or shyness when communicating in a foreign language
• use of the foreign language in other subjects
• the possibility of communication in a foreign language outside the classroom
• intercultural experiences - realities of other countries
• for many students, the first experience with a live native speaker ever

We believe that our students are growing into a time when social skills will be essential for a happy life. That's why at Orangery we teach students from the first grade on, among other things, to communicate, work in teams, set clear goals, solve problems and present themselves. Through various activities, we develop our pupils' empathy, assertiveness and ability to adapt to change.

The small number of pupils in each class means that we can approach each pupil individually and support the development of their skills where they need it. In this regard, we have benefited from the intensive collaboration with our school psychologist, who regularly monitors the atmosphere in each classroom and can thus observe each pupil in his or her natural classroom environment.

Each child is unique, each can succeed, be an asset to others and become a successful and happy person. Our goal is to discover each child's individual talents and support their further development. We believe that by doing so, our pupils will continue their studies in a direction that is suitable for them in the future and will be able to successfully develop their personal potential.

We spend a lot of time on the process of self-discovery and self-assessment so that in the future they will not depend on the evaluation and recognition coming from the outside world, but will know their value and seek and find strength and inspiration especially within themselves. Our pupils are not afraid to make mistakes and do not strive for perfection, but enjoy the joy of their progress and success.

After graduating from our primary school, pupils go on to either the second cycle of primary school or to an eight-year grammar school. Each pupil is different, develops at his/her own pace and a different follow-up education is appropriate for his/her further successful development. Each pupil's parents make the decision about their future direction and, if they wish, we are happy to provide our expert opinion and support in choosing their next school.

The current nature of entrance examinations for eight-year grammar schools requires very demanding and intensive preparation, without which it is almost impossible to succeed. The entrance examinations go beyond the 5th grade curriculum and it is therefore impossible to provide preparation fully within our primary school, even taking into account the fact that the requirements of the grammar schools differ to some extent. As early as the end of Year 4, parents can register their child for preparatory courses, ideally at the specific grammar school to which the child will be applying.

We know how extremely demanding the preparation of pupils for grammar school is, and that is why we additionally support them within our school through an intensive preparatory course organised in cooperation with an experienced external partner.

Our school is located in 2 buildings - one class (usually 1st or 2nd) is located in a building near the city park in Dolní Počernice and the other classes are located in the main building of our school, which is located nearby in a renovated villa in Narodních hrdinů street. Pupils of our school learn in cosy classrooms equipped with modern technology.

It is important to us that pupils look forward to school and enjoy learning. We therefore place great emphasis on creating a safe environment where there is no room for bullying and other pathological behaviours. Through individual and group programmes, we regularly monitor and evaluate the pupils' relationships and the atmosphere in each individual classroom and address any problems immediately in cooperation with parents and the school counselling service (prevention methodologist, educational counsellor, school psychologist).

Within the framework of a sophisticated school prevention programme, we address current negative trends in society and the resulting threats, appropriate to the age of our pupils, and teach pupils how to counter these threats.

Classes in our school start at 9:00 am.

The after-school club operates from 7:30 am to 6:00 pm. Even in the after-school club, pupils engage in a variety of activities that contribute to their development, often with a native speaker present. Pupils can also attend various special interest groups organised within the school during the time of the after-school club. The range of clubs varies from year to year, depending on the particular interests of the pupils.

We know how beneficial it is for children to be outdoors. Therefore, the pupils often spend a lot of time outdoors - either in the park of the Dolno Polesnice castle, which is in the immediate vicinity of our smaller building, or in the garden, which is available at our main building.

Both the school and their parents are involved in the successful development of children. Therefore, we regularly meet with the parents of our pupils, either within the school or during various social activities that we organise for our pupils and their parents. Traditionally, these include Mothers' Day celebrations, a food festival or a Christmas party. Parents are regularly informed about how their child is developing (through tripartite or individual meetings) in particular areas and what activities they are engaged in, which enables us to work together to provide increased support where they need it.

During the course of study, children may have specific needs that need to be addressed in collaboration with their parents. In this case, parents can use our school psychologist, with whom the school has a long-standing relationship, to help them understand the nature of the problem and how they can most effectively help their child.

We regularly assess our pupils. The evaluation is verbal and includes a self-assessment of the pupil. Together we celebrate each progress and achievement and also identify areas to focus on for the next term.

Our pupils have a verbal assessment on their report cards, but from grade 4 onwards we also include a mark on the report card in case the pupil needs a mark for the admissions procedure for further studies. We grade written tests within the curriculum in words or percentages.

Our goal is to support children's innate need to discover and explore the world. Therefore, we actively involve our pupils in the classroom, where they discover the principles and patterns of phenomena through various activities and the use of various tools. This approach gives pupils the space to think independently and form their own opinions and questions. Pupils are encouraged to use their own initiative, creativity, independent work and thinking.

Our pupils are introduced to the basics of mathematics through the Hejný method, which has proved to be a suitable method for grades 1 and 2. From Grade 3 onwards, pupils move to a combination of the Hejné method and the Tactics method so that they are better prepared for when they apply to study at an eight-year grammar school. However, we continue to use part of the Hejný method in our teaching, e.g. in IT.

We want our students to enjoy learning. We therefore use a variety of modern teaching methods and regularly incorporate technology into our lessons. Thanks to a variety of activities, every pupil has the opportunity to learn in the way that suits them best. We are gradually expanding the school's equipment with robotic teaching aids.

We want our students to see the world around them in context. Therefore, we do not teach individual subjects strictly separately, but naturally interweave knowledge from different disciplines within the curriculum.