← Back to homeOsnovna Montessori škola barunice Dédée Vranyczany
Zagreb, Croatia · est. 2003 · Private
Illustration · Zagreb
The school runs eight grades of primary and lower secondary school in Zagreb, and one preschool group for children from three to six years old works within it. It was opened in 2003 by the parents’ association “Maria Montessori” and is named after the baroness who founded the first Montessori institution in Zagreb back in 1934. The day is long: in the younger grades the core lessons and free work with Montessori materials run from eight until noon, subject lessons follow after lunch, and supervision lasts until five in the afternoon. Within its bilingual programme the school teaches English, mathematics and the Science subjects the Cambridge way - in 2009 it was the first primary and lower secondary school in the country to receive the certificate of a Cambridge international centre, and at the end of grade 8 a pupil may sit Cambridge examinations in chosen subjects. Beyond English the school teaches German and Italian, and Latin in grades 7 and 8. Schooling ends with grade 8, and the school does not say where its leavers go: it was preparing a Montessori upper secondary school of its own together with the Montessori Lyceum in Amsterdam, but after the article it needed was removed from the law in 2009 it could not be founded.
Key facts
Programmes
Cambridge · Montessori
Languages of instruction
Croatian, English
Languages taught
German, Italian
About the fees The school names no fees for its teaching: no tuition, no contributions, no price for the preschool group and no section on costs. To prospective parents it offers only the enrolment form on the site and a telephone number.
Admissions Admission to grade 1 goes through the national enrolment system for primary and lower secondary schools: the application is submitted in its app with an e-Građani account, and the child is examined by the school doctor for the area. For children with developmental difficulties applications are accepted earlier and are submitted together with medical and other documentation; early enrolment and a temporary deferral of enrolment are provided for separately. Parents who are interested are invited to fill in the enrolment form directly on the site or to telephone.
Stages and year groups Grades preschool group ages 3-6, grades 1-8. In grades 1-4 the day is put together like this: core lessons and free work from 8:00 to 12:00, lunch from 12:00 to 13:00, subject lessons from 13:00 to 15:15 and supervision until 17:00. In grades 5-8 lessons run from nine until 15:15, with a morning break at 9:45 and a lunch break at 13:15, and supervision again until 17:00. Biology, chemistry and physics are taught in grades 7 and 8, and Latin appears there too. Lessons go on in mixed-age groups, where the child chooses the material and decides whether to work alone or together with another child.
Address Učkina 3/A, 10110 Zagreb
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
Cambridge · authorised programmeCambridge International holds the school as an examination centre and shows no stages for it at all. The school describes itself as follows: in 2009 it was the first primary and lower secondary school in Croatia to receive the certificate of a Cambridge international centre - a Cambridge International Examinations Centre; within its bilingual programme it teaches English, mathematics and the Science subjects the Cambridge way, that is nature study, biology, chemistry and physics; and at the end of grade 8 a pupil may sit examinations in chosen subjects if they have passed the programme’s interim tests. The school names not a single Cambridge stage by name - neither Primary nor Lower Secondary.
school is in an official registryconfirmed by a school document, by membership or by taking part in a networkclaimed by the school, no confirmation, not counted in the scoreGuide to all organisations → What stands behind each entry
CambridgeCambridge International Education
Part of the University of Cambridge. It allows a school to teach the Cambridge programmes and to enter pupils for the exams. There are four stages and they are authorised separately: primary, lower secondary, IGCSE and A Level. If the stages are known they are named in the line below; if that line is missing, the school does not publish them, and the Cambridge registry does not show stages either - it gives only the name of the centre, the country and whether private candidates are accepted. Cambridge calls what it does registration rather than accreditation, and the network holds about ten thousand schools.
What the badge means for this school. The school is allowed to run this programme and to award its certificate. This is a confirmation of the programme, not a judgement on the school as a whole. The entry stands in the organisation's public register - anyone can check it. Which stages - from the early years programme for three-year-olds up to A-Level - this school is approved for is not stated here.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →Montessori
The pedagogy of Maria Montessori: a child chooses the activity, works at their own pace with special materials, and mixed-age groups are arranged so that older children teach the younger ones. It is used most often in the nursery and primary stages.
What this means for this school. The name Montessori belongs to nobody: any school may call itself a Montessori school, and there is no single body that checks this. There are associations that train teachers and recognise schools, but membership of them is voluntary, and our entry means exactly that the school describes itself this way. This pedagogy has no leaving certificate, so what to look at is what the school finishes with.
Exams and destinations from the school's official website
The school publishes nothing about where its leavers go: no share going on to university, no exam results, no list of universities.
Facilities from the school's official website
·Swimming poolnot stated on the website
✓Sports hallA school hall.
·Laboratoriesnot stated on the website
·Theatre or assembly hallnot stated on the website
·Librarynot stated on the website
✓CateringA fully equipped kitchen of its own, in which the older children do home economics.
·School transportnot stated on the website
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Campus: The classrooms are arranged as a prepared environment: the shelves hold Maria Montessori's materials for language, mathematics, cosmic education and the Children's House, from the pink tower to the golden beads, along with exercises the teachers prepare themselves. For ceramics the school has a kiln of its own.
Clubs and activities: Children's fitness · Home economics · Italian · Artfulness · Additional mathematics · IT club · Football · Reading and film club · Ceramics · Chess · Taekwondo · Additional chemistry · Robotics · First aid
Teaching staff
The school publishes neither the number of its teachers nor their qualifications.
Safety and wellbeing from the school's official website
·CCTVnot stated on the website
·Security staffnot stated on the website
·Access controlnot stated on the website
·Nurse or medical roomnot stated on the website
·Counsellornot stated on the website
·Child protection policynot stated on the website
✓Staff trainingIn 2020 the school took part in the Croatian Red Cross programme “Sigurnije škole i vrtići”, whose themes the school names as preparation for emergencies, first aid, safety in school and kindergarten, and psychosocial support.
·Anti-bullying policynot stated on the website
First aid is also among the extracurricular activities of grades 5-8. The school names no child protection policy of its own, and no security, medical room or psychologist.
Reviews
No reviews yet. The community rating counts towards the score once a school has five verified reviews - until then we do not show a zero, so as not to mislead.
Criteria breakdown criterion weight in brackets
Academics and programmes (16%)72 Community rating (16%)no dataparent reviews are needed: the criterion switches on at the fifth verified one Exams and destinations (12%) scored on disclosed data55 Safety and wellbeing (12%) scored on disclosed data60 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)85 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data70 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data78 Value for money (6%) scored at the median73 "Scored on disclosed data" stands where we count only what the school has written about itself on its own site: exams and destinations, safety and wellbeing, teaching staff, facilities, clubs and activities. A low score here means the school does not write about this, not that the school does not have it: a school with good security and a sparse site will score low. A school can fill in its profile, and the score will be counted again.
The score is counted from 7 of the 9 criteria.Only those with checkable data count: programmes and accreditations from official registers, the fee from a published price list. Where it says "scored on the median", the school has no data and the middle of the list is put in its place, so that a gap gives no advantage. Admissions, teaching staff and reviews come in as their data arrives.
The full methodology → Similar schools in the country