Zenit School Göd, Hungary
Zenit Primary School in Göd, Hungary is a community & foundation school, named after the zenith point. It was established in 2021 by five families from Göd, Hungary. The aim behind this collaboration was to create a child-centered, value based, inclusive school implementing 21st century knowledge, and to provide new opportunities for the local community, the families and children.
The century-old building housing our school has been the Monastery of the Contemplative Sisters of the Rosary Queen of St. Dominic since 1996. The classic villa has been transformed into a 4 classroom educational space, with a maximum of 17 students per class. During the reconstruction, we kept our focus on the contemporary demands, while respecting the historic architecture. In our vast, park-like garden the children have space for recreational activities and teachers have the grounds for ecological education.
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Our core values
Community
No one is alone in Zenit, the force of the community drives us forward.
Creativity
The basis of a child’s existence, that we have to cherish and preserve.
Experience
The wonder of discovery and adventure are the basic experiences of learning.
Awareness
The aim is one, we choose the means and the path.
Safety
Safety of the heart, soul, the spirit and the mind is the space for progress.
Acceptance
Strength lies in diversity, not in likeness.
Our pedagogy
The pedagogical program of our primary school follws the Hungarian National Core Curriculum, but takes inspiration from the Scandinavian model of education. Instead of grades, we employ both written and spoken textual evaluation, our pupils create their own self-assessment books.
Aside from the importance of project based education, we put great emphasis on talent management - math, logic, music, sport - and social self-development based on cooperative techniques - psychodrama, music therapy, sensorimotor gymnastics, painting/fine arts.
There is no homework, instead the children climb trees, collect bugs, take part in ecological programs and excursions after their school day.
Life at Zenit School
The Zenit school is a great experience for both students and teachers. We start our days with a half an hour conversation circle, where everyone has the opportunity to articulate their mood, their strengths and weaknesses, their aims and aspirations for the day. Of the educational methods, project-based education, cooperative and playful learning based on multiple intelligences permeate our everyday life. We thrive to teach our children how to create and live freely, and how to use their freedom well.
Knowledge is acquired through experiences. Children can develop their individual abilities and talent within the framework of special classes and study groups, like psychodrama, ecology, music therapy, math lessons with LEGOs and soroban, sensory integration therapy, kung-fu and game clubs with chess, Mondrian and even D&D. Every 6th week the teachers and students break the daily routine, and spend the week with excursions voted on and organized by the students, and voluntary playful revisions, so they can learn from an early age to take responsibility for their own education. The basic skills of the modern age are an intrinsic part of our everyday lives, whether we talk about second language acquisition, doing sports, the usage of digital devices, carrying out presentations, and public performances, or improving their social engagement through acts of charity.
The mornings spent with learning are followed by afternoons spent with free play, feeding of birds, gardening, bug collecting or bunker building, depending on the children’s mood and the seasonal tasks in the garden. There is no homework, but parents get tips as to how to practice skills in real life scenarios. Instead of grades, students receive quarterly written evaluations from their teachers and parents and write their own progress reports as well, which are discussed in parent-teacher conferences.
Our classrooms, just like the whole school, are open and flexible. Every teacher shares their most loved subjects and best knowledge in every class.
At Zenit the harmony of living in nature - surrounded by plants and mushrooms, animals living in the garden, at home and in the wider natural surroundings - and in society - organizing and visiting public events, programs, concerts and trips - can be experienced and benefited by all age groups.
Zenit events
The fabric of the community connected to education and the region is as diverse as the Zenit events calendar. All our programs are infused with the Zenit family-like approach, from our professional workshops on child development and learning, to childrens’ programs, quiz nights, and so on.
During our workshops organized for the open public and for the Zenit community, parents, guests, teachers and education professionals can meet regularly to talk, learn about and work through subjects of child rearing, child development and creating child-centered learning environments.
We also actively participate and sometimes take on organizing events in our hometown, from charitable school supply collection for those in need to t halloween celebrations.
Our events are almost always in Hungarian. Learn more about them at https://www.zenitiskola.hu/programok
Ongoing collaborations, successful grants
Zenit Special Educators’ Days
Zenit’s monthly program series targeting teachers, parents and educational experts aiming to form a community dedicated to helping each other and to explore modern trends in education. Through interactive presentations and workshops, the participants can learn about and experience mindfulness in education and child rearing. We have won local grants to support this initiative. For example in TESCO's "You choose, we help" program.
Music and STEM learning
In the framework of the National Talent Programme this grant, we acquired instruments and appliances for our own talent program in music learning and improving STEM abilities. Various musical instruments, LEGO SPIKE sets and floor robots are among the items our kids happily use.
Chess Palace and Mondrian Blocks
In cooperation with the Hungarian Chess Association and the Chess Palace initiative, chess as a game, a way of thinking and development tool is practiced by all students. Chess days are organized with chess masters and educators. We also collaborate in a research project to use Mondrian Blocks to improve kid's skills in problem solving.
Rooms and garden to rent
The Zenit Primary School in Göd, Hungary, Madách utca 40, is in a quiet street easily accessible by public transport and by car. We offers its spaces of different sizes and functions and its garden for rent. Occasional and regular rents are also available. The spaces are generally available to rent on weekdays from 4:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. and on weekends from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., beyond these periods, we can arrange the rental by prior arrangement. Wi-Fi service is available throughout the school. For further information please contact us below. Spaces for rent include classrooms of various sizes (24-26 m2); our sunny dining room/veranda (20m2); and part our garden with old-growth trees (400m2).
Support Zenit School
Financial, infrastructural and marketing support, as well as voluntary work and mobilized relationships, are of great help to a growing foundation school. We are looking for families and supporting companies who can identify with the core values of our school, for whom it is important to develop children, to take care of their talents, and who are able to help in any way with the creation, operation and further development of the school.
If you feel you can help, please contact us below. We are happy to introduce ourselves in person so that you can meet the dedicated and purposeful team behind the school.