ORIGINS

Our school was founded out of love for children and for parents who consciously sought a place full of inspiration, education and respect for children. Mirka Vlčková had been looking for such a place in downtown Prague for a long time. Unfortunately, it did not exist, so she decided to create one. The Andílek Family Center in the Villa Portheimka was beautiful and historic, but small for the operation of a family center, courses and a pre-school.

In January 2011, we opened a trial operation with a few children in a single room of the Elementary School in Kořenského Street. Hanka Gabrielová and Verča Posar worked in this very first class. Because Verča was expecting a baby at that time, we were looking for another teacher. In April, Hanka Slabá joined us. She started with the task of transforming our pre-school with elements of Montessori to a pre-school with fully implemented Montessori program. At the end of the school year, Mirka discovered the premises of the Klamovka Elementary School. Over the summer we managed to transform one gym, a corridor and an after-school classroom into a pre-school with a beautiful garden. Unfortunately, the coexistence with the lower level of a traditional elementary school in the same building was challenging.

OUR OWN PREMISES

And here we were lucky again. At the end of the second school year, the Klamovka Elementary School was discontinued and we were given an offer to write a project proposal for the entire building, Which, within a few weeks, we managed, partly by miracle, partly by luck and mainly through a lot of hard work. The Anima Studio was established on the ground floor, focusing on the artistic expressions of children. As pioneers in Montessori education in the Czech Republic, Adéla Dobešová and Hanka Slabá left for San Diego for the summer to study Montessori for elementary schools. In September 2013, thanks to the trust and support of ten parents (some of whom, such as Radka and Vítězslav Jandas had joined us as early as in 2011), we opened the first class of the elementary school, already run in the spirit of Montessori by Adéla Dobešová. Both the pre-school (or, in Montessori terms, the primary school) and the elementary school were registered in the Register of Schools and School Facilities, and the phase of consolidating the school institution began. In 2013, Hanka Chramostová took on the position of the Principal and through her effort, the school became more professional and has grown to its current form. The team gradually changed and expanded, new activities were created to support parents (working stations for parents with children, education and lectures for parents), an infant community for children under 3 years was founded. We established a school counseling center and a community center for parents and children. We are building an upper elementary and expanding activities inwards and outwards, aimed at children, families and the world around us. We also share experience with other schools as part of international projects.

WE GROW TOGETHER

Out of a few enthusiastic and dedicated individuals, who had laid Andílek’s foundation, emerged a stable team of professionals who are working together to create an environment suitable for development of not only children but of adults as well. We do not stand still, we grow together with Andílek, and Andílek grows together with us and our experience.

Our school has grown from a small group of 12 children to 110 children today. We have encountered many obstacles along the way, but we were lucky. We have learnt a lot on our journey and we believe that a lot is still to be learnt. What has not changed though, is our love for the work we do, our love for children and for parents who still consciously seek a place full of inspiration, education and respect for children. We are connected with the Montessori Institute Prague and the Montessori Association of the Czech Republic, both of which had also been founded by Mirka, and together, we make up a Montessori family with the objective to create conditions for happy and healthy development of children from 1.5 years till adolescents, and for education of teachers and parents in the Montessori pedagogy.