The British International School of Ljubljana has been rated ‘Outstanding in every category’ in its latest inspection by PENTA International.

Penta International, one of the leading independent inspectorates of British Schools Overseas, accredited by the British Government’s Department for Education (DfE), recently completed a comprehensive inspection of the British International School of Ljubljana that included a 3-day site visit for lesson observations, learning walks, data analysis and discussions with groups of students, staff and parents. The resulting report, published last week, recognises the British International School of Ljubljana as an outstanding school, in every category, a historic first in its journey as a school.

“The British International School of Ljubljana (BISL) is an outstanding school. It is held in high regard by the local community,” highlights the report recently released by Penta International.

BISL is proud to have achieved not only an Outstanding rating overall but an Outstanding rating in every category assessed, making it the only Outstanding school in the region.

The purpose of regular inspections is to provide information for parents, teachers, senior managers and the school’s management on the overall effectiveness of the school, the standard of education it provides and its compatibility with independent schools in the United Kingdom and around the world.

The inspection and report covers the key areas of quality of the curriculum; quality of teaching and learning; the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of students; their welfare, health and safety; the suitability of the proprietor and staff; the school’s premises; and the school's complaints procedures. An essential part of the inspection is considering the extent to which the British character of the school is evident in its ethos, curriculum, teaching, care for students and their achievements.

“It has been my absolute privilege to lead our school through this inspection, and I am incredibly proud of our achievement. With such fantastic students and a dedicated team of professionals, this is something that our community truly deserves,” said Paul Walton, Principal of the British International School of Ljubljana.

The report elaborated by Penta International highlights as the school strengths, “the students, who are happy, confident, friendly, well-behaved, enthusiastic learners,” as well as, “the high standard of spoken English: students make excellent progress, thanks to a well-coordinated and coherent policy for students who speak English as an additional language (EAL) which is a very high proportion, and to a notable whole school approach to the teaching of the language,” along with ten other points.

“With strong, thoughtful leadership, the school has maintained a sharp focus on continuous improvement since the last BSO inspection. There is an evident emphasis on the quality of the students’ learning experiences and outcomes. As a result of a carefully planned curriculum and skilfully delivered lessons and activities, students make excellent progress,” concludes the report.

About the British International School of Ljubljana

Founded in 2008, the British International School of Ljubljana is a proud member of the Orbital Education family of schools.

The school offers a traditional British education for ages 2 to 18, with a personalised approach to learning, enabling each child to achieve beyond their perceived potential. Following the English National Curriculum, their ethos is to instil a passion for learning amongst young learners within a uniquely international setting, welcoming students from over 40 different nationalities, which, as well as providing a stimulating and cosmopolitan environment, also means that English is truly the common language, spoken throughout the school by all students and staff alike.

With a dedicated team of experienced and enthusiastic professionals, most of whom are native English speakers, the older students in Secondary School sit externally assessed IGCSE and A-Level examinations, which are considered gold standard qualifications as far as university admittance is concerned.

Click here for more information about the British International School of Ljubljana.

STA, 29 March 2021 - As Slovenia is headed for a circuit-breaker lockdown as of Thursday, with kindergartens and schools shutting down as well, some headteachers are surprised with the government's decision, while others are prepared for the shutdown. All of them, however, said that remote schooling and closed kindergartens are stressful for the children.

With the British variant of the new coronavirus driving the incidence of Covid-19 in Slovenia, all non-essential services, baring several exceptions, will have to close between 1 and 11 April, while the industry has been asked to allow as much work from home as possible.

While schools for special needs children will remain open, this will not be the case for kindergartens, primary and secondary schools.

Several headteachers have told the STA on Monday that this had taken them by surprise, because the government advisory group as well as the government had said in the past that schools and kindergartens would be the last to close.

Mojca Kirbiš, the head of Maribor schools headmasters' club, told the STA that the decision taken by the government and experts needs to be respected, adding, however, that the developments are taking a toll on schools.

"All of us, teachers and students, are tired of the constant changes... We've barely returned to classrooms and established a normal rhythm but now the system is being changed again," said Kirbiš, also adding that there are no guarantees schools would reopen on 12 April under the model in place at the moment.

Several headteachers also pointed to problems regarding national competitions, some of which have been scheduled for the week slated for lockdown. Moreover, the competitors will not have an equal footing this year, they fear.

Rudolf Planinšek, the headteacher of a Kranj primary school, does not expect too many problems with the process of organising remote schooling, but is worried about grades. Remote schooling widened the gap between good and poor students, he said.

"There will definitely be some problems, but we'll overcome them somehow," he is confident. If students will be allowed to return to classrooms on 12 April, the school year will be a good one, he believes.

Irena Sivka Horvat, the headteacher of an Izola primary school, also believes that the lockdown, planned for only a week and a half, will not have an adverse effect on the grades.

She hopes that students will be able to make up for the lost time once the situation normalises, adding also it was yet impossible to say to what extent the knowledge of children had been effected.

Nevenka Kulovec, the headteacher of a Novo Mesto primary schools, believes the lockdown is a good decision if it will buy time for vaccination. It does however undermine the school's programme, but they will adapt, she said. Grades have gotten worse, students are poorly motivated and their ability to learn has declined, she said.

In secondary schools, remote schooling will cause the most stress to the finishing classes who are about to take the matura school-leaving exams that start in a month. "What if something like this happens during matura?" said Herman Pušnik the headteacher of a Maribor secondary school.

While secondary schools will close completely, kindergartens and schools will have to provide urgent childcare for kindergartners and pupils up to third grade.

Kindergartens are still awaiting instructions from the Education Ministry to learn whether childcare will be provided only to children of parents in critical infrastructure or to others without childcare as well.

They hope to receive this information as soon as possible, so as to be able to organise work and meals for the lockdown period, Romana Epih, the headteacher of the Medvode kindergarten told the STA.

Tea Dolinar, the headteacher of Kranj kindergartens, echoed this position. There is not enough time, she said, but her team is already used to such fast and stressful transitions and will make it work.

Dolinar also pointed to the stress the closures put on the children, with many small kids perceiving the return as if they are coming to the kindergarten the first time. A similar sentiment was expressed by several other headteachers the STA has talked to.

Silvija Komočar, the headteacher of a Brežice kindergarten, meanwhile said that the situation is nothing new and that the kindergarten already had a lot experience with urgent childcare and was well prepared. She also said that the closures were stressful for the children.

Meanwhile, the umbrella association of pedagogical workers has called on the Education Ministry to finally take action and establish a policy that would minimise the negative effects of the closures.

After a year of extraordinary circumstances, the ministry should finally establish a task force to communicate with the government advisory group so as to ensure that restrictions are truly proportionate.

STA, 22 March 2021 - Nation-wide exams for primary school children in years six and nine were cancelled last year due to coronavirus, but they are planned to be held as usual this year. The exam is taken with a pen and paper, and it will be no different this year. But to test the option of taking it online, a special pilot project is being launched today.

From Monday to Friday, more than 40,000 pupils in forms six and nine at 441 primary schools will be taking the exam online - on a computer or a tablet - to get the ropes.

Every school has been assigned the day and several slots to carry out the e-trail exam, with the majority of kids to take it in a computer classroom at their school.

Up to 5,000 pupils will be sitting for the exam simultaneously, for which reason schools have been divided into two approximately equally large groups.

The pilot project is designed to test how the network works if used by several thousand pupils at the same time and which problems may emerge, Darko Zupanc, the director of the National Examinations Centre, said on Friday.

This should allow education authorities to see whether it would be possible for the exam to be simultaneously taken at all primary schools, or also at home.

Kids will be able to use various online tools to do the assignments, while they will have a chance to retake the exam on their home computer later on the same day.

The electronic exam will not be graded because it is not meant to test knowledge, so children will get no test results.

At the end of the exam, they will have to answer several questions on their examination experience.

Zupanc said the data obtained from this pilot project should facilitate development of systemic tools for exams and grading with new technologies, especially in case of distance learning.

The national exams for primary schools were introduced 20 years ago and were last year cancelled for the first time.

However, they are not compulsory and have no bearing on the pupils' final grades, but there is also an idea to introduce them for children in third form.

The exams are not meant for schools to compare how well their pupils are doing in comparison with other schools, but for individual schools to evaluate their own work, the head of the national commission for the nation-wide exams in primaries, Janez Vogrinc, said on Friday.

The exam is taken in three stages; children in year six will this year take it in their mother tongue on 4 May, maths on 6 May and the foreign language on 10 May.

But Slovenian Headteachers' Association president Gregor Pečan believes that in the given situation, the national exams for primaries should not be held this year at all.

A month and a half after primaries reopened following a four-month closure, gaps in knowledge are starting to emerge, he said at today's government Covid briefing.

Pečan also recalled that the exams had been cancelled last year while pupils had been distance learning only for approximately two months.

"The majority of headteachers and other educators maintain that what is needed more is peace and support to rectify the situation as soon as possible."

Although admitting not everything was as gloomy as some see it when speaking of "a lost generation", he said "very good planning will be needed to restore the situation this year and in coming school years to get the generations to the level we want".

For the same reason the headteachers are against organising various competitions for primary school children, urging "immediate suspension" of competition activities, which he said were now fully underway.

Pečan also touched on today's launch of testing whether national exams could be taken online, saying the information he had showed there were many problems.

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The British International School of Ljubljana has just received a delivery of new laptops for all staff at school.  This investment is in preparation for further development of its online provision, use of technology in the classroom and to raise its high standards in the quality of education at school.

This fits in to the ‘Technology for Learning’ plan implemented by the school after the first lockdown. The plan has now been reviewed and enhanced to prepare for the future and any possible transitions to online learning that might occur.  During the second wave of lockdown, the school introduced a more structured day of virtual lessons, further opportunities to learn away from the computer, reducing screen time, or increasing the availability of extra learning resources if required.  It has been a process in an effort to continually improve, with the help of students, parents and staff at school, to refine and increase the high-quality provision of education. 

They have worked with other schools in Slovenia – through virtual meetings, forums and presentations – to share best practices, experiences and successes of what teachers have implemented during this challenging time.  With many educators across the country eager to help others with remote learning, this has been a major positive over the last 12 months.

The Principal Paul Walton with the new technology which will help all staff and students immediately at school.

The Principal, Paul Walton, commented “I am very excited about this project and very happy that this is the first time in the history of the school that we have been able to purchase this type of new technology for all our staff.  I look forward to continue working with schools across Slovenia to share ideas and ways to improve the quality of education for all students”

Having these new laptops for each member of staff will facilitate opportunities to:

• Maintain and enhance the quality of education in class for students.
• Further develop the online learning platform and provision for students to consolidate learning and stretch ahead to challenge themselves.
• Use technology in the classroom more effectively to create new learning experiences for students.
• Use a high-quality device across the school to enable working from various areas around the campus and beyond.

With over 50 staff on site, this is a significant step forward to enhance and transform the learning opportunities for students at the British International School of Ljubljana.  With over a third of the students at school from Slovenia, this is an excellent provision for staff to plan high-quality teaching materials that enable students to receive support at home, and opportunities challenge themselves further with online learning.  A higher quality of online provision enables students to collaborate with others online and continue to work together to ensure they make outstanding progress.

Technology is used effectively and supports the learning of students, from the two-year-olds in the kindergarten through Primary and Secondary and up to the 18-year-old students in high school, who are able to apply to Slovene universities, others in the UK and across Europe and around the world successfully.

One of the staff planning language lessons

This initiative will have an immediate positive impact for the students, and will help in planning ahead further so the right infrastructure is in place for possible remote learning in the future.

The school looks forward to sharing its experiences with others and for students to feel the impact and benefit from these new devices.  The school is a part of the Orbital Education group of schools worldwide.  Find out more about the British International School of Ljubljana here.

Finally, the British International School of Ljubljana is hosting a Virtual Open Day for prospective families at 10am on Tuesday March 23 in English - find out more here if you are interested in joining the event. There is also a similar event in Slovene – Spletni informativni dan – on Thursday March 25 at 3pm, click here for details.

STA, 8 March 2021 - Secondary school students in years 1-3 joined their final-year peers on Monday as secondary schools fully reopened under model C, meaning half the class will be in school for a week while the other half will continue learning from home. The vaccination of teachers also started for those over 50 years old.

There are no changes for final-year secondary school students, who have been coming to school every day since mid-February, and also no changes for primary schools, with the only difference being the introduction of face masks for children in years 6 to 9 also in their classrooms and not only in communal areas such as corridors, halls, or dining areas.

"It's a great feeling, seeing your classmates and teachers after a long four months... taking tests will not be as much fun, though," Marko, a Maribor secondary school student told the STA.

Many students share his concerns about tests, with Eva, also a Maribor secondary school student, wondering how much she learnt during remote learning.

Teachers as well are happy to return to brick-and-mortar classrooms. Gregor Galeja, the head teacher of Gimnazija Celje Center said the school observed two holidays today: the International Women's Day and what is the already third first day of school in this school year.

After nearly five months of remote schooling the start of school in classrooms poses a unique challenge and additional stress, as this also marks a symbolic start to the final part of the school year, said Galeja, expressing hope that teachers will be able to facilitate a soft transition into the new routine.

Face masks are now also be mandatory for secondary schools, for both students and teachers.

Teachers will still need to be tested for the new coronavirus once a week.

This week, teachers will also receive vaccines, with those over 50 being the priority group, to be followed by others who have expressed interest in vaccination.

Health Minister Janez Poklukar expressed hope on Saturday that most will decide to get vaccinated and thus protect both their health and the health of children as well as help keep the schools open.

The SVIZ trade union of teachers expects more than half of teachers to express interest in vaccination.

Bars, restaurants in Posavje, SE Slovenia start serving outdoors

STA, 8 March 2021 - Bars and restaurants in two eastern regions, Posavje and South-east Slovenia, are once again allowed to serve food and drinks outdoor. Proprietors are happy that they may welcome patrons back, but are not pleased at all with the fact that this is only the beginning of the one-week trial period.

While Slovenia is in the orange tier of restrictions, both regions had figures last week that placed them firmly in the milder, yellow tier, where serving customers outdoor is allowed, so the government decided to temporarily allow bars and restaurants to reopen there.

Guests are served outdoors between 6am and 7pm and they will have to leave the establishment by 7:30pm.

If the number of infections increases, or if inspectors detect major violations, the government will close the bars and restaurants again.

Proprietors had to slash the capacities of their establishments to meet the safety requirements but are happy to be back in business. However, they do not like the idea of a one-week trial period.

"We had to organise, buy everything needed and get ready," Luka Retar, a proprietor from Novo Mesto told the STA. "I don't think it's right for the entire burden coming with a shut-down to fall on our backs again. We've almost had enough."

Rok Klobučar, another proprietor from Novo Mesto, said guests came in immediately after the opening this morning. He expressed satisfaction that bars have reopened and that staff is no longer on furlough.

He believes, however, that the one-week trial period is too short a time to show results. He believes a 14-day period would be more sensible, warning also that the number of infections may increase again due to other reasons, not bars opening.

Customers have to wear masks at all times, except when they are seated at their table, and staff will have to wear masks at all times and get tested for coronavirus weekly. Those vaccinated against coronavirus and those who have recovered from the disease will be exempted from the testing requirement.

Tables have to be three metres apart and no more than four guests are allowed at each table. The number of guests is also restricted based on the size of the terrace or garden. Guests are allowed to go inside only to use the toilet.

Since travel between municipalities is not restricted any more except for the Obalno-Kraška region, which is in the red tier, patrons from around the country will be able to wine and dine outdoors.

Slovenian restaurants have been closed for indoor service since mid-October. Both bars and restaurants were able to offer take-away service, and, since last month, restaurants were allowed to serve B2B guests indoors.

STA, 4 March 2021 - Secondary school students in years 1-3 are joining their final-year peers Monday as secondary schools fully reopen amid the coronavirus epidemic. However, this does not mean the end of remote learning just yet - under model C, half of them will come to school for a week while the other half will be distance learning at home.

There are no changes to final-year secondary school students, who come to school every day, Education Minister Simona Kustec told the press on Thursday.

There are also no changes to primary schools, with the only difference being the introduction of face masks for children in years 6 to 9 also in their classrooms.

Currently all primary schools children - from year 1-9 - have to wear them only in communal areas such as corridors, halls, or dining areas.

Face masks will also be mandatory from next week for secondary schools, for both students and teachers.

As before, students in the shorter, two-year vocational secondary education continue in-person learning, explained the minister.

Next week will also see the launch of priority vaccination for education workers, first for those older than 50.

All teachers teaching in-person are still required to get tested for coronavirus once a week.

Kustec said the epidemiological situation in kindergartens and schools remains stable.

The latest data shows that 79% of kindergarten children and 83% of staff are in kindergarten, while both figures for primary schools are 90%.

Active infections in kindergartens, primary and secondary schools are currently at 0.16%, with 1% of children quarantining, the minister added.

Health inspectors meanwhile carried out 40 checks related to coronavirus testing at schools and kindergartens last week, establishing no breaches, Deana Potza from the Health Inspectorate told the government's daily Covid-19 briefing.

The findings show that educational establishments provide for testing of their staff and that there were no irregularities in organising nor informing the staff about testing, she explained.

Following around four months of distance learning, primary schools reopened for children in years 1-3 on 9 February, and for the rest of primary schools children on 15 February, when final-year secondary students also returned to school.

Special-needs children returned to in-person school on 5 January, while higher education continues largely remotely.

STA, 15 February 2021 - All primary school students and final-year secondary school students from western and central Slovenia returned to school after over four months on Monday. Headteachers reported no major difficulties in organising classes. Most students are happy to be back. Schools in the eastern part of the country closed for a week-long holiday.

Quite a few adjustments were needed to avoid student contacts outside their classroom bubbles, so timetables had to be changed on very short notice, said Irena Kodele Krašna, the headteacher of the Danilo Lokar primary school in Adjovščina.

Headteacher of the Fran Erjavec school in Nova Gorica Lara Brun told the STA their transition from distance to in-person learning would be soft and in line with all health recommendations.

"I told the staff to have sympathy to their students, as returning to school is again a big change for them. So this week they should mostly repeat what they've been learning ... but foremost create an encouraging learning environment," she said.

Alenka Krapež, head teacher of the Gimnazija Vič high school, said their students and teachers were "happy, smiling and content". The school had no problems with coronavirus testing or organising of classes, noting that the same system had been used as last September, meaning each class being in their own classroom, distance keeping, use of face masks and airing of rooms.

The Gimnazija Franceta Prešerna Kranj secondary school is using a hybrid model of education, combining distance learning and classroom work. The system had been introduced because of frequent absences of many students who are musicians or athletes.

Head teacher Mirjam Bizjak told the STA they had some problems organising work but they were being tackled. She said gym classes for example would be held outdoors as much as possible.

Practical lessons are now also allowed for all students, so students of the Radovljica School of Hospitality and Tourism have lessons for one or two days a week at school and the rest from home, while the final grades have no more distance learning.

Head teacher Ivan Damjan Mašič said the biggest gap for students was not having had practical classes so they would try to make up for some of that first.

He said the school was big enough to have isolated bubbles and that nobody had any objections to masks. "Students are happy to be back at school. You can tell they missed socialising the most."

This was echoed by Andreja Ahčin, headteacher of the Biotechnical Centre Naklo. "The kind of combined lessons that we have now is quite a challenge for the teachers but we are happy that at least part of the students could return to school."

The importance of having students return to school and among friends was also stressed by the head of the DOS organisation of secondary school students, Maja Kalin. She said a survey conducted among secondary school students had shown 54% of them wanting to return to schools for the higher quality of education.

Quite a few of them had reservations, mainly concerns that they would put their family members in danger. Some also fear that taking a lot of tests in a short period of time to make up for the backlog would be stressful.

Dorms are also open again today. The head of the Kranj dorm for secondary school and university students, Judita Nahtigal, said their dorm had not been completely empty in the past months because of foreign students. But now that schools reopened, about a fifth of residents have returned.

STA, 12 February 2021 - Remote schooling has taken a toll on parents, particularly mothers, and primary school children who have been struggling due to stress, exhaustion and lack of motivation, shows a study by the March 8 Institute. The NGO has urged a strategy to address the repercussions of remote learning.

The study was conducted among more than 2,600 Slovenian households with primary school children, according to Jasna Mažgon, professor of educational sciences at the Ljubljana Faculty of Arts.

Children lack motivation, whereas parents are tired and worried with mothers being most frequently overworked due to helping children with virtual learning, she summed up the results.

The survey goes into detail by indicating that almost a quarter of the participants do not have a quiet space where children could do their schoolwork. Almost half of the children share a computer or laptop with their parents or siblings.

Children spend from four to six hours online per day attending virtual classes. Almost half of the parents spend an additional one to two hours helping children with their school tasks and a third up to four hours, said Mark J. Užmah, who led the survey.

Moreover, remote schooling has been held against a backdrop of deepening social inequalities, warned Mojca Lukan of the NGO. Slightly above 40% of the participating households have seen their income decrease since the start of the Covid crisis.

Nika Kovač, the head of the NGO, warned that months-long distance learning had left its mark on parents and children's mental health as two thirds reported enhanced exhaustion and 58% said they were struggling. She also noted that there was no data on so-called lost students, children who had not been attending online classes.

The actual impact of remote education on children will be clear after all of them return to in-classroom learning, said Užmah. He agreed with Kovač that something should be done to tackle the situation since "long-term remote schooling is not as effective as the Education Ministry says it is".

The NGO believes that a clear national strategy should be prepared for future school reopenings.

Some of the current prevention measures in schools set down by the government could not be heeded, Užmah said, pointing to small classrooms and a shortage of teachers.

Mažgon said that the ministry should determine the extent of learning gaps in individual subjects that emerged or were widened during remote education and come up with measures to mitigate this as much as possible.

Contact tracing and issuing quarantine orders due to risky contacts should be resumed as soon as possible, Užmah noted, adding that if ordered to self-isolate due to a risky contact, parents should then get compensation for loss of income during that time.

STA, 11 February 2021 - The government has decided that all stores will be allowed to reopen in Slovenia on Monday, while consumers will no longer have to produce a negative coronavirus test, whereas now this is required for several services. However, skiing will be an exception to this, with skiers required to produce a negative test no older than 7 days.

All retail services will be allowed without restrictions from Monday, Economy Ministry state secretary Ajda Cuderman told the press after the government session in Thursday.

While consumers will no longer be required to show a negative test, those working in retail, beauty and massage services, as well as hairdressers, will still have to get tested regularly.

So will staff in manufacturing, maintenance and installation, real estate, training and animal grooming services, which are now reopening. Apart from car shops, services are limited to 400 square metres of surface area, said Cuderman. Staff training will be allowed for up to 10 people.

Retail and service staff required to get tested, will get priority treatment in testing, the government decided today. Moreover, testing will be paid for by the state.

The restriction of one customer per 30 square metres remains in place in closed spaces and one customer per 10 square metres in open air markets.

The government also decided to loosen restrictions currently in place for ski lift operators. From Monday, skiers will be able to buy fares with a negative test no older than 7 days, whereas until now the test had to be no older than 24 hours.

Ski lift staff in direct contact with clients will also need to have test no older than 7 days, Infrastructure Minister Jernej Vrtovec said.

Changes have also been made to the rules applying to taxi services and driving schools. Taxi drivers will have to be tested every three days, while driving school students will require a test no older than three days, whereas now it is limited to 24 hours. The rules remain unchanged for driving school instructors, who need a test no older than three days.

Moreover, the minister said changes are planned for public transport, as schools will once again reopen on Monday. "When schools open, public transport will run flawlessly."

Those who have recovered from Covid-19 will not have to get tested for six months and will be able to access services with a doctor's note. Negative tests will also not be required for those who have been vaccinated.

"This is important, considering that we have at least 200,000 people who recovered from Covid-19," said Vrtovec.

The Chamber of Craft and Small Business (OZS) welcomed the loosening of restrictions for services, above all the abolishment of tests for customers, noting that many beauty salons did not reopen while this requirement was in place.

However, the retail section of the OZS is less pleased and has sent a letter of protest to Prime Minister Janez Janša, objecting to regular testing imposed recently on staff in shops selling essentials, which have been open throughout the epidemic without the staff having to be tested.

Primary schools fully reopening on Monday

STA, 11 February 2021 - Primary schools throughout the country will fully reopen on Monday after almost four months of closure. Final year secondary school students will also return to school and exams will again take place at the university level along with seminars for up to 10 students, a government official said on Thursday.

Primary schools will reopen in the western half of the country for about 107,000 pupils, while 83,000 pupils from the eastern half of the country will start a one-week winter holiday, Education Ministry State Secretary Damir Orehovec told the press.

Some 6,000 teachers will thus also return to schools.

Strict safety measures will be adhered to at schools. Pupils will not be leaving their classrooms for different lessons to avoid contacts outside their class. Schools also are urged to organise school meals in a way to minimise contacts outside the bubbles.

No other activities will be organised at schools, and excursions and swimming and other additional lessons have been cancelled. However, individual music and art lessons will be allowed.

Some 11,000 high school students in the final year are also expected to return to their classrooms next week as are 655 students of vocational schools. Practical classes for secondary school students and adult education will be allowed again.

Exams will again take place at the university level along with seminars for up to 10 students. The same exceptions will apply for student dormitories.

Universities have already welcomed the changes. Ljubljana university chancellor Igor Papič sees this as an important step forward, which however is not essential, as the exam period ends this week and the summer semester begins next week. Still, the changes are welcome as universities will have to make up for the last three months, he told the STA.

Maribor university chancellor and the head of the Chancellors' Conference Zdravko Kačič said the possibility of assembly of up to ten people would enable them to organise courses to make up for any backlogs and conduct exams with up to 10 students.

There will be no changes for kindergartens and the first three grades of primary school, which are already open. According to Orehovec, kindergartens had 74% of the children there this week and the first three grades 90%.

As of Monday, non-contact sports will be allowed again for up to 10 people if the two-metre distance can be maintained at all times. Exercising will no longer be limited to families or individuals.

Schools and universities were first closed on 16 March last year when the Marjan Šarec government declared an epidemic. Pupils returned to school after two months of remote learning. On 18 May, the first three grades returned to school along with the final year secondary school students.

A week later the final year primary school pupils returned to their classroom, and than gradually all other grades. Secondary school students remained at home until the end of the school year.

The new school year started on 1 September as usually but schools were forced to switch to remote teaching soon. On 19 October, pupils from up to 6th grade could no longer go to school, and after the autumn break all other pupils staid home as well.

As the epidemiological situation in the country finally improved somewhat, the first three grades of primary school reopened in the regions faring the best on 26 January and also in other regions this Tuesday.

Slovenia scrapping Schengen checkpoints

STA, 11 February 2021 - Slovenia is scrapping checkpoints on internal Schengen borders starting from Saturday and those who have recovered from Covid-19 or have been vaccinated against it will be able to enter the country without having to quarantine or provide a negative coronavirus test, Interior Minister Aleš Hojs has announced.

Hojs, addressing reporters on Thursday as the government lifted a series of coronavirus restrictions, said it would be possible to cross the border with Austria, Hungary and Italy via all border crossings rather than just designated checkpoints from Saturday.

STA, 9 February 2021 - Additional stores are expected to reopen on Tuesday following the government's recent decision to allow in-person shopping in all stores under 400 square metres. Although the decree took effect on Saturday, most stores have postponed the reopening until today since they had trouble providing the required testing for their staff.

Only between 10% and 15% of stores that could reopen on Saturday were actually able to do that, according to the Chamber of Commerce (TZS).

The government gave the green light for an extensive reopening on Friday, permitting stores and repair shops under 400 square metres to again welcome their customers in person.

The establishments were allowed to reopen on Saturday under the condition of producing negative tests of their staff. Many could not provide testing earlier though and are expected to reopen today following mass testing among staff over the past long weekend, TZS president Mariča Lah told the STA.

After experiencing issues with the organisation of the testing, businesses were helped out by the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ).

The institute told the TZS that retailers could organise the testing drives at community health centres or private testing providers that are either concession holders or not, also providing a list of available private facilities.

Business representatives were told last week by Prime Minister Janez Janša and Economy Minister Zdravko Počivalšek that the cost of staff testing will be covered by the state.

For some services, most notably beauticians, real estate agencies, tutoring and pet salons, both staff and customers must produce a negative test to conduct business.

Mass testing is expected to continue in coming days as staff testing will be obligatory from 12 February for shops and services that had been already open, such as grocery shops and food markets.

All pupils through third form to return to school

STA, 9 February 2021 - Pupils in the first three grades of primary school throughout the country will return to in-classroom instruction on Tuesday in line with last week's government decree. All kindergartens are to reopen.

On Thursday, the government decided to suspend a region-based approach to imposing or lifting coronavirus restrictions, deeming the entire country to be in tier red.

The second strictest phase envisages pupils through the third form returning to school. Moreover, kindergartens that have been closed so far are allowed to reopen today and those that have been providing day care only to parents in essential professions may now go back to full capacity.

Both parents and teachers have welcomed the move, expressing hope that the remaining students may soon follow suit.

Weekly mass testing among teachers teaching in person is still obligatory, with all of them required to have their swab taken at the start of the school week except for those who have already recovered from Covid-19.

A number of schools organised testing already yesterday, whereas the majority will test their staff today.

Rapid testing of teachers in Ajdovščina (W) has detected a high positivity rate (above 15%) among teachers of a local primary school, however subsequent PCR tests came back negative, deeming all the rapid test results fake positives.

The PCR confirmatory testing was used in the Ajdovščina municipality yesterday to confirm or dismiss 20 positive results produced by rapid tests and all of them turned out to be fake positive. Egon Stopar, the director of the Ajdovščina health centre, thinks that the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ) should re-assess the quality of the rapid tests.

Slovenia could soon reach tier orange, which envisages in-classroom instruction for the remaining primary school pupils and final years of secondary school as well as resumption of exams and seminars at the university level with up to ten people allowed.

A part of secondary school students intends to boycott remote classes today out of protest against remote schooling. Parents of primary school pupils from the Maribor area have urged a 10-minute suspension of today's classes to voice support for the secondary school students.