A Review of the School in Nature Programme in Orahovica

22–26 September 2025

The end of September was reserved for the Osijek Red Cross programme entitled School in Nature, attended by fourth-grade pupils of Jagoda Truhelka Primary School in Osijek. The programme was carried out through cooperation between the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Osijek and the Osijek Red Cross. Over the course of five working days, we stayed with the pupils and their teachers at a well-equipped complex in Orahovica. The complex was surrounded by nature and also included a spacious indoor swimming pool. Every day, the children took part in a swimming programme for non-swimmers, and we helped them put on their equipment and dry their hair. Each day began with morning exercise led by us, the student volunteers. In addition to exercise, every day included activities such as a tour of the town of Orahovica, a visit to the fire brigade, a children’s disco, a visit to Orahovica Lake, a medieval knights’ performance and evening entertainment. We particularly enjoyed the surroundings of Orahovica Lake and the knights’ performance, where we learned new facts about the Middle Ages and knights’ equipment and heard the legend of Princess Ružica, which the pupils continued to recount for a long time afterwards. Although it was sometimes demanding because we had many responsibilities throughout the day, we believe that this experience enriched us, especially since we had not previously had much practical experience working with children. In addition to strengthening our pedagogical competences, we also strengthened our relationships with one another because we shared a room every day and went through the entire experience together. We also noticed significant progress among the children, both in their cooperation with one another and in their interaction with us, the “student aunties”, as they called us. Even those pupils whom the teachers considered “problematic” developed excellent interaction with everyone by the end of the week. There were even tears at the end, and it was difficult to say goodbye to them. We would like to thank our professor, Senka Žižanović, for inviting us to volunteer in the School in Nature programme. We hope that we will have the opportunity to take part in such a valuable experience again in the future.

students: Livija Kajfeš, Ema Rosotrunović, Anja Koričić and Klara Jerković