Child care has been organized on the territory of present-day Slovenia since the 11th century. The first kindergartens, following Fröbl's example, opened in this area towards the end of the 19th century.
The sisters Daughters of Mary Help of Christians came to this land in 1936 and opened a kindergarten in Ljubljana on 16th February 1938. The preschool teachers attended school in Italy and were qualified for the work according to the educational method of the Agazzi sisters. The kindergarten was attended by up to 86 children and was active also during the war, until the 7th December 1945, when the building was nationalized.
The sisters were no longer engaged in this activity until 1992, when, on 7th September, they started with child care at the request of parents, in their newly established community in Murska Sobota. The kindergarten Lavra was growing and developed into the Institution of St. Nicholas Murska Sobota. From the house of the sisters it moved, first to the building where the diocesan ordinary's office of Murska Sobota is to be found today and then to its own building; in the meantime its branch was opened in Tišina. Initially, it operated according to its own educational programme; with the registration in 1996 according to the programme of the kindergarten Antonov vrtec from Železniki; then according to the programme of Catholic kindergartens; lastly, in 2009, it was granted a public subsidy and therefore the programme takes place in compliance with the Slovene Curriculum for Kindergartens (Kurikulum za vrtce). The educational approach of the kindergarten Lavra is based on Don Bosco's preventive system, it is characterized by mixed-age groups following the example of the family environment, by Catholic education, the foundation of which is learning about God's love and the response to it, and by typical Salesian elements: a sense of being loved, Salesian assistance, game, joy, word of encouragement, life in God's presence, Marian spirituality. In Murska Sobota there are three groups, whereas in Tišina there are two.
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