About the CIRCLE of mothercenters in the Czech Republic

Since the revolution in november 1989 it became possible to establish waldorfschools and kindergartens in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Nowadays there are about 8 waldorf primary schools, about 18 kindergartens and single classes, and 4 secundary schools in the Czech Republic. In Slovakia there are 5 waldorf kindergartens - working without recognition and thus without any financial support from the government - and one private waldorfschool in Bratislava.

Parents became enthusiast, and there was a growing need of support for the smallest children in the age of 0-3 as well. So in 1999 the Helias Foundation from Holland invited three young mothers for a two-weeks visit to several facilities that work with small children in Holland, like nursery groups, daily caregroups, consultation agencies, anthroposophical docters, a.s.o. Those three mothers founded in three cities so called mothercenters, that would want to work with the ideas of waldorf pedagogy.

Since that time there were ever more mothercentres founded in different cities.
Most of them work one, two or three times a week with groups of mothers and their small children. Their program mostly offers some craft- or artwork, discussions about education, a small activity for the children, like a little game or story, and of course some good things to eat and drink will not fail.

The basis of the organizations was often fragile, while the founders were mostly young mothers, who work as volunteers in the (three year) period that they receive a pension as a mother. Therefore the centers knew a lot of changes.

The mothercenters are a great help for mothers to overcome their isolation and to find orientation in pedagogical questions.

Since 1999 a small group of three persons organized facillities to support the mothercenters:

Hana Hajnova – a retired waldorf kindergarten teacher in Turnov
Eva Libalova – director of the waldorf kindergarten in Prague 6, who helps with organization of the seminars in her kindergarten.
Cornelis Boogerd – works in cooperation with the Dutch Helias Foundation for waldorfeducation in Czech and Slovakia.

Seminars for mothers

This group organized since 1999 seminars in Prague for mothers with small children, where experienced people from Holland come to lecture on all kinds of themes about education of the small child. The seminars take place two times a year, in spring and in the autumn.

Training seminars for the workers in the mothercenters

Since about seven years we organize two times a year training seminars for the workers in the mothercenters. This is very necessary because there are no regular training courses for this work. During these meetings there are also organizational talks and exchanges of experiences which is very important.

Publications

In 2004 Hana Hajnova and Cornelis Boogerd founded an redactiongroup in cooperation with the anthroposophical publisher Fabula. They translated and published books about education of the small child in the Czech language.

Website

This website is a next project to support the young mothers and organizers.

The CIRCLE of mothercenters

In the winter of 2010 we wrote a working statute. Today there are 14 mothercenters from all over the Czech Republic that subscribed the statute. This way they declare that they want to work with the principles of waldorf education in their mothercenter, and actively join the CIRCLE. They pay a small yearly contribution. These 14 centers are the members of the CIRCLE, they can visit and vote in the internal meetings a.s.o. The establishment of the CIRCLE brought a new impuls and vitality for this work.
The CIRCLE became a member of the small cildren group in the IASWECE, the International Association of Waldorf Early Childhood Education.

Everything is moving, the interest is rapidly growing, also in the neighbourstate Slovakia, where there are many connections. The source of the mothercenters inspires to all kinds of familiar initiatives, for instance nursery facillities for small children.

Donations

If you want to support our work with your donation you are welcome to do so on the following accounts. We thank you heartily for your support!

In Czech Republic:

CZK at Czech Republic: 2400326295/2010

EUR at Slovakia: 2400326295/8330

Other currencies and international payments: 

IBAN CZ2720100000002400326295, 

SWIFT/BIC FIOBCZPPXXX

In Holland:

Postbank Nederland:

IBAN: NL 10 PSTB 0000 403272

BIC: PSTBNL21

Stichting Helias/ Tsjechië en Slowakije - De Bilt – Nederland

Please specify: Mothercenters Czech republic