Three years ago, on October 11, 2019, the "School of Superheroes" was opened in the Zhytomyr Children's Hospital named after V.Y. Bashek - a space where there are no grades, no usual rules, but there is everything for teaching children who have been hospitalized for a long time.

It did not resemble an ordinary classroom. Except that there were desks and an interactive whiteboard. The founder of the "School of Superheroes" Yevhenia Smirnova emphasizes that: "our classes should be a portal to childhood, bright, modern, comfortable for everyone, so that they want to learn and be creative. Children, who have been sitting in wards for a long time, need this place where the magic of childhood comes to life, where there is time not for procedures, but for a journey into interesting knowledge." And thanks to the strong support of the Zhytomyr City Council, in particular the Department of Education, the School was opened and equipped exactly as the children needed. Because in the hospital they fall out of the usual educational process, some can undergo procedures for months, some - for years. Each of them has the right to education. That is why in Zhytomyr and other cities of Ukraine there are hospital "Schools of Superheroes". Of course, this year, the war has made its adjustments to the work of both the hospital and the school. According to the teachers: "Back on February 23, we were working and did not believe that the war would start". But after the full-scale invasion, the Superheroes School at the children's hospital was able to resume its work only in August. It was then that the coordinator Victoria Mikhailenko began to conduct master classes in origami, quilling, drawing, lessons of danger and taught preschoolers letters and numbers.

Separately, we managed to conduct Dream Lessons - special lessons of the School, where children literally learn to fantasize, dream and wish. Because although this school is unusual, but the subjects that are taught in it are fully consistent with the program. From the very opening of the School in Zhytomyr, teachers of Lyceum №33 agreed to teach for little superheroes in the hospital. And more than 1300 children were able to catch up with the program and return to their regular classes after hospitalization without any problems. "Not only children, but also parents attended the lessons. Some learned how to hold a pencil properly, and some have only just learned to read and count. The war continues, but so do the lessons," says Victoria Mykhaylenko, coordinator of the Zhytomyr "School of Superheroes". 12 school subjects are taught in total, and additionally - art, drawing, technology and design. The peculiarity of studying at the School is that children here can attend those lessons that are interesting or important to them. Of course, there is an age division, but as Victoria Mykhailenko notes: "Preschoolers can come to the lesson for high school students with the words "can I sit quietly?".

And they really sit quietly and catch something new. This is a familiar story." Every day at the School is a new story: children look forward to teachers, choose books in a modern mini-library, get acquainted with modern technologies and learn for their own pleasure. Grades are not a priority here, but if necessary, teachers can issue a "report card". As the founders of the "School of Superheroes" of the NGO Small Herat with Art repeat: "Childhood is a time of opportunities". Therefore, children and their needs are in the center of everything here. The Superheroes School expresses its sincere gratitude for the constant support of the Zhytomyr City Council and personally Maria Misiurova and Serhiy Sukhomlyn.

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