National-Patriotic Education

National-patriotic education is a component of the overall educational process for the younger generation. Its main goal is for young citizens to gain social experience and readiness to fulfil their civic and constitutional duties, to inherit the spiritual heritage of the Ukrainian people, to achieve a high culture of relationships, and to develop the personal qualities of a citizen of the Ukrainian state, as well as physical perfection and moral, artistic and aesthetic, intellectual, legal, labour and ecological culture.

The main goal of our school staff is to pass on to the younger generation the social experience and the wealth of the spiritual culture of the people, their national mentality, distinctiveness and worldview, and on this basis to shape the personal qualities of a citizen of Ukraine: spirituality, and moral, legal, labour, ecological, artistic and aesthetic and religious culture, along with the development of each student's individual abilities and talents. Today, the education of a citizen-patriot is a purposeful, systematic and regulated process whose aim is to affirm the consciousness of the nation and the people, ethnic culture, linguistic unity and the best character traits of a citizen of Ukraine.

The school's educational process is based on a system of educational relationships that ensures cooperation between teachers, parents and students in line with the educational goals set by society – the flourishing of the spiritual essence of a person who is to become a highly qualified specialist, hold clear national positions, be active in public life and be responsible for their own moral development as an individual. In implementing the concept of education as a process of developing a creative personality, the teaching staff constantly seek new pedagogical technologies that help to shape an environment that develops, teaches and educates. Questionnaires, sociological surveys and individual conversations make it possible to study the level of upbringing, needs and interests of each student.

The priority of organisational and pedagogical activity is an individual approach to the upbringing of each student's personality and the stimulation of their inner strengths for self-development and self-education, which is reflected in the school's educational work plan. The teaching staff pay considerable attention to the implementation of the National Programme of Patriotic Education of Youth and to the development of an active life position in citizens of Ukraine. The main task of educational activities is to create conditions for students' active life position, civic self-expression and self-realisation, and for the fullest possible satisfaction of students' needs for intellectual, cultural and moral development.

Areas of Work in the National-Patriotic Education of Students

• developing patriotism and responsibility for the fate of the nation and the state;
• fostering an understanding of the high value of Ukrainian citizenship and an inner need to be a citizen of Ukraine;
• developing respect for the Constitution of Ukraine and the state symbols: the Coat of Arms, the Flag and the Anthem of Ukraine;
• preserving and continuing Ukrainian cultural and historical traditions;
• fostering a respectful attitude to native shrines, the Ukrainian language and history;
• developing national consciousness, human dignity and love for one's native land, family and people;
• developing social activity;
• fostering a legal culture in the individual;
• developing spiritual, moral and universal human values;
• developing in students the need for work as the first necessity of life, a high value and the main way to achieve success in life;
• promoting the development of physical, mental and spiritual health and meeting the individual's aesthetic and cultural needs;
• fostering the ability to counter manifestations of immorality, offences, lack of spirituality and anti-social activity.

Organisational and Methodological Activity

in the National-Patriotic Education of Students

1. Developing measures for implementing the Concept of National-Patriotic Education of Students at the school
2. Reviewing the progress of national-patriotic education measures for students at meetings of the teachers' council and at meetings held by the Principal
3. Ensuring the use of the state symbols of Ukraine during mass events
4. Ensuring that national-patriotic events carried out by the institution are covered on the school website and on the school's social media pages

All-Ukrainian Children's and Youth Military-Patriotic Game "Sokil" ("Dzhura")

The aim of the All-Ukrainian Children's and Youth Military-Patriotic Game "Sokil" ("Dzhura") is to educate young patriots of Ukraine on the principles of national dignity, high self-awareness and an active civic position, a healthy lifestyle, and a spiritually rich and physically developed personality. The participants of the game are the dzhura – young men and women who follow the path of the Ukrainian Warrior-Cossack and acquire knowledge, skills and abilities in order to be successful in everything.

The main tasks of the Game:

1) educating children and young people in the spirit of devotion to the principles of state independence and unity of Ukraine and to the Ukrainian people, by nurturing national military-patriotic historical traditions and creating conditions for the active cultivation of Ukrainian civic and state values: national self-awareness, identity, distinctiveness, freedom, unity and dignity of the Ukrainian people; young people acquiring the basic general military and specialised competencies needed to defend the state independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine, to protect the state border, and to maintain security and law and order in the country;

2) organising meaningful leisure; introducing the best practices and methods of self-education as one of the key forms of youth self-government;

3) stimulating the formation and consolidation of active citizenship skills and the basics of self-government in student groups;

4) promoting a healthy lifestyle, active recreation and life in nature among students; developing hiking (tourism), orienteering and camping skills;

5) strengthening interregional ties and friendship among children and young people, and their skills of successful interaction with peers from other regions of Ukraine and with young people of the diaspora (Ukrainians abroad);

6) encouraging children and young people to study the history of the struggle for the state independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine, and developing a respectful attitude to the victims of the communist and national-socialist (Nazi) totalitarian regimes in Ukraine through archival research and other means;

7) ensuring transparency and creating a positive image of the process of national-patriotic education in the Game's centres of children's and youth self-education, by informing the public about their activities in the mass media and on the Internet, through educational websites and on social media pages;

8) promoting the use of the Ukrainian language by children and young people, by holding all events in it, including interpersonal communication among participants within the Game.

Code of Chivalrous Honour of a Participant in the Game:

1) prepared and selfless;

2) honest;

3) disciplined;

4) active and enterprising;

5) brave;

6) resilient;

7) composed;

8) precise;

9) healthy;

10) careful.

"Sokil" ("Dzhura") is not just a game; it is continuous educational work throughout the year, carried out jointly by students, teachers, parents, and representatives of local self-government bodies and public organisations.

The basis for organising the game in educational institutions is student self-government, founded on the traditions of the Cossack circle and the free popular assembly (viche), and the voluntary association of children and young people to carry out the tasks of the game in a swarm (a class, club, etc.), a hundred (a parallel of classes) and a kuren (an educational institution).

"Sokil" ("Dzhura") takes place at our school every year. Based on the results of several stages, a school-wide swarm, the "Black Riders", is formed and takes part in the following stages of the All-Ukrainian Children's and Youth Military-Patriotic Game.