OŠ Belokranjskega odreda Semič

Playground of Peace at Semič Elementary School

Written by: Vanja Vukmanović, Matej Matkovič  Last Updated: 06 November 2025

The Semič Elementary School has recently entered the Peace Pitch project. The project is based on a famous event from the First World War, when on Christmas Day 1914, French, British and German soldiers left the trenches and socialized with each other in no man’s land, where fierce fighting had previously taken place. In addition to singing and exchanging food, they also played a football game.

The Peace Playground project, sponsored by the United Nations and the English Football League, aims to establish 100 peace playgrounds around the world, where the main focus will be on promoting peace and friendship and fair play. The Semič Primary School became the 82nd peace playground in the project and also the first peace playground in Slovenia. We also acquired the famous red soccer ball, which is a replica of the ball used during the 1st St. Anthony. They played the game. The red color represents the red poppy, which is a symbol of the memory of the football match, a symbol of respect and unity.

We marked the entry into the project with a football tournament between classes. This school year, we are planning quite a few more activities related to the Playground of Peace.

The first-ever peace pitch in Slovenia has been inspired by the International Peace Field Project and Croatia’s International Peace Field Project Manager, Igor Jovanović, Head of History Teacher, at Pula’s Veli Vrh Elementary School.

In front of the iconic Pula Arena, the Roman amphitheatre built in the 1st century AD, located in the city of Pula, Croatia, Tomaž Pavlakovič, Headmaster, at OŠ Belokranjskega odreda Semič, Slovenia, is presented a commemorative peace poppy football by Igor Jovanović.

The presentation welcomes OŠ Belokranjskega odreda Semič onto the International Peace Field Projects. Tomaž, said, ‘The school is looking forward to organising their Peace Field Project, peace pitch and twinning their designated area of play with the Peace Village Peace Pitch, Flanders, Belgium.

Tomaž and his colleagues were invited to Pula on an Erasmus+ fact-finding mission where they met schoolchildren on a fun entrepreneurial challenge. The foundations for the First Peace Pitch in Slovenia were discussed and plans are now being considered for moving forward.

Igor Jovanović, said, ‘This is great news. The prospect for a network of Peace Fields / Pitches across the Balkans will inspire peace education through play for many children, parents, teachers, coaches and education authorities.‘