Beroun elementary school fuses language, sports and innovation

A bilingual elementary school in Beroun, started by a Czech-American couple looking for better options for their own kids, is on a mission to give parents more choices when it comes to primary education in the Czech Republic. 

Launched in 2021 with just four first-grade students, ZŠ Baltimore has seen significant growth over the last five years, with 80 students set to fill the newly renovated campus near the Beroun train station in September. The school’s lightning rise has been primarily fueled through a dedicated word-of-month campaign that quickly attracted an international student body excited by Baltimore’s modern approach to learning and small family atmosphere.    

A common complaint of those considering public schools for their children is the state system’s regimented methods and crowded classrooms, where there is often no tolerance for a child who does not fit the status quo. These old-school attitudes – a holdover from communism – continue to frustrate both expat and Czech parents alike. 

It’s something Samuel Klika and Aneta Kliková have experienced firsthand. Their determination to make a change in the education system here and create a safe, non-judgemental space that makes kids excited about learning is one of the underlying reasons they founded ZŠ Baltimore.   

Their journey to this point started years ago and was not without its own heartache and challenges. When Samuel and Aneta enrolled their son into a public kindergarten in Beroun, they immediately realized it wasn’t going to be easy raising a bilingual kid at state-run schools.

Their son didn’t like going to kindergarten. He would cry at morning dropoff, and a constant string of complaints from teachers would be waiting for the parents at pickup. At one point, it was suggested to Samuel that he stop talking to his son in English at home as it was “bad” for his Czech.         

“I thought that was just backwards thinking,” Samuel recalls of the encounter. “That evening, we decided we were going to start our own little school.” 

At the time, the couple was running a small language school. The space was mostly being used in the afternoons, and they started looking into the logistics of launching a community elementary school in the mornings. 

“Basically what this meant was that the kids were homeschooled, and we provided a private tutoring service,” says Samuel. But news traveled quickly, and interest steadily grew for this small school, just 30 km west of Prague, that fostered a lot of the values and teaching methodologies that families felt were missing on the local market.

“I was really humble from the beginning. I thought let’s just do this for our son. I wanted him to feel happy and safe and have a quality education,” says Aneta, who serves as the school’s principal. “We started with one teacher and four kids, but by the following year, 30 children signed up for our school.” 

This year, the elementary school’s enrollment jumped to more than 80 students, while 20 kids came on board for Baltimore’s inaugural kindergarten class.     

“This year was a breakthrough year for us because we finally got our accreditation and with that comes government subsidies per child and further opportunities,” says Samuel, who is originally from Baltimore, Maryland, which served as the inspiration behind the Beroun school’s moniker.

It soon became clear that ZŠ Baltimore would need much more space. The couple reached out to renowned NHL hockey player and Beroun native Radko Gudas who, along with his wife Bára, agreed to back the school’s expansion efforts and help spearhead a multifaceted sports program, which will officially kick off in September.  

In addition to its emphasis on bilingual education that supports individual growth and encourages curiosity, Baltimore offers a number of courses aimed at helping children from a young age prepare for life beyond school.   

From the first grade, students can take IT classes. The school also has a robust financial literacy program built into its framework. Digital devices, meanwhile, are part of the learning environment in an effort to make kids feel at ease navigating an increasingly tech-driven world.

“And our kids can feel it. They feel safe and happy. They really love to come to school.” 

Aneta and Samuel have ambitious plans. They envision one day having a school with hundreds of students filling its halls and sports fields. They are already finalizing design plans for a bigger campus, one that will be built from scratch, emulating in many ways how they built up Baltimore in its earliest days.

“It’s been really challenging,” says Samuel. “We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into and how things would pan out. But at the end of the day, it’s been really fulfilling and worth it.” 

This September, Baltimore is excited to launch a new sports program, featuring pilot pricing and flexible signup options.