Iecava kindergarten «Cālītis» marks its 50th anniversary

The «Cālītis» preschool in Iecava, in Latvia's Bauskas municipality, marked its 50th anniversary last week. According to the municipality's Public Relations Department, the week included musical and sports activities, and on the evening of 16 October a formal gathering was held with partners and former employees.

A week for children and families

In preparation, themed decorations were made for windows and rooms. There was a children's party and an orienteering afternoon, in which pupils and their parents explored the grounds, scanned QR codes, searched for hidden letters and tried to guess the phrase «birthday».

The formal event

After the national anthem was sung, the kindergarten's new anthem had its first performance. It was composed by Marek Pelsis, author of the Iecava anthem, whose sons also attended «Cālītis». Head of the institution Ingūna Lāce reviewed five decades of work with photographs. Former head Ļubova Momota and long-serving Iecava municipal council chairman Jānis Pelsis shared recollections. Aivars Mačeks, head of Bauskas municipality and formerly of Iecava municipality, praised the staff's work and noted that the number of children and demand for kindergarten places differ greatly across the large municipality, making it difficult for the local authority to provide staff and infrastructure everywhere.

Thirteen employees received the municipality's Certificates of Appreciation, while Antra Bāgante and Diāna Krikščūne were given Letters of Thanks from the Ministry of Education and Science.

A brief history

The kindergarten opened on 30 July 1976. It was built by the Iecava poultry factory on land of the «Iecava» collective farm, following a standard design for 12 groups. The first graduation took place in 1977 with 20 children; one of the girls, Iveta Rubene, now works there as a teacher's assistant. In 2013 an extension with three groups was built, in 2014 the sports ground was rebuilt, and in 2017 landscaping of the grounds was completed. On 1 July 2021, as a result of the administrative territorial reform, Bauskas municipality took over the institution. In 2025 a contract was signed to join the «Leader in Me» change programme, which focuses on children's emotional education and behavioural self-regulation.