EEBI Parents would like to express our condolences to the family of the S3 child from the European School in Varese who tragically took her life on 26 March2019. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Varese school community as they attempt to come to terms with this inexplicable event.

LATEST NEWS FROM THE APEEE

Deadline for APEEE (co-)funding approaching! Apply until 17 May

Are you a parent/a teacher/a student and would like to initiate a school-related project which serves one or more of the below-listed objectives? Would you like to apply for some funding/co-funding from the EEBI Parent's Association? Fill in the online Application Form by Friday 17 May 2019!

Criteria for awarding APEEE (co-)funding (the proposed project should address at least one of the below):

Promote sustainability and “green” or ecological initiatives; engage in environmental advocacy or environmental education.
Explore topics related to affectivity and sexuality; confront the effects of sexually-explicit online content.
Address social media and gaming addictions; understand and prevent cyber bullying; promote safe surfing and online identity awareness; and explore other issues related to ubiquitous online behaviours.
Foster tolerance, diversity and inclusion; explore gender and sexual identity issues and the effects of migration; confront ageism, chauvinism, racism, homophobia or xenophobia.
Support healthy mind and body awareness; educate about the benefits of nutrition and exercise; address substance abuse and other addictive behaviours; explore issues of self-doubt and self-awareness.
Promote children’s rights, youth empowerment and civic action.
Nurture art, music, culture and other forms of free expression in our school.
Complement or enhance existing pedagogic programmes or programmes pre-approved by the school management.
Create welcoming and accommodating communal spaces for pupils on the EEBI sites.
Contribute to the EEBI school ethos and build bridges between the Uccle and Berkendael communities.

APEEE (co-)funding - Form to be submitted by applicants

If you have any questions, consult the APEEE (co-)funding webpage and/or contact the APEEE Secretariat.

Football Pitch Surfacing Funds Granted by APEEE

On 21 March the APEEE Board voted in favour of granting 15,000 EUR funds to the surfacing of the school football pitch, using soft grass-like material with impact-resistant padding underneath. The pitch is located in the centre of campus, between the Platon, Da Vinci, Erasmus and Michelangelo buildings and is used extensively by PE classes and during free-time activities, primarily by secondary students. The funds are allocated from the intake of the previous two EEBI School Fêtes as well as money raised by the APEEE through the sale of EEBI sweatshirts. The Comité des Elèves (CdE) has also granted 10000 EUR to this project. The ball is now in the court of the School – literally! – who should undertake the necessary steps to develop the project.

Interested in similar projects? Please see our Community Building working group.

Parent Position Papers: Mobile Phone Policy & Prevention of Addictions

After a process of parent consultation which took place through the end of December and early January, the parents agreed on two position papers for presentation to the school direction and education committees (primary and secondary CEs).

Mobile Phone Policy: The overwhelming consensus was that a Mobile Phone Policy is needed and that it should be differentiated, with separate regimes for primary and secondary and for the different secondary cycles.

Guidelines for the Prevention of Addictions: Parents believed that the disciplinary procedures needed to be more clearly articulated and well communicated to the school community; that a clearer legal basis should be established for the disciplinary procedures; and that the disciplinary procedures should be separated from the prevention/support aspects of the guidelines.

Both positions have been presented to the school direction and also at Education Committee meetings. Partly in response to this, the Secondary CE has re-convened the Prevention Working Group. We still await a response to the Mobile Phone Policy position.

APEEE Position Paper on Mobile Phone Policy

APEEE Position Paper on Prevention of Addictions

Interested in similar projects? Please see our Bien-Être working group and Legal working group.

Tackling the Lavatories Issue: “Gutenberg Taskforce” Established

The APEEE Board also voted unanimously in favour of creating a small working group on the Lavatories Situation in some buildings of the school. The situation of the lavatories of the Gutenberg building and to a lesser extent the Erasmus building has been a topic of complaints raised by parents for the past five years. Yet, various attempts to obtain action from the Régie des Bâtiments – in charge of the school’s buildings – have proven ineffective so far.

The purpose of the newly-established Taskforce will be to see whether the solution can be found by the parents themselves. Its mandate will be to weigh possible solutions and propose a plan for presentation to the APEEE Board. This will include:

analyse if the school and Régie des Bâtiments would allow parents to proceed with the minimum but efficient works necessary for improving the lavatories concerned. This would have a simple yes/no answer;
in case the answer to the previous is yes, then make a proper diagnostic and see which minimum works are necessary accompanied by an evaluation of the costs
eventually could propose
- to find the funds (APEEE projects, fund raising, private donation of some parents...);
- to launch a market study (call for proposal or tender…. depending on the budget needed, in compliance with the law);
- follow up on the works and any further developments

Please contact info@uccleparents.org if you would like to join us.

New APEEE Statutes Adopted

The Extraordinary General Assembly of 22 January 2019 voted in favour of amending the APEEE’s Statutes (90 votes in favour; 1 abstention).

The main changes are:
The new APEEE Board will be the same size with 26 members
- 16 members will come from Uccle,
- 1 Maternelle/Primary and 1 Secondary from each of the 8 sections. Maternelle will be represented with Primary and section representatives can be either Primary or Maternelle parents.
- 1 member will be a SWALS representative.
- 5 members from Berkendael to be elected according to procedure internally-decided by Berkendael parents.
- 4 members elected by the General Assembly from among their effective members (can be from either Uccle or Berkendael)
The APEEE Bureau will now include a Vice President of Berkendael to be elected from among members who are Berkendael parents
A sunset clause in case Berkendael is ever split from EEBI will mean that statutes do not have to be reapproved.

After going through the procedures laid out in the Belgian legal code, the Statutes are foreseen to take effect in the next round of Board elections (Autumn 2019).

Statutes of the APEEE (as revised in 2019 - in French only)

See related article at: http://www.uccleparents.org/contact-home/petites-annonces/apeee-newsflash/apeee-newsflash-2019-01/?lang=en#GeneralAssembly_2019-01

Interested in similar projects? Please see our Legal working group.

Who’s Working for You?!?

Internal APEEE Appointments

From January through March in the wake of its December General Assembly, the APEEE appointed several new members to its Bureau as well as others to serve on external Working Groups and Committees on our behalf. Here is a full list of our current appointees:

APEEE EXECUTIVE

Current APEEE Bureau

Kathryn Máthé (President)

Karin Hundebøll (Vice President of Pedagogy)

NEW! Anne Marie Hammer (Vice President of Administration)

NEW! Brian Gray (Treasurer)

Stefan Obermaier (Secretary)

Pere Moles-Palleja (Member)

Zoltan Krasznai (Member - President APEEE Services)

NEW! APEEE Financial Advisor (charged with overseeing Funding Procedure): Gundars Ostrovskis

Special Advisor, Berkendael: Henning Ehrenstein

EEBI EDUCATION COMMITTEE (CE) WORKING GROUPS

NEW! Education Committee Rules of Procedure Working Group: Karin Hundebøll, Pere Moles-Palleja

NEW! Drugs and Addiction Prevention Working Group: Krisztina Szabó, Masa Devinar Groselj

NEW! Science Fair Working Group: Line-Fredslund Volkers, Kathryn Máthé

NEW! Green School/Recycling Working Group: Dominque Nils, Dietrich Rometsch

NEW! Primary Francis Pirotta Creative Arts Prize Committee/Jury: Samantha Chaitkin, Eduardo Lanza Saiz (currently seeking replacement)

STANDING BODIES

EEBI Security & Hygiene Committee: Stefan Obermaier, NEW! André de Woot

EEB Central Enrolment Board: Kathryn Máthé; primary deputy: Henning Ehrenstein; secondary deputy: Pere Moles-Palleja

EEB Groupe de Suivi: Kathryn Máthé, Henri Van Heusden

INTERPARENTS: Pere Moles-Palleja; NEW! Masa Devinar Groselj (replacing María Victoria de Yturriaga Saldanha); Dossier Pedagogy: Kathryn Máthé; Dossier Educational Support: Sven Matzke

List of APEEE Board Members (CA) by section – 2018-2019

List of APEEE Education Committee (CE) Members by section – 2018-2019

Mandates of APEEE Working Groups Renewed

During the same period Working Groups of the APEEE saw their mandates renewed by the APEEE Board. Mandates give the groups the right to discus and organise meetings along general principles and priorities presented. Working Groups have a right to initiate general support initiatives related to their field of activity. New initiatives or proposed changes in the school’s policy or position are subject to consultation with the APEEE’s Board. Working Groups must also report back to the APEEE at least twice a year on their activities, impact and strategy.

As a reminder, the APEEE’s Working Groups are:

The Working Groups are constantly open to committed parents who would like to get involved!

Update on the EEBI APEEE Secretariat

Esther Proficz, the APEEE’s Secretary, has been on long term leave since January. In the interim, Guendalina Cominotti, the APEEE’s Communications Officer, has been filling in on a part-time basis. We apologise for any inconvenience that this may have caused--including a delay in this, our third instalment of the NewsFlash. We are pleased to announce that from May until the end of the school year we have hired Christiane Breeur, who will be in the APEEE Office in the PréVert on weekday afternoons. As a rule, we invite you to contact us by e-mail rather than by phone.

Another development worth noting is that in February, at the joint behest of the School and the Student Committee, the APEEE officially took over the CdE’s (Student Committee) account. Special thanks go to the new APEEE Treasurer, Brian Gray, for his involvement in this new piece of financial management.

HELP WANTED: get involved in the APEEE's LEGAL, SPORT or ART&MUSIC Group

The APEEE Legal Working Group is looking for a parent who is a Belgian-qualified lawyer, specifically one with expertise in areas of BELGIAN LAW related to employment, buildings/land/real estate or ASBLs. The Legal Working Group advises the APEEE and its membership and working groups on the legal aspects of their work. It may also be called upon to assist families who face disciplinary procedures or other legal proceedings.

Tasks: serve as one of 10 members of the Legal Working Group; provide expertise on Belgian law.

Time: maximum 1 hour/week, though a larger time commitment may be required for particular cases; the legal working group meets 2-3 times each year, with email communication more often.

The APEEE Pedagogical Group (PedGroup) is looking for a parents interested in Sport or Arts and Arts Education to help lead the SPORT and ART&MUSIC dossiers. The PedGroup treats a range of pedagogical issues at the school and higher levels through dedicated subgroups.

Sport dossier tasks:

serve as one of the ~25 members of the APEEE PedGroup
help coordinate the primary and early secondary football tournaments at the School Fete
work closely with Student Committee (CdE) on sport-related initiatives
serve as a parent liaison to sport-based school programmes/projects, such as EUROSPORT (the biannual sporting competition of the European Schools)
help formulate APEEE/INTERPARENTS position on sport curriculum
help field and evaluate funding applications related to sport and sport education

Art dossier tasks:

serve as one of the ~25 members of the APEEE PedGroup
help coordinate the annual Francis Pirotta Creative Arts Prize on behalf of APEEE
work closely with Student Committee (CdE) on art-related initiatives
serve as a parent liaison to art-based school programmes/projects, in particular 2020 FAMES (the biannual Festival of Art and Music of the European Schools)
help formulate APEEE/INTERPARENTS position on art curriculum
help field and evaluate funding applications related to art and art education.

Time: 2 hours/week; the PedGroup meets 3-4 times each year.

LATEST NEWS AT THE SCHOOL AND BEYOND

EEBI “Country of the Week” Calendar

On the initiative of Patricia Staffe, FL2 Teacher in Primary, a new project was this school year. The “Country of the Week” initiative consists in putting a different EU country in the spotlight every week. When a country is celebrated, its flag is raised in several parts of the school throughout the week, information about it is displayed on the school’s screens, and teachers receive a dedicated fact sheet about that country that they can distribute/discuss with their pupils. A nice way of educating students to the European Union’s motto: “United in Diversity”!

”Country of the Week” calendar

ART at EEBI: Art for Zambia, Fashion Designer Visit, Francis Pirotta Prize

Art for Zambia

One of the fun and rewarding projects we have developed in the secondary Art Department is an auction of students art works in aid of our schools project in Zambia . Each year the 5^th year students and their art teacher Mme Sheppard produce wonderful acrylic paintings with the encouragement of Mme Thomas and the great support of the Direction. The works are then sold in a silent auction where there is great excitement as parents out bid each other for the students works. This project has been running for about ten years and has raised in the region of 20,000 EUR which is used in building class rooms, digging wells for water and generally helping our community in Zambia. The auction took place this year on 28 March.

Fashion Designer Visits our School

In December a young fashion designer Sara Mckenzie came to visit our school to work for a day with the classes of Mme Sheppard. Sara, who lived in Brussels with her family but is now studying in London, was shocked and upset by the bombings in Brussels in 2016 and not being in Brussels at the time found it hard to understand how people cope with such disasters. She wanted to design a collection to help her make this horrible situation better, so she decided to work with young people and so the visit to our school.

Sara`s idea was to get young students to paint their ideas of happiness and beautiful things on her material using shapes that came into their minds. She started with a discussion with them on how to cope with bad things and it went on from there. We invited students from kindergarten to work with the secondary students. It was a great adventure and the results were fantastic and inspiring, and for our students wishing to follow a career in Fashion a great insight as to how designers work.

Francis Pirotta Creative Arts Prize: Update

The Francis Pirotta Creative Arts Prize was initiated this year by the School, the APEEE and the family of Francis Pirotta. The theme chosen for this year’s competition is “Other Places, Other Worlds”, inspired by the vivid inner life of Francis himself. The exhibition will take place during European week (20-24 May). Nevertheless, the theme of the exhibition is meant to capture the children’s imagination and it should not be confined to the theme of Europe.

Competition entries created by children in participating classes in the nursery and primary were to be productions on A4 paper but could be in a variety of media; all entries are due by Friday, 17 May. The results of the jury and “popular” selection will be announced on 24 May on the final day of the exhibition. There will be two prizes awarded to entire classes: one for nursery to P2; one for P3 to P5. This year’s prizes, funded in part by the APEEE, will be a trip to the Folon Foundation organised between 17 and 21 June. All children who participate will receive a diploma of participation given by their teacher.

Interested in similar projects? Please see our PedGroup’s Art & Music dossier.

MUSIC at Uccle: Orchestra Updates

Charity concert of the Symphony Orchestra of EEBI for “Entreaide Alimentaire Sainte Cécile” at Ganshoren

On 17 February 2019, the Symphony Orchestra and the String Chamber Orchestra of EEBI under the direction of Arman Simonyan performed at the Church St. Cécile in Ganshoren parts of their annual programme that will go on concert tour to Sanremo, Italy, during the traditional Easter journey of the orchestra. Some pupils of S7 had the opportunity to play their solo pieces in front of the enthusiastic audience in the fully packed church.

The church community is organising these kind of concerts also to help people who are in danger of poverty, and they have already established a structure to reach poor people in need to distribute food. This is the third time that the orchestra had performed at St. Cécile. We are happy to be able to support this important charity initiative.

On 31 March the symphony orchestra and the chamber groups played at the Armenian Centre, Hay Doun. This was their last concert in Brussels before the Orchestra Easter Trip to Sanremo in Italy on 13-22 April.

Symphony Orchestra Easter Trip 2019 to Sanremo Italy

This year the orchestra of EEB1 travelled to Sanremo/Italy from 13-22 April. At the invitation of a local youth orchestra, they stayed in a monastery in Taggia perched on a hillside on the Ligurian coast, only one hour drive from Nice. Many concerts took place in prodigious places such as the casino theatre in Sanremo and the big concert hall in Bordighera. Time passed quickly with excursions on foot and by bike with a refreshing bath in the Mediterranean Sea. Italian ice cream was delicious!

A professionally produced DVD of the highlights out of four concerts will be on sale soon.

Convento Domenico in Taggia

EEB1 Symphony Orchestra and the youth orchestra from Sanremo in front of Sanremo Casino theatre

All photos courtesy: Dietrich Rometsch

Project Music Interaction: Primary and Secondary, Music and Friendship!

During the project week from 8-12 April, the pianist and musical assistant of the orchestra, Agnieszka Zywert, organised a week of interaction and live music for the primary classes. With support of the primary art coordinator Patricia Staffe and the help of many voluntary orchestra members of the symphony orchestra of EEBI, she coordinated a “music atelier” for primary students allowing them to listen to different orchestra instruments such as violin, cello, horn, flute, trumpet, percussion and more. They were also invited to join in and try out!

This music presentation was taken up again at the orchestra presentation for primary and nursery classes on 15 May.

We hope to install these music workshops as a regular activity during project weeks! Hands on music!!

Interested in similar projects? Please see our PedGroup’s Art & Music dossier.

SPORTS at EEBI: EUROSPORT, ESB Octopus Swim Team, Chess Success

Our EUROSPORT Team Returns

EUROSPORT 2019 took place place in Varese on 4-5 April. After a gruelling three days of competition and celebration, the 30-man EEBI Team came in 7th place out of 19 European School Teams. Not as well as our 4th place finish of 2017, but a respectable showing and at least one of our Brussels rivals was beaten! Congratulations to our EEBI Team and hard-working coaches for their valiant efforts and good showing. Our Boys’ Futsal Team with its strong third place showing deserves special accolades. Hats off!

See results at: https://eurosportvarese2019.wixsite.com/2019/en-results

Eurosport is a sporting competition in which all European Schools compete in a variety of disciplines against each other; the competition started in 1976 and now takes place every two years, each time in a different European school.

Each team consists of a maximum of 15 girls and 15 boys, mostly from the upper secondary; each competitor can compete in more than one discipline. In general there are two team sports (chosen among football, volleyball, handball, basketball) and one individual sport (badminton or table tennis). For every teamsport there is a girls’ and a boys’ team. The competition closes with an aquathlon, a relay race that proceeds girl, boy, girl, boy,...this year the course was 600m of running followed by 50m of swimming and again 200m of running. 10 girls and 10 boys -- the best combined runners-swimmers -- were selected to take part.

Each discipline has a final raking. Points are attributed according to the ranking. The total of these points gives a winner. Every discipline is counted for a certain percentage. This year the ranking was: 20% football, 20% volleyball, 20% table tennis, 40% aquathlon.

The EEBI team was able to purchase special aquathlon unipiece suits as well as special slip-on aquathlon shoes to allow our students to run and swim without changing. These and other pieces of specialised kit were funded by the EEBI APEEE in support of our EUROSPORT team. These uniforms will be reused for future teams.

For more information (programme, history, competitions,...) see the links below.

https://eurosportvarese2019.wixsite.com/2019

https://eurosportvarese2019.wixsite.com/2019/fr-home

EEBI Chess Champions

Big success for the EEBI Chess Teams in the Belgian regional “interscolaire" championships on 16 February! Our mini and primary teams placed first and one of our secondary teams placed third, the other ninth, in the French-speaking region of Belgium. To quote the website: “Notons la performance de l'école Européenne de Bruxelles I qui est sur tous les podiums! Avec 2 titres de champion et une 3è place.”

For more information, go to: https://www.fefb.be/index.php/jeunes/35-interscolaires/309-finale-fwb-inter-ecoles-2019-resultats)

https://www.namurechecs.net/interecoles/regionaux/2019/primaire/rankteam7.html?fbclid=IwAR10vDOqtjcEOpmqKCchuVTVX1UYz1f0t41J6d80AlGmAyoHAIZDei-Vv2o

https://www.namurechecs.net/interecoles/regionaux/2019/secondaire/rankteam7.html

The teams passed to the national finals, which were held on 16 March in Turnhout. But as usual the Flemish proved stiff competition. Our primary teams placed 10th and 19th at the national level; while our secondary teams place 9th and 23rd.

For more information, go to: http://chess-results.com/tnr , http://chess-results.com/tnr42

Our teams are supported through a strong Césame programme, which spans Primary and secondary, and through the tireless efforts of one mother, Rose Uy, whom we would like to thank.

Joining Inter-School Chess Competition

By Raffaello Poinelli - S4EN

The yearly inter school chess competitions are something that our teams always look forward to. First, there is the Brussels competition where schools in the city of Brussels will send teams of four students each to compete in the Primary and the Secondary Level. This competition will be followed by the championship competition among schools in the Walloon and Brussels Federation. During this competition, the first 14 teams in the Secondary Level, 12 teams in the Primary and the 8 teams for the “Minis” (reserved for the Primary 1 to 3 students) will go on to compete in the Belgian National Level. For this 2018-2019, our Primary Team placed 2nd in Brussels competition and 1st in the Walloon and Brussels Federation competition while one of our Secondary Teams placed 3rd in both competitions. Our "Minis" placed 1st in the Walloon and Brussels Federation competition.

Personally, I find these competitions to be very, very exciting. I have been playing chess for a very long time, sooooooo long that I have experienced all its downhills and uphills (actually not that long as I have been playing for only 9 years). As you probably guessed, if you are doing Secondary 4, 9 years will probably end you up in first grade of Primary, and that is basically when I started playing chess at school. Actually, my dad taught me before the chess basics and that is when I came to know about my love or passion of chess. My first ever real teacher was Vincent Reynaerts. He was a very nice and fun person, a person whom my chess friends and I admire and will remember always even after he left as he did recently.

I formed my first team back in 4th grade of Primary. That year, I was in Table 3. Table 1 was the strongest teammate and he played chess in most of his free time and in tournaments until he reached 1st Secondary when he stopped. I remember admiring him a lot and probably still do now for he opened many paths for me. Our Table 2 teammate stopped with him and Table 4 teammate stopped to play 1 year after. I wasn't alone though as there was another EEBI team who lost a player and so, I went to join them to sit in Table 1. With the new team, my friends (Oscar, Seb and Gregor) and I went on to place 1st, two times in a row in the Primary Level. With the same ambition as back then, we are hoping to progress until we beat everyone and conquer the tournament (even if it seems impossible as our opponents are really formidable). Anyway, forming new bonds with other teams and having seen people fall, people getting back up and people moving on in chess, I will admit that chess is not only about strategy and tactics but also about having the will to continue, to meet a lot of young people like us and to form friendships. Most especially, it is all about having fun!

35 Medals for the European Schools Swimming Team at the EFSL Finals

ESB Octopus, the European Schools swimming team, obtained 35 medals, including one gold and eight silvers, at the short distance swimming finals in Eindhoven (2-3 March 2019). 26 swimmers representing the different European Schools of Brussels participated to the short distance Champs of the European Forces Swimming League (EFSL), this time organised by our team.

Congratulations to the medalists: Eleanna Kotsomyti (IXL - 8 medals, including one silver), Jonas Eversonas (WOL - 7, with one gold and 5 silvers), Giulia Solaini (UCC - 6 medals), Aura Ortega Claici (LAE - 5 medals, including two silvers), Jules Pellier (IXL - 5 medals), Attila Sallai (UCC), Alex Jany (IXL), Ines Mazzola (UCC) and Raphael Bostaji (UCC) (one medal each); and to all other qualifiers and participants to the relays. These results are the fruit of a number of competitions and trainings since September.

ESB Octopus is the swimming team of the four European Schools of Brussels. It is open to all pupils and students since the age of five, with a minimal level for being involved in competitive swimming. Interested?

Please see below: ESB Octopus invites you to a mini-swimming competition on 18/05/2019

For more information, please contact: team.esb.octopus@gmail.com

Interested in similar topics? Please see our PedGroup’s Sport dossier.

STEM at Uccle: ESSS / Brussels Expo Success, Design the SciFest Cup

Uccle Science Stars reign at ESSS / Brussels Science Expo

EEBI science students shone this year at the European School Science Symposium (31 March-3 April) and Brussels Science Expo (26-28 April), bringing home four prizes in total.

The project “Study of Privacy in Social Media” by Alejandra Alcantarilla Sanchez and Marta Lopez Serrano (S4ES) won first prize in the junior category; while the project “EEBI as a System of Multi-Autonomous Agents” (as we always suspected we were) by Aleksander Busz (S6PLA) earned second prize in the senior category...also making EEBI the most-winning European School in the competition…and the envy of our counterparts. The event, which took place in Mol this year, included 50 teams in total.

See more at:

https://www.eeb1.com/en/esss-2019/

At the Brussels Science Expo, the project “Schlieren Imagine” by Zofia Syryczyńska (S5PLa) took home a 3rd place medal and an additional special prize, gaining her project a place in both the Encuentro Jovenes Investigadores (Salamanca) and the EU Contest for Young Scientists (EUCYS, Sofia).

See more at:

https://science-expo.be/

https://ec.europa.eu/info/research-and-innovation/funding/funding-opportunities/eucys_en

A big thanks to you to our EEBI Science Festival teaching team for all their extra effort to support our students in their passion for science. EEBI remains the only school in the system to offer such a large-scale preparatory and local selection event. We salute you!

Designs submitted for the next EEBI Science Festival Cup

The Science Festival team received XX submissions for the design of the next Science Festival cup. The final cup will be printed in the FabLab! Winners will be announced on XXX.

Interested in similar topics? Please see our PedGroup’s STEM subgroup.

SOAPBOX: ISSUES THAT MATTER

EEBI Releases New Educational Support Guidelines

The school organised an information evening on 14 March to launch the new set of school specific guidelines on educational support. 50 parents participated, and the director and all three deputy directors were also present. The APEEE Educational Support Group was thanked for their input during the process.

The guidelines are now published on the website at: https://www.eeb1.com/en/educational-support/

The French version should be available soon.

Interested in similar topics? Please see our PedGroup’s Educational Support subgroup.

BREXIT Updates

UK Government announcement on Citizens’ Rights – UK nationals in the EU

The British Government’s section on education provides that UK nationals living in the EEA or Switzerland, who wish to study in the UK, will be eligible for home fee status and student support from Student Finance England, along with access to Further Education 19+ funding for courses and apprenticeships in England starting up to seven years from exit day in the event of a no deal or the end of the Implementation Period in the event of a deal. These undertakings apply to relevant family members, for example, children holding UK nationality born in the EEA or Switzerland to those UK nationals who have moved there from England.

For more information see: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/792710/Citizens__Rights_-_UK_nationals_in_the_EU.pdf

Teacher Redundancy Risk

On 30 January, all UK seconded staff remaining in the system received a “risk of redundancy” letter from the UK Department for Education, notifying them that as from 29 March 2019 in the event of a no-deal Brexit they might be made redundant. The letter alluded to ongoing negotiations with the European Schools to extend contracts until August 2020.

In the weeks following, there was an outcry from parents and teachers alike, and the Commission and Secretary General’s Office released communications articulating their own position. INTERPARENTS also released a statement explaining that “pedagogical continuity and the best interest of the students in our system should always prevail over any political consideration”.

The situation came to a peaceful resolution on 1 March, marked by a letter from the Commission:

Following an exchange of letters with the Secretary-General of the European Schools, the United Kingdom Department for Education confirmed today, 1 March, the common understanding that, in case of a no-deal scenario, the UK will continue to:

Contribute to the system of the European Schools by seconding teachers until 31 August 2020;
Contribute with two national inspectors to the system of the European Schools until the end of the 2019/20 school year;
Provide experts in relation to the European Baccalaureate; and
Recognise the European Baccalaureate automatically if the European Baccalaureate is acquired before 31 August 2020, specifically granting holders of the European Baccalaureate all the benefits attaching to the possession of the diploma or certificate awarded at the end of secondary school education in the Member State of which they are nationals; entitlement to seek admission to any university in the UK on the same terms as nationals of the UK with equivalent qualification.
As a result of this common understanding, the UK Department for Education has now written to the teachers seconded by the UK to the European schools informing them of the withdrawal of their 'at risk of redundancy' status, which had been communicated to them by the UK Department for Education by letter of 30 January 2019.

The Commission welcomes this positive outcome in the interest of teachers, pupils, parents, and the whole European Schools community.

Interested in similar topics? Please see our PedGroup’s Quality Assurance dossier.

Benchmarking & Assessment of our Students

Serious Doubts about Roll Out of New Marking Scale

A position paper was drafted by concerned parent representatives at several European Schools about the roll out of the new marking scale. The paper raised deep concerns that the new system will be moved into the upper “Baccalaureate” cycle with little or no evaluation of the results of the first year’s roll out and little guidance on the application of the new scale in this important last phase of our students’ education.

As it stands:

The Office of the Secretary-General of the European Schools (OSGES) has thus far failed to provide “success criteria” or other evidence that the roll out has met any standard of quality or uniformity.
OSGES has not yet completed the important section of the Guidelines for Use of the new marking scale, on how to apply the new scale in the upper cycle.
The anecdotal evidence we have received suggest a variable application of the new marking scale across schools and sections. Some teachers appear to be downgrading across the board, contrary to the aim and spirit of the new scale.
Several S6-S7 syllabuses incorporating the new approach are not yet ready.
Communication to member states has been inadequate and the results are beginning to show; Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Slovenia are among the member states that have recently released new equivalence tables, partly in response to the new marking system, despite the lack of any hard data on the actual grade distributions under the new system. In several cases, this has led to a substantial devaluation of the BAC in admission to national higher education.

Parents asked in vain to postpone the implementation of the new scale in the upper levels until adequate analysis has been performed and proper guidance prepared. Despite our efforts, the new marking scale will be introduced into S6 in September 2019.

We will keep you apprised as we learn more…

APEEE Position Paper on the New Marking Scale

Marking system of the European schools: Guidelines for use

Equivalences between the European Baccalaureate and the Upper Secondary Leaving Certificate of National Schools

Baccalaureate Complaints System

INTERPARENTS will once again run a complaints system for S7 students and their parents who have concerns about the content or administration of specific Baccalaureate examinations. S7 parents will be hearing from the APEEE with more information in the coming weeks…

Interested in similar topics? Please see our PedGroup’s Benchmarking&Assessment dossier.

“Future of the Brussels Schools” Arts-Loi on hold while NATO temporary structures considered

The Art Loi temporary site proposal on hold as the option to put temporary structures on the NATO site is explored.

Over the past several months, we have been closely following the issue of the future of the Brussels Schools. We are concerned with: 1) the location, structure and timing of the permanent fifth school; 2) the potential permanent gift of the Berkendael site and the impact of this on the structure of EEBI; and 3) the proposed interim solution to take the overflow of students from the current sites, three of which are already 5-20% over capacity. These three parts have been treated as a single issue by the Belgian Council of Ministers and will only be decided “as a piece” so all three dossiers are being prepared by the Régie and other parties in tandem.

As it currently stands, the old NATO site is proposed as the location for the fifth school and the opening date is foreseen as September 2025--though all dates remain tentative and can easily change. Berkendael is hoped to be granted permanently to the European Schools, and its use will be determined internally. There have been innuendos that the option to permanently attach Berkendael to EEBI will be seriously examined, though how this might work is as yet unclear.

Parents’ concerns over recent months about the proposed temporary site at Arts-Loi will not be news to the readers of the NewsFlash. To refresh your memory, please consult our article: "Future of the Brussels Schools” and the proposed interim solution to house S6 and S7 students at Arts-Loi. After parents took their concerns to the Commission’s Local Staff Committee and to Commissioner Oettinger, a site visit was arranged followed by several special meetings of the Brussels Groupe de Suivi. Parents raised their concerns about, among other things: the lack of facilities, movement of teachers from site to site, difficulty in delivering the full curriculum at the site, lack of exam rooms, and serious concerns about the movement of pupils within the narrow corridors and staircases inside. (More information below.)

By March, the Régie returned with an alternative proposition for the temporary site, ostensibly due to the difficulty of receiving a change-of-use permit for Arts-Loi. The proposal is to explore the possibility of setting up temporary pre-fabricated structures on the NATO site near where the final school will be. This had the advantage of allowing the school to be started with a class structure that it could eventually be the seed of the fifth school. Families would not have a difficult transition and dedicated teaching staff could be hired for the site. The the site was advantaged by facilities still existing from the NATO campus. And finally, buildings could be fit for purpose and if need be expanded to accommodate a growing structure. The proposal is a site of 1000 pupils, and currently a primary site is being considered. In any case, a temporary site could only be opened in September 2021, a year later than originally suggested and another year of stress on the current infrastructure.

The fifth school is intended as a full school, but there are still questions about which sections and levels it will include, and how it will be opened—i.e. and how the temporary site would be filled while awaiting the completion of the permanent structure. At the moment, they are considering opening the temporary site as a primary campus. But with the Berkendael site in place, the system would effectively have six primary campuses and only four secondary--suggesting a real shortage in the coming year in Brussels of secondary spaces.

As it stands, we await an assessment of the new proposition by the Régie and a possible decision by the Council of Ministers as early as mid-May. Parents would be happy to see a resolution to this long saga...

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See related article at: Groupe de Suivi Meeting report below

INTERPARENTS Update

Teacher Attractiveness

The phrase “teacher attractiveness” likely conjures up visions of pageants and swimsuit competitions and difficult-to-answer philosophical questions and may sound like a very good idea to several of the more avant-garde among our parent population. In fact, “teacher attractiveness” is the moniker of a recently-proposed package of measures that is extremely relevant and important and is not avant-garde but rather steeped in common sense. The European Schools must adapt to the changing times and political situation in order to become a competitive player in the market for quality teachers--and this includes both locally-recruited and seconded teachers.

Thankfully, at the April Board of Governors’ Meeting a version of the “Draft Proposals to Increase the Attractiveness of the European Schools for the Teaching Staff” package was agreed, and this came also with a commitment to finance the measures, highly supported by the EIB due to the particularly difficult conditions in the Luxembourg schools. Here is an overview of what we and our teachers will be seeing in the coming months and years...

Measures related to Seconded Teachers:

A guaranteed minimum monthly salary supplement over-and-above the national salary level.
The possibility to extend secondment to 12 years with the agreement of the national ministry.
The possibility of multiple secondments punctuated by short periods of working in the national system.

Measures related to Locally Hired Teachers:

Salaries on par with the local state-school teaching salaries.
Indefinite contracts offered after a one-year probation period.
The possibility to apply for middle management posts.

Parents were thrilled to see these measures pass and feel that this is an important step in the direction of quality education and fair treatment of our valuable teachers.

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See related Special Feature: The Plea of the Locally Recruited Teachers – A Study on the Failure of Cost-Sharing within the European Schools

Interested in similar topics? Please see our PedGroup’s Quality Assurance dossier.

New S1-S5 Science and Maths Syllabuses

New maths, integrated sciences, chemistry and physics syllabuses for S1-5 have been developed by a team of external experts and were agreed in the April Board of Governors for roll-out in September 2019. The new syllabuses have been modernised with what is hoped to be a more transversal and modern approach and also incorporate the attainment descriptors that underlie the new approach to marking. There are not yet available on the European Schools site: https://www.eursc.eu/en/European-Schools/studies/syllabuses but we hope they will be there soon…

Interested in similar topics? Please see our PedGroup’s STEM subgroup.

New European School Language Policy

A new European School Language Policy was passed by the Board of Governors in its April meeting. The document aims to provide a high-level vision to guide language teaching and learning in the European Schools. It is intended for all members of the community and also as an information document for those outside the system. It is supported by a glossary as well as detailed annex on the current practical arrangements in the system “Organisation of the Teaching and the Use of Languages in the European Schools”.

For parents, it was important that the document revolve around a set of core principles, which were eventually agreed in consensus with various stakeholders.

A number of key principles are integral to and underpin the language policy and practice of the European Schools. These principles are listed below although definition and discussion of terms is provided later in this document. These can be divided into three basic principles and three further scaffolding principles which, though important, are essentially arrangement-related:

The primary importance of the mother tongue (Language 1).
The recognition of and commitment to support the national languages of each
Member State of the European Union.
The offer of a multilingual educational system that promotes plurilingualism.

The arrangement-related principles include:
Enrolment of pupils into language sections.
The promotion of plurilingualism by supporting the effective acquisition of the
Language 1 and of two other languages (Language 2 and Language 3).
The promotion of the development of linguistic competence through Content
Integrated Language Learning (CLIL), offering education through languages other
than Language 1, present in the pupil’s curriculum.

The document contains further sections on: Dominant language, multilingualism and plurilingualism; Language sections and the curriculum; Student Without a Language Section (SWALS); Language learning in the curriculum and in the classroom.

Several measures were passed in conjunction with the new policy, including a measure to look into the language testing carried out during enrolment and one aptly named “Music, Art, Physical Education and ICT in a language that is learnt by the pupil”, which should ensure that students are not placed in groups where they do not understand the language of teaching. To an outsider, it might seem strange that such a rule is even needed, but we know better...

Interested in similar topics? Please see our PedGroup’s Languages subgroup.

Civil Disobedience

The Global Climate March in Brussels on 15 March: the EEB2 contribution

(article is here: http://woluweparents.org/woluwinfo/2019/may/index.php?part=climate&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=mail&utm_term=climate&utm_content=may2019&utm_campaign=woluwinfo#climate)

“Will we be able to look our children in the eye if we do not also clear our climate debt?"

Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, was asking himself this question while outlining his vision of a new Europe on March 4th, 2019 – just a few days before the Global Climate March on March 15th. Many politicians did so, and that was exactly the point of the climate marches all over the globe: stimulate politicians to take their responsibility for climate change and raise awareness on the issue among all humankind. We as parents of the EEB2 students are proud that our school community has made a valuable contribution to this progressive global movement, right from the very beginning.

European School students and their parents at the Global Climate March in Brussels in March

In Brussels, over thirty thousand students, parents, grandparents, teachers and workers marched from the Brussels North Station to the Brussels South Station on March 15^th, 2019. They were joined by a million others around the world in all the continents including Antarctica. We have been informed that several hundred students of the European Schools in Brussels participated in the march. The APEEE board Woluwe does not have the statistics on how many of our students eventually joined the protest. The most important thing is that they did have a chance to express their civil position and join a global initiative on this crucial issue.

Below are the testimonies of two of them – Sarnath Gesquiere (S1NLA) and his sister Ahimsa Gesquiere (P2NLA).

My name is Sarnath Gesquiere and I am eleven years old. I am in S1 NLA, I am also the youngest member of the CDE (students council). On the 15th of March, I asked my parents if I may join the global strike for the climate. Both my parents supported me. All my teachers agreed that I may skip the afternoon and they encouraged me to go saying that I did the right thing. Sadly, the mentality of most adults is that all problems should be postponed till tomorrow. We, as tomorrow's generation will have to deal with these problems. If we do not act now, it will be uncontrollable in the future. I ask all the parents to think of our future and please join us in saving this planet.

Hi, I’m Ahimsa from P2NLA. I joined the global climate strike on March 15. It was the third time I went climate striking. It was fantastic. There was a lot of loud music and students dancing and singing.I went because the earth is melting and the governments need to do something. We must save the planet. I already walk a lot and ask my parents not to buy anymore new clothes. We also try not to use plastic. We even take our own glass bottles when we buy orange juice. It was fun and actually 'super fun' to make the governments hear us. Thank you for reading this.

The EEB2 school community at the origins of and in line with the global climate movement

For decades, young people seemed to be rather underrepresented in active political participation. Now however, the time pressure of climate change gives them an unprecedented impetus. Some pupils of our school have already been active since the movement started last year. A few facts about the story so far:

The parents in the Swedish section organized an event with the participation of the Swedish pupil and climate activist Greta Thunberg on October 6^th, 2018, in Brussels. Greta went on to be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for climate activism on March 13^th, 2019. In February she was awarded the prestigious Prix de Liberté donating the prize money of € 25 000 to several organizations fighting climate change and other related global issues.
On November 20^th, 2018, the EEB2 students organized the first climate strike in Belgium. It culminated in a demo at RP Schuman which was visited by Commission Vice-President Katainen. Belgian schools continued with the initiative starting on January 5^th, 2019, organizing regular strikes.
On February 21^st, 2019, our ecology group students made a video clip: https://youtu.be/WWTPfco778w
Scientists say we should cut emissions by 80% by 2030 to minimise further damage. This translates into cutting emissions by 11-15% per year. Each year we wait, the higher we have to cut next year.
The students of our school are pioneers in actively requesting governments to act on the basis of these scientific facts. On Friday March 8^th, another initiative of our students went public – a website informing the world about emissions and required cuts per country: https://www.cut11percent.com/
Matthew Pye, an inspiring teacher at our school, has written a book entitled “No Common Sense” about mobilising an informed debate about the devastating collapse that is currently heading our way. The book was published in February 2019

What’s next?

There is a global movement taking place in line with what started at EEB2. The next Global Strike for the Climate is going to take place on Friday May 24. We are very much looking forward to it and expect to see other European schools joining us.

Sources:

Macron, Emmanuel: https://www.elysee.fr/emmanuel-macron/2019/03/04/for-european-renewal.en

Images are borrowed from open sources and personal collections by kind permission.

An EEB2 student on the cover of a recent edition of ‘Le monde des ados’.

The EEB2 parents at the Climate March.

Freya Mogensen (S3DE) and Alessia Papaldo (S2IT) attending the Climate March

Interested in similar topics? Please see our Community Building working group.

DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION AT EEBI

INTERPARENTS Position and its Relevance for EEBI

The APEEE will be looking into the topic of “diversity and inclusion” in the coming months in line with a recent position taken by INTERPARENTS at the February Joint Teaching Committee.

INTERPARENTS would like to take this opportunity bring up the subject of “Diversity and Inclusion in the European Schools”. From our point of view, this includes not only our pupils with educational needs but should go further.

Many of our pupils struggle with self doubt, lack of mental wellbeing, and identity issues, e.g. related to LGBTI. We are also living in an environment where social media has a significant impact on the lives of our pupils. Reliable data is hard to come by, but we believe that pupils increasingly suffer from mental-health-related issues. This vulnerability may exhibit itself in many ways. It may come out as:

substance abuse;
ongoing and repetitive illnesses;
depression and anxiety;
poor school attendance;
underperformance at school and potential school drop out;
and – in the most severe cases – perhaps even attempted or achieved suicide.

We should and do have an expectation that our schools are safe, inclusive and respectful places for all learners.

We therefore call for a working group to be set up to look at what can be done to ensure that we implement best practices regarding Diversity and Inclusion, something that goes beyond educational support as it is currently envisaged.

Many members of our community may have already heard about the tragic suicide of an S3 child at our sister school in Varese. The event has left the European School community in shock and sadness. And it should spur us on to look to our own children and to the sometimes fragile environment in which they live...to safeguard our young community and all its individuals.

In the coming months, the APEEE and its working groups would like to put renewed emphasis on topics related to diversity and inclusion and to supporting our children through all their ups and downs. We will depend on our Bien Être, Community Building/Solidarity, and Legal Working Groups for their aid in this endeavour.

If you are interested in getting involved, do not hesitate to contact us at: info@uccleparents.org

LGBTQ: Exhibition and Talk

An exhibition of posters of LGBTQ films from recent decades was set up in the S4-S7 library from February until the Easter break. The exhibition consists of 15 posters (30 x 80 cm each) that were hung around the room. The exhibition was complemented by a talk by expert Didier Roth Bettoni on LGBTQ cinematography, which took place on 4 April at the school.

The poster and exhibition are paid for with the proceeds of the Valentine Day Cake Sale run by interested students and parents.

For more information on the posters see: http://expocontrelhomophobie.fr/a-propos/

For more information on the speaker see: https://www.babelio.com/auteur/Didier-Roth-Bettoni/34242 ; https://www.franceculture.fr/personne-didier-roth-bettoni.html

SPECIAL FEATURE: The Plea of the Locally Recruited Teachers – A Study on the Failure of Cost-Sharing within the European Schools

By László Molnárfi, EEBI, S6HUA.

BACKGROUND

“Maybe nobody can do anything, but we want to express our disquiet, we want to make sure we’re heard by those who CAN change the system,” says a student of EEB4 at an emergency meeting hastily convened in the wake of the new crisis facing the European Schools. Subsequently, approximately 200[1] students gathered on the 12th of March at 11:00 AM and began striking in their school against the recently proposed directive of the Board of Governors. Drafted and imposed upon the European Schools by the pressure of bureaucrats in the European Commission, it would be fair to say that this was not a democratic process. This is the story of how our beloved European Schools are being pushed to a breaking point, and how we may be powerless to stop it. Continue reading…

THE SHORTCOMINGS OF COST-SHARING

On the 1st October of 2002, the 1994 Convention Defining the Statute of the European Schools came into force[9]. In March of 2005[10], the European Parliament called for a reform of the system and ruled that “the current arrangement, whereby Member States’ contributions are directly linked to the number of teachers they second to the European Schools and to the premises they provide for the European Schools, is not equitable and that alternative systems of financing should be explored” but that it does recognize that this system ensures access to the teaching expertise in each Member State and that through this system the obligations of the Member States as set out in the Convention are fulfilled. Preceding this, another European Parliament ruling passed in December of 2002[11] urging the European Schools to develop a sustainable model of funding. Continue reading…

POLITICAL PRESSURE BY THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION

It is mostly with regret that we say that the European Commission has managed to pressure the Board of Governors into taking a utilitarian step in the wrong direction to solve this issue once and for all. The agreed upon date for achieving the plans of the quota system was the scholastic year 2019-2020. Continue reading…

SCANDAL AT EEB4

Up to this point, this may have been a structural, financial and lately a political issue. However, this list is the turning point. What once had been talked of directly – the teachers, students, and parents of our community – moved away into a numerical representation thereof into the distant upper-levels of a bureaucratic institution. Continue reading…

THE POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

This is only one case study, for one of the European Schools. This new directive paves the way for similar incidents across the European Schools and the loss of a significant number of locally recruited teachers, who are crucial to the well-functioning of our community. Continue reading…

The full article is available at:

https://bissc.net/the-plea-of-the-locally-recruited-teachers-a-study-on-the-failure-of-cost-sharing-within-the-european-schools/

EURÊKA

EURÊKA proud to support the Association “Peter Pan” for disadvantaged children

EURÊKA, the lost and found service, was able to donate almost 100 litres of items (clothes and other objects collected on the School campus and unrecovered by the pupils/parents) to the Bulgarian Association “Peter Pan”. Below, a summary of the successful initiative:

“Chers collègues,

Notre première action a été un vrai succès grâce à vous! Tous les dons ont été envoyés en Bulgarie et distribués aux enfants le 21/12/2018. Les médias locaux s'en sont d'ailleurs fait l'écho:

Nous avons reçu plus de:

950 pulls, chemises, t-shirts;
250 manteaux;
490 pantalons, jupes, robes;
130 bonnets, écharpes;
170 paires de chaussures;
25 cartons de jouets.

La quantité des dons nous a permis d'aider deux institutions supplémentaires. Une partie des sommes collectées a été utilisée pour l'achat du matériel scolaire et de friandises de Noël pour les enfants.

Nous remercions tout particulièrement les associations des parents des écoles européennes de Laeken et d'Uccle pour leur soutien.

Merci à tous pour votre générosité! Nous comptons sur votre soutien pour nos actions futures.

Cordialement,

L'équipe de "Peter Pan"”

STUDENT COMMITTEE (CdE) UPDATE

WiFi and SMS for Students

In our last report, we mentioned that we are aiming to give students WiFi and SMS access. This was achieved, and after the Christmas break each student received his or her WiFi code, and each student Office365 account can be used to log in to SMS. The Office365 mobile applications were also unblocked on our school’s network.

Image:

https://bissc.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/WiFi-info-paper1-1-724x1024.jpg

New CdE website and student newspaper

We managed to re-launch the BISSC newspaper and we managed to make it the official website of the CdE. This is great for transparency and for access to information, as our CdE Transparency Project reachable from there. Furthermore, there is a webshop integrated into BISSC, so we were able to sell the hoodies and the Talent Show tickets online.

Links:

https://bissc.net (newspaper)

https://cde.bissc.net (CdE Website)

Image:

https://bissc.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/BISSC-Newspaper-Poster-5-1-724x1024.jpg

Advice Group for the defence of students’ rights launched

https://bissc.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Advice-Team-CdE-1-1-724x1024.jpg

We can also attend students’ Discipline Councils as per the General Rules of the European Schools, but this has not been asked of us yet.

New benches installed around the Da Vinci

We and the parents asked the administration to install some more benches around the Da Vinci to improve the free spaces around campus; they did.

Image(s):

https://bissc.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/20190222_150300-2-1024x576.jpg

https://bissc.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/20190222_150417-1-576x1024.jpg

Canteen, Cafeteria, Etude and Library Improvements

We managed to get new, better-quality coffee in the S4567 Cafeteria and a new vegetarian sandwich after discussing with the APEEE Services. The plastic cups will be replaced by biodegradable cups soon.

The APEEE Services also inform us that the cash payment system will be replaced by a keychain system over the summer.

New tables have arrived at the S123 Cafeteria, and new chairs will also arrive soon. We installed 5 beanbags in the S123 Cafeteria. We installed a new microwave in the S123 Cafeteria.

In the S4567 Cafeteria, we managed to install a billiard table, and new board games. Two sofas have been moved to the Etude, one in front of the Infirmary, and two to the S4567 Library to make space for the billiard table. In place of the sofas, we put around 30 more chairs, all in cooperation with the administration.

S5 to have no classes during B-tests under new system

The CdE in cooperation with the School administration has managed to find a solution to avoid having classes during B-tests for the S5. The B-tests will be stretched out over two weeks and there will be no classes during. This is confirmed by the (draft) minutes of the Conseil d’Education meeting of 21 February 2019. As a reminder, all documents are available over at https://cde.bissc.net.

Football fields to be covered over the summer

The CdE has voted 26-0 to co-fund with the parents and the administration the covering of the football fields by NamGrass (a subsidy of DomoSports) with a contribution of 10000€. The work is expected to be done over the summer and will consist of the complete enclosure of the two upper football fields (next to the DaVinci) and the installation of the AstroTurf and the shockpad.

Image:

https://bissc.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/20190117_103828-1024x576.jpg

The CdE launches its first independent radio project

In its first episode, the CdE Presidency met with Minorities Against the CdE (MACDE) and other representatives to discuss: the right of intervention of the administration in CdE matters/elections, the TV screens in the school, the structure of the European Schools, how to make change, freedom of speech, change in the European Schools, the administration, drugs policy, past CdE's achievements, etc.

Links:

https://radio.bissc.net

Image:

Hoodies Project

We sold all the 1350 hoodies ordered. This year’s hoodies were black, white and sand.

MyEEB1 Application

The CdE has finished work on the MyEEB1 school application. It contains useful functions for students, teachers and parents alike, such as the ability to upload a schedule picture, take notes, instructions on how to see the absences list one day before, canteen and cafeteria food and many easily-accessible collected links. Due to it having the name “EEB1” in it, we have to wait for the approval of the administration before releasing it to the community.

IMAGES:

https://bissc.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Screenshot_2019-03-02-20-12-50-576x1024.png

https://bissc.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Screenshot_2019-03-02-20-13-01-1-576x1024.png

Graffiti wall project

The CdE has obtained the permission from the Régie Des Bâtiments for this project with the help of Mr. Goggins. The wall will first be painted by the CdE Presidency (with a surprise design) after the break. See the poster for more instructions on how to apply.

Images:

https://bissc.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/graffiti_wall_poster-1-1-724x1024.jpg

Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKHTImr_pW0&feature=youtu.be

View the absences list one day in advance

With the help of Mr. Belien, the CdE has figured out a way for students to check the absences list one day before (for teachers that will surely be absent the next day). This will enable students to sleep more, thus have better mental health, and eventually this will lead to better general wellbeing. Students can go after 15:00 to Vie Scolaire to check the absent teachers and classes for the next day.

Images:

New CdE Statute and associated reforms passed (with explanation of changes)

The CdE passed by a vote of 21-0 with one abstention the new CdE Statute and the associated reforms. Before this, we had no applicable statute and no rules defining our organization, thus we were facing a lack of integrity. This statue and the other documents give us integrity, transparency, democracy and provide a set of rules (governance framework) that enable us to carry out our duties towards the wider student constituency more easily. As for the changes, here it is in short:

All the documents can be found on https://cde.bissc.net under the applicable menu item concerning CdE Transparency and CdE Reform.

CdE Transparency project advertised

We produced a poster to provide impetus for social change in the European Schools, as we felt there was a lack of interest towards democracy and making one’s voice heard.

APEEE MEETING REPORTS

8 January: School Secondary Teacher Replacement Policy Meeting

The APEEE President, VP Pedagogy and Coordinator of the PedGroup Quality Control subgroup met with the school director, the deputy director of secondary and the replacement coordinator for secondary to learn about the school management’s planned activities to improve the replacement situation in the secondary cycle. The EEBI Whole School Inspection (WSI) in May 2018 gave the school management a low performance score on the quality assurance criteria related to effective use of teaching time, including replacements, and the inspectors recommend that the School management advance a local replacement policy. 5,2% of all secondary lessons were cancelled in the last school year (2017-2018) due to non-replaced teacher absences, which corresponds to an average loss of 62 lessons for the individual pupil within one school year. Less than a third (31,5%) of the teachers’ absences in the secondary cycle were replaced, i.e. 2 out of 3 teacher absences resulted in cancelled lessons (lost teaching hours).

Planned measures include: concentrating project weeks and involving all pupils in activities (starting in 2019-2020) and the organisation of internal meetings outside the participants’ teaching hours. They mentioned that replacement teachers can be hard to find. The APEEE suggested that the issue of trainings be looked into more closely and that these should take place outside the normal school calendar, as foreseen, when possible. They also recommended that the online policy be updated to reflect the Pinck Memo more accurately--specifically in relation to S6-S7 replacement. Finally, parents asked that communication to parents be improved by alerting class parents as early as possible about non-replaced classes or long-term absences.

9 January: Meeting with Local Staff Committee (LSC)

A meeting between the four schools APEEE Presidents, the INTERPARENTS President and the newly-elected President and Vice President of the Commission’s Local Staff Committee. The discussion focused on the Arts-Loi issue and imminent meeting with Commissioner Oettinger but also set the groundwork for a standing relationship between the Brussels APEEEs and the LSC. Issues that the APEEEs would like to work on included: Future of the Brussels Schools, and particularly the worrying Arts Loi proposal; financial sustainability of the schools; recruitment and retention of teachers; security and access to the schools; governance, consultation and transparency at the level of the central office and of the schools; the new marking scale roll out; and 180 days of school for pupils, including replacement of absent teachers.

10 January: Meeting with Commissioner Oettinger

The four schools APEEE Presidents and the INTERPARENTS President met with the Cabinet of Commission Oettinger, the Secretary-General of the European Schools and staff of the Commission’s DGHR to discuss the Arts Loi temporary solution. The Commission supported parents’ request for a site visit in conjunction with a Groupe de Suivi meeting organised in January. The Commission also agreed to consider a potential alternative, to place temporary structures on the NATO site. The Commission agreed to touch base again by the end of March to see how the situation continued.

See related article: “Future of the Brussels Schools” Arts-Loi on hold while NATO temporary structures considered

11 January: Data Protection Meeting

A meeting of APEEE’s Data Protection Task Force with the Data Protection Officer hired to work with both the APEEE Services and the APEEE. The meeting covered the planned roll out of data protection measures. The APEEE will be undertaking a data inventory using a dedicated online tool. The results will be used to create a general DP policy with the necessary framework of supporting legal texts and procedures. It will be necessary for APEEE and APEEE Services to determine their relationship with regard to shared data.

15 January: Inter-APEEE Meeting on Educational Support

This meeting was attended by the APEEE Educational Support teams from the Brussels schools. The possibility was raised of lobbying the EP to draw their attention to the fact that EU budget is spent on educational support which is not fully inclusive. Inter-APEEE initiatives were also discussed, including the 12 March conference "Dans la peau des enfants à besoins spécifiques - mieux les comprendre pour mieux les accompagner" by Perrine Bigot, hosted by the Woluwe school.

15 January: School Advisory Council (SAC)

The SAC is attended by members of the school the school administration, teaching staff, personnel, student committee (CdE), and up to five APEEE representatives, in this case by four representatives including the president, VP of pedagogy, a bureau member and a representative of the Italian section. The purpose of the SAC is to discuss longer term developments or long-standing issues and to prepare for the upcoming school administrative council.

Questions raised by parents included: access to pre-Bacc results and papers, the pre-Bacc schedule, request for a pedagogical plan for the Bacc oral period, implementation of the Whole School Inspection recommendations and the roll out of the new marking scale. Students raised issues concerning campus exit policies.

17 January, 9 April: APEEE Pedagogical Working Group (PedGroup)

The APEEE PedGroup had two meetings to discuss ongoing work across their several dossiers and subgroups. The first meeting focused on the work of the Quality Control group and specifically on progress in their dossiers related to 180 days of school and teacher replacements. The work of the Educational Support Group was also treated, particularly the creation of two networks for EEBI parents (for Educational Support and Gifted Children) and the concern about progress on the school specific guidelines. A proposal for a four-schools workshop was suggested for submission to the bureau for a simplified decision making process.

The second meeting reviewed the new mandate, which restructured the working group into two formal subgroups and several less formal dossiers. We discussed the state of play for: Music, STEM, Benchmarking and Educational Support and also started up our new Languages dossier and added Teachers to the Quality Control dossier. Among other things, it was agreed that web content/PDFs would be produced in order to give parents more guidance on particular issues.

21 January, 14 March, 28 March: Groupe de Suivi (GdS) / Brussels Steering Group

Several Groupe de Suivi (GdS) meetings were held through the late winter and early spring to treat the issue of the Future of the Brussels Schools. The group includes the Secretary General and other staff of the General Secretariat, representatives of the Belgian government, representatives from the Regie des Batiments, representatives from the Commission, the four directors, staff representatives, parent representatives and staff committee representatives. The group is intended as a strategic body to manage problems specific to the Brussels Schools and specifically to address challenges relate to infrastructure and lack of capacity.

In late January, members were given a site tour of the proposed temporary site at Arts-Loi; the viewing of the physical structures left several stakeholder representatives concerned that the site could not adequately accommodate the number and movement of students, the space allotted for science labs was inadequate; and it was unclear how examinations could be run in the building. It was already known that some facilities were lacking and teaching staff would be required to move from site to site. Parents expressed their extreme misgivings about the proposal. By 14 March, the Regie des Batiments returned with a new proposal. Effectively, the Arts-Loi temporary site proposal was put on hold and the option to put temporary structures on the NATO site is now being explored. In any case, a site will not be opened until September 2021 and the permanent site will only be available as of 2025. The 28 March meeting looked into the possible use modular structure on the NATO site as a temporary primary campus. There is some concern about the use of these Parents asked that the Arts-Loi proposal be completely withdrawn.

See related article: “Future of the Brussels Schools” Arts-Loi on hold while NATO temporary structures considered

22 January: APEEE Board Meeting (CA)

Agenda items discussed: APEEE position papers on Mobile Phone Policy and Prevention of Addiction Guidelines; mandates for Bien Etre, Community Building and Legal Working Groups; funding for Eurosport uniforms, Bien Etre projects and Plant Kingdom science workshops; statement to the EEBI Admin Board on the German equivalence table; results of extraordinary GA; Future of the Brussels Schools update; and status of currently funded projects.

The official minutes are not yet available. Please contact your language section representatives for an informal report.

30 January: EEBI School Administrative Board

The semi-annual EEBI School Administrative Board was attended by the APEEE President and Vice President of Pedagogy on behalf of parents. It is a day-long meeting, and members include the school management, representatives of teachers and staff, representatives of students (enlarged only), and Commission and Eurocontrol representatives. January’s meeting was chaired by Mr Andreas Beckmann, Deputy Secretary General of the European Schools. The January meeting generally treats financial-administrative issues.

Communications were given about: new secondary science and maths syllabuses to be phased in starting in September 2019; the short-term impact of Brexit; and measures proposed to attract both seconded and locally recruited teachers.

Other topics treated included: infrastructure and the problems with the Regie de Batiments; 2019-2020 Brussels enrolment policy; 2019-2020 school calendar, its potential conflict with school regulations and the Epiphany holiday.

Parents raised points about: the Future of the European Schools: the fifth school, the proposed Arts-Loi solution and the permanent gift of the Berkendael campus; the new marking system in secondary and concerns about national equivalence tables (the German statement was read); follow-up to the Whole School Inspection; plan for secondary pupils during Bacc Orals; and educational Support and the launch of the school-specific guidelines in primary and secondary;

Teachers proposed a conflict resolution policy covering the whole school community.

Students requested a full-time psychologist for the secondary, stating that psychological support was badly needed. Parents supported this request.

The second half of the meeting treated: requests for new posts in the school administration; the EEBI Financial and Administrative Plan for 2019; and the EEBI Budget proposal for 2020 among other things.

The next EEBI Administrative Board is planned for September 2019.

A detailed report from the meeting has been circulated to the APEEE Board. Please contact your language section representatives in the Board for a copy of the report.

31 January: Education Committee (CE) Nursery/Primary

The official minutes are available from your language section representative. Agenda items discussed: school guidelines for mixing classes; organisation of the last day of school; PE-uniforms; replacements; control of pupils’ presence; pedagogical harmonisation of ICT/Art/DDM/European Hours; class work programs; themes of European Hours; European Commission project on nature-based solutions; and visit to the Fabiola and Erasme libraries.

The official minutes are available through your language section representatives.

4-5 February, 4-5 April: INTERPARENTS Joint Teaching Committee/Board of Governors Preparatory Meetings

INTERPARENTS met in February and again in April to discuss the JTC and BoG agendas respectively. In this meeting parent representatives from every parents association in the system could contribute to common positions on topics raised during the current Board of Governors meeting cycle: Joint Teaching Committee, Budget Committee, Board of Governors.

In this cycle, the following topics were treated: measures to increase the attractiveness of European School teaching posts; induction of new teachers and level of language of teachers; the need for middle management and creation of Assistant Deputy Director post; New Marking Scale and national equivalence tables; pre-Baccalaureate rules and access to pre-Bacc results; changes in Baccalaureate special arrangements system; new science and maths syllabuses; ESSS Handbook; the harmonisation of practice for educational support and early identification of students; Brexit; European School Language Policy, the role of dominant language and setting and streaming practices; and Diversity and Inclusion of Vulnerable Students.

See related section: INTERPARENTS Update

12 February, 29 April: Science Festival Working Group

The Secondary CE’s Science Festival Working Group includes participants from the APEEE, the Student Committee and the science teaching staff as well as the deputy director of secondary. The group met twice to discuss how Uccle’s beloved Science Festival might be further improved and popularised among students and teachers.

Among ideas being considered to promote the Science Festival to students: list of past projects to help students understand the scope and possibilities; guidance on mentoring for teachers; prominent displays of previous projects on campus; expand scope of topics allowed; improved advertising through parent, student and school channels; more promotion through career orientation staff; and even the possibility to set aside hours in the timetable for guided project preparation.

The live streaming of this year’s festival and visits by classes were considered extremely successful initiatives in getting the word out. The presence of the Science Festival at the Fete was also a positive experience and could be further improved on. This year there will also be a contest to make the Science Festival trophy. In 2019-2020, the aim is to have at least 40 student projects.

The group will also produce a best practices guide on “How to Run a School Science Festival” as an addition to the new ESSS Handbook.

12 February: Central Enrolment Authority (CEA) ICT Working Group

The CEA has created a subgroup to begin work on a new enrolment backend system. The group was attended by one parent representative from the CEA, namely the member from EEBI. It is hoped that such a system will introduce more flexibility and efficiency into the enrolment procedure and allow us in the future to create more nuanced policies that better respond to parents' needs. A new online enrolment frontend module is also foreseen to be used by parents to pass data to the central system. There are still discussions about the resourcing of the project, and they are examining possible contributions by the Commission through Service Level or Framework Type Agreements. The project will likely not be ready before the enrolment for school year 2021-2022.

14 February: Meeting on Francis Pirotta Creative Arts Prize

Members of the Community Building working group attended a meeting with the primary school administration and staff and family of Francis Pirotta to put in place the details of this year’s Francis Pirotta Creative Arts Prize. The group set the theme, prizes, timeline and format of the competition.

See related article: Francis Pirotta Creative Arts Prize: Update

18 February: Meeting of the APEEE’s Network for Educational Support

The first meeting of learning support network saw the participation of around 20 parents (around 60 had signalled interest in the network). The idea is to provide interested parents with relevant information and to organise dedicated meetings for an exchange of experience. The upcoming launch of the school specific guidelines was also discussed. The next meeting will take place in Autumn.

19 February: Visit of the Slovenian Education, Science and Sport Minister, Jernej Pikalo

The school hosted the Slovenian minister of education for a meeting with the administration and a meet-and-greet with Slovenian teachers, parents and students. The minister spoke in favour of the European Schools, and it was hoped that the internal meeting would also lead to positive outcomes with regard to the educational offer to Slovenian students. Many parents have felt that the current SWALS programme is inadequate on a number of fronts, including the level of L1 and L2 offered to their students and the timetabling of these courses.

20 February: Financing Projects and Organising Events

The APEEE organised a meeting with the school director and deputy director of finance and administration to discuss the organisation and funding of projects and events. The meeting was attended by the APEEE’s Community Building Coordinator, Financial Advisor and President as well as by representatives of the CdE. Topics discussed included the possibility for APEEE and the CdE to contribute to the surfacing of the school’s central football pitch; the improvement by the CdE of the student cafeterias and request for improvements (e.g. new seating) in both indoor and outdoor spaces; possibilities for reviving the discos.

APEEE’s funding of projects in cooperation with the school was also discussed in detail, and the topic of the solidarity funds was raised, as the APEEE seems no longer to be consulted during the decisions making process.

Finally, APEEE proposed that the school community look into a new model Fete which is more centrally organised and more closely involves the school administration and teachers. We will be reviewing the other school Fetes to seek out ideas.

20 February: Inter-APEEE Working Group on Prevention

The coordinator of the APEEE Bien Etre Group met with her counterparts from the other three Brussels schools to discuss synergies and to share best practices about topics of common interest, such as bullying and surveillance. The three schools await the EEBI APEEE’s conferences for this year as they have always advertised among their parents as well. They offered to co-organise or co-fund the events, but for this year, the Bien Etre Group determined to organise it in-house. This is worth considering for the future.

21 February: Education Committee (CE) Secondary

The official minutes are not yet available. Agenda items discussed: actions agreed in previous meetings; organisation of S5 B-tests; opening the Aristote toilets to the pupils; EEBI drugs’ prevention policy; new marking system; pedagogical plan for S1-S6 pupils during the 2019 Bacc oral exams; Brexit/UK teachers; project weeks; replacements; syllabuses/choice of textbooks; and mobile phone policy. Please contact your language section representative for an informal report.

11 March: Meeting with Berkendael WG

Members of the Berkendael Working Group met with Director Goggins in early March to discuss a number of issues, in particular in relation to inscriptions for the new school year and infrastructure at the Berkendael site. On inscriptions, Berkendael Working Group members underlined the importance of Berkendael P5 pupils obtaining a suitable S1 place at the Brussels school site of their choice in line with the applicable enrolment guidelines (mandatory transfers). They also pointed to the need to ensure diversity of languages taught at Berkendael (currently +80% of pupils there attend classes in French language) to further develop the European school character of the site. Parent representatives and Mr Goggins moreover agreed that the expected growth of the number of pupils on the site will require infrastructure investments, notably to allow for the currently unused building on the site to be used; without these investments there will be insufficient space for new classes. Sharing classrooms between the school (in the morning) and the OIB garderie (in the afternoon) should be avoided, parent representatives pointed out, but may be inevitable as Mr Goggins explained.

15 March, 22 March: Central Enrolment Authority (CEA)

The CEA includes directors and parent representatives from the four schools; staff committee and future parents reps; representatives of the Commission and Belgian government; the Secretary General; and members of the European Schools enrolment unit.

On 15 March the initial outcome of the first phase of enrolment was considered, specifically with the aim of treating particular circumstance and other special cases so that class group numbers could be finalised. On 22 March the final numbers for the first phase were examined and distribution of classes was considered. Modifications were made based on actual enrolment numbers to the preliminary class structure put in place in December.

Ixelles, Uccle and Woluwe remain over capacity (Ixelles by as much as 20%) and Laeken is just now reaching its capacity. The aim still remains to fill Berkendael, though now the goal is to fill the site in a sustainable way--by concentrating on classes and sections already at the site--rather than opening new sections at Berkendael. Growth at Berkendael is primarily coming from increase in numbers in existing classes and the movement up the levels of existing sections and satellite classes, though an additional MAT FR class was also created. Several classes were filled beyond the primary threshold of 20 students, including: MAT / P1 DE; MAT EL; MAT EN; MAT ES; and MAT IT.

At Uccle the EN section continues to shrink, while the Polish section seems to be stabilising. An additional MAT ES and S1 FR class were created as well. Several primary classes were filled beyond the thresholds (of 20 students for primary and 26 for secondary), including MAT / P1 / P2 / P4 / P5 DE; MAT / P2 / P4 EN; MAT / P2 / P5 / S1 ES; MAT / S2 / S5 IT.

All FR classes at Uccle and Berkendael are at or beyond the class size thresholds. Both schools have multiple FR classes per level.

It seems that there is a good chance that most or all Berkendael S5 students will receive the school of first choice next year, but it is unclear how long this can continue. It is important for parents to be aware that there is no right or guarantee that they obtain an S1 place at the school site of their choice.

The Berkendael site is quickly filling up, and it will be difficult to sustain more growth unless additional buildings are readied for use. It has been promised that new buildings will be ready to support classes by September. With its capacity of 1000 students and limited number of classrooms, Berkendael may still have a problem in the longer term as the eight sections expand to the full number of levels. This could be a real problem if a temporary site is not opened in Brussels in the coming year.

See enrolment guidelines and policy.

18 March: Meeting of the APEEE’s Network for Gifted Children

The meeting was hosted by the APEEE PedGroups Educational Support coordination team and was intended primarily to put the network in place and flesh out the concept. All interested parents were invited to attend and around 40 parents showed up. Presentations were given by Arantzazu Golderos (EEBI parent) and Jeroen Janss (EEB3 parent); discussion followed. Discussion focused on the nature of giftedness, myths and realities. The possibility to support giftedness within the constraints of the European Schools was also discussed. The objectives of the network will be to support the school, students and parents. A strategic paper will be produced outlining the objectives and working methods of the new network.

21 March: APEEE Board Meeting (CA)

Agenda items discussed: PedGroup Mandate; proposed Task Force to assess Gutenberg situation; funding of football pitch surfacing; updates to APEEE Financial Procedure to Award Funding; draft Call for Project Proposals; appointment of IP Rep; position paper on overcrowding in the Brussels schools; Future of the Brussels Schools; Updates on Secretariat, Services, PedGroup, Interparents.

The official minutes are not yet available. Please contact your language section representatives for an informal report.

27 March: Bien Être Meeting with Primary Director

The coordinator of the Bien Etre working group met with the Ms Cajhen, the primary director to discuss ongoing programmes. The discussion focused specifically on the Mindfulness Programme and how it might be continued in the primary and Bullying. The school remains happy with the current situation and with KIVA though parents still feel that more might need to be done.

28 March: Bien Être Meeting with Head Educational Advisor, Secondary

The coordinator of the Bien Etre working group met with the head educational advisor, Mr Jeff Louarn, to discuss ongoing programmes. The discussion focused on the Stop a la Drogue which has been running for four years at the school and prevention strategies for the future. Other topics discussed: the EVRAS (Education Vie Relationnelle Affective Sexuelle) programme for students and the need for a Mobile Phone Policy.

2 April: Education Committee (CE) Nursery/Primary

The official minutes are not yet available. Agenda items discussed: communication between parents and teachers; pupils’ lost or stolen objects; Waterloo gate access; transition between Nursery and P1; pupils’ well being/KIVA; initiatives related to music and sports; PE-uniforms; school trips/snow classes; and visit to the Erasme gym.

The official minutes are not yet available. Please contact your language section representatives for an informal report.

3 April: Brussels Group d’Accompagnement

The Brussels flanking group was set up as an opportunity for the Commission DGHR European Schools Unit to meet with parent association, INTERPARENTS and staff committee representatives in advance of Board of Governors meetings in order to align our positions. EEBI was represented in this meeting by the INTERPARENTS representative. Topics raised included: the Future of the Brussels Schools and proposed temporary site at Arts-Loi; the new marking scale; and the proposed teacher attractiveness and cost sharing measures.

11 April: APEEE Well-Being/Bien Être Working Group

The WG met early April to discuss about the projects, with focus on future initiatives related to smartphones – the proposed policy and related issues; Mindfulness for primary; and EVRAS and the Values project for secondary. The topic of bullying – a revision of the policy and possible conferences – as well as nutrition, which is still to be developed, were also discussed.

UPCOMING EVENTS AND INITIATIVES

12 June: Conférence “Harcèlement à l'école: faire basculer l'inconfort” (in French only)

Le harcèlement à l’école… Un problème douloureux et qui laisse souvent une sensation d'impuissance.

Pour induire du changement et un retour à la sérénité, le Groupe Bien Être de l’APEEE de Bruxelles 1, en collaboration avec l’ASBL Virages, vous invite à une conférence sur le harcèlement scolaire mercredi 12 juin 2019 de 12h30 à14h30 au Comité des Régions.

INSCRIPTIONS:

https://www.eventbrite.fr/e/billets-conference-apeee-bruxelles-1-harcelement-a-lecole-faire-basculer-linconfort-62446562349

Date limite pour les inscriptions: mardi 4 juin. Une pièce d’identité sera demandée aux parents ne disposant pas d’un badge d’accès aux Institutions européennes

WEBSTREAMING:

La conférence sera également transmise en direct le jour-même et visible pendant 24 heures sur

https://livestream.com/corlive1/events/8673114

16 June: Parent Chaperons Needed at Bal du Bac

Dear Parents,

On behalf of the Bal du Bac committee and the graduating class of 2019, we humbly ask for your assistance on the evening (and early hours) of Sunday 16 June from 22:30 to 04:30 to help out and serve as additional supervisors for the “Ball” portion of the night. This is one the venue’s requirements for us to host the event, and hiring guards would cost a lot, increasing the already steep price that students are paying to attend.

We are very aware of the magnitude of the ask and plan to offer food and drinks throughout the night and a reward for your work at the end. We only need six volunteers, so you can bring a group of your closest friends and we’ll be set.

We won’t surpass 400 guests (around the size of an S123 disco) and your job will be simply to roam around the event and make sure nothing is out of order, as the venue will also be providing their own security and we will have the Red Cross present, which will intervene in the case of an emergency or large scale issue.

The task is simple, and if nothing else, it is a chance for you to relive your youth, party the night away for free and to gain a further insight into the school’s student community through its most longstanding members; the wonderful 7^th year class.

We hope to see you there and thank you for understanding.

If you are interested in helping out, please contact: info@uccleparents.org

In Search of Young Actors and Actresses

“Dear Parents,

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Joosje Hendrikx and I am in charge of the production of Ammen Simpson's latest short film "Wildflowers". It concerns her graduating project from the Royal Institute for Theatre, Cinema and Sound (RITCS) in Brussels. The film tells the story of a group of children at boarding school. When a new girl arrives, she quickly discovers she is not the only one with a troubled past and that there is more to the other children than meets the eye.

We are looking for girls and boys between the ages of 10 and 13 who speak English, preferably as their first or second language. UK accent is encouraged. Acting experience is not a necessity. We were hoping if you would be so kind as to share this information with your students and/or their parents. Prospective candidates can send an e-mail with their names, contact information and two recent pictures to casting.wildflowers@gmail.com If you have any questions at all, do not hesitate to contact me. We sincerely hope you will be able to help tell this story. Many thanks. Kind regards, Joosje Hendrikx Production manager +32 (0)474 88 75 42.”

In French Only: CASTING RÔLES

Pour le long métrage "Valses de Vienne" réalisé par Marc Fitoussi, produit par Thelma Films et Scope Pictures. Avec Yvan Attal et Karin Viard. Tournage en Belgique et en Autriche entre mars et mai 2019.

Mcasting est à la recherche:

- De garçons de 6-9 ans toutes ethnies confondues.

Pour des raisons de productions, nous consulterons uniquement les candidatures de résidents belges.

Si vous êtes prêts à tenter l’aventure, merci d'envoyer deux photos récentes ainsi que la date de naissance, la ville, la taille et un numéro de téléphone à valsesdevienne@mcasting.be. Si votre profil correspond aux recherches des réalisateurs, nous vous contacterons pour une étape de casting ultérieure.

In French Only: Recherche participants mémoire à Bruxelles

“Bonjour les parents,

Dans le cadre de mon mémoire en psychologie clinique à l’UCL, je fais appel à vous pour rechercher un parent (papa/maman) hétéro ou non, qui a été victime dans son enfance d’abus sexuels de la part d’un membre de son entourage familial et qui est disponible à répondre à une interview.

Le but est celui de décrire des thématiques communes qui ressortent à travers les narrations de l’expérience actuelle de parentalité après une souffrance aussi importante dans l’enfance.

Je me rends compte que c’est un terrain très délicat, mais j’espère que en faisant passer le message de bouche à oreille je trouve quelqu’un qui se sente assez à l’aise à parler de ce sujet, qui reste malheureusement encore un tabou dans notre société.

Un consentement éclairé garantira l’anonymat de toutes les données.

N’hésitez pas à me contacter par mail maria.turi@student.uclouvain.be pour toute information supplémentaire.

Un tout grand merci !

Maria Letizia Turi

Etudiante en Master 2 en Psychologie clinique adulte,

Université Catholique de Louvain”

PARENTS’ POSTING BOARD

Messages/requests/announcements as received by the Parents

Bouddhism

Some Parents expressed an interest for the School to open a Buddhism “religion” class in Secondary. Yet, the class will only be opened if a sufficient number of children are involved. If you have such an interest, please let us know at info@uccleparents.org. We will convey your expression of interest to the School.