Statement on the new Complaints and Mediation Policy
By Francesca Tudini, APEEE President
APEEE has been working in close cooperation with the school for the introduction of clear procedures to handle complaints, both informal and formal.
APEEE is committed to promote a constructive dialogue among all parties involved in view of the resolution of any concern related to the well-being or the educational progress of a child at school at the earliest possible opportunity.
APEEE believes that most concerns can be resolved satisfactorily without them escalating into a formal complaint. However, should a formal complaint be launched, we acknowledge the school's commitment to consider and investigate carefully all complaints received, and to take swift action to correct inadequate practice or behaviour whenever deemed necessary, as well as to swiftly communicate the actions taken to the complainants.
We therefore welcome the new "Working in partnership: consultation, mediation and process" document which is to be published on the school website imminently.
Eurosport ante portas
By Francesca Tudini, APEEE President
In February, our School will be hosting "Eurosport", sport competition between all European schools taking place every two years among all European and accredited schools:
APEEE has been helping the school in the search for hosting families and also in the drafting of promotional material.
We believe that Eurosport is a great opportunity for the school community to create an event that our participating students will remember forever. Apart from actually competing in it, pupils have the possibility to be part of this event by hosting a student from another European school. If you are interested to be part of Eurosport by hosting a participant, you can express your preferences by using this link https://goo.gl/forms/niTcGNZIqgdI8kQL2. The school will organise an information session for all parents in January.
Introduction of regular meetings between the school management and the class representatives of the secondary cycle
By Francesca Tudini, APEEE President
APEEE surveys conducted among parents during the year showed up a clear desire for better communication and regular meetings with school management. At the end of November, APEEE for the first time organised a general meeting for the parent representatives of the secondary classes with the school management. Topics of general interest were discussed, including the recent increase of dangerous behaviour among students. We welcome the school's commitment to communicate better and more frequently with parents and their idea to organise different additional meetings. Class representatives of S1 to S5 have been already invited to specific meetings with the Deputy Head Master. Another meeting with S6 and S7 will take place in January. We consider these meetings to be a concrete testimony to the increased cooperation between our association and the school. We also acknowledge the school management's openness to receive and discuss ideas from parents, and feedback on different aspects of school life, including the preparation of the BAC and the organisation of meaningful activities for secondary pupils below S7 in the month of June.
One of our top priorities: security at the school
By Johan Melander, APEEE Vice-President Administrative Affairs, on behalf of the security working group in APEEE BXLII
Security at school is difficult, we want our children to have a school experience that is as normal as possible while minimising the risks. We have to work with risks of low likelihood – high impact events like fire, gas leak and an attack -- while we also keep a focus on high likelihood and low impact events like an accident in transport, in periscolaire, or something going wrong in the canteen. The balance we have strived for has been influenced by events around the world and specific security related input from the European Commission. An example of this approach was that the APEEE supported the decision to keep Footfest this year, despite the raised alert level.
Together with APEEE, the school has significantly reduced freely available information about events – most is now found on websites where login is needed to obtain the information, or is sent directly to parents via e-mail. This is more cumbersome for us as parents but a low price to be paid to improve our security.
The APEEE has one employee who has probably more security training than anyone employed by the school. The school management listens to us and our staff because we have valuable expertise, and because the whole school community security lies at the centre of our work. We are an active partner in the school’s Health and Security meetings and we keep an open dialogue going at all times with school management.
We have pushed the school to maintain safe practices and apply pressure on Régie de Batîment (the Belgian authority in charge of the school's grounds and buildings) to do the necessary. Money has been allocated for an improved fence around the school perimeter and a tender was opened but only one bid arrived. Thus, the tender had to be re-launched, which is why this most urgent need for our "outer shell" is yet awaiting improvement.
Many parents have contacted us with suggestions and observations. We try to act on them as best as possible. We can always do better with more people volunteering so please let us know where you think you can contribute and/or where you see a need for improvement.
Preventing violence in the playground
By Sara Roda, APEEE Board member
On 17 November, the Parents Association of the European School of Brussels II – Woluwe (APEEE), in association with the European School of Brussels II – Woluwe, organised a conference for parents, educational team and school staff to explain why bullying and violence in playgrounds is currently increasing and what could be done to tackle the issue.
The conference was given by a very well-known professor, psychologist and researcher from the University of Mons, Mr Frédéric Hardy who has dedicated his life to this problem. He has developed a project to prevent bullying in school playgrounds (http://www.sciencesdelafamille.be/pr%C3%A9vention-de-la-violence-et-du-harc%C3%A8lement-scolaire/). This project has been implemented by more than 500 Belgian schools.
"With little human and financial resources, violence in schools could be decreased by 60%", explained Prof Hardy. Everything is a question of territory and school playground needing to be divided in order to avoid bullying. Everyone could be a bully and a victim. The bully always needs a public, who then becomes accomplice and, ultimately, a bully himself. One act of violence is sufficient to initiate the bullying cycle – if a child does not learn/know that his/her action has caused harm, he/she continues with the same behaviour until it is stopped (a question of territory and power). Therefore, violence needs to be understood as intolerable from an early age.
Prof Hardy added that nowadays children endure more due to the internet and cyber-bullying. "They no longer have a moment of rest. In the past, they would go home after school taking a break from violence. Today, with the internet this is no longer true".
What solutions exist?
Defining school areas
Prof Hardy mentioned that only 20% of the children in the school playground are very energetic and need to run to spend their energy. The remaining 80% prefer calmer activities. Footballers’ are generally the ones that are most energetic and that can cause more troubles. "In order to prevent violence in the playground, you need to clearly define school areas, providing for four different areas:- an area to play football (and this needs to be respected);
- an area to run without a ball;
- an area to talk (and here you need to create an environment propitious for conversation – benches need to be facing each other and not placed against the wall of the playground, as they create the perfect scenario for bullying); and,
- a green area to rest or walk in order to allow the child to enjoy nature (if the playground allows)."
Speaking about it
Prof Hardy says that the most difficult part is to convince children to talk about how they feel. Children who have become victims of bullying often do not tell their parents that they are being bullied. Parents are always the last ones to know. First they tell their teddy bears, then their friends, then their teachers/school staff and finally parents.
The school needs to proportionate a sort of "group therapy" and teachers need to receive a brief training in this regard.
The "group therapy" would consist of the following: at the end of the playground and just before starting class when children are seated, the teacher would ask students how the playground went, if they liked it or not; or the teacher could put in place a mood barometer, i.e. a bowl where children would insert a colour ball (green representing good, yellow not so good and red bad) when entering the class). If children did not like it or many red balls appear, they should be reassured by the teacher and invited to talk about what happened in the playground without giving names. The children should also be invited to explain how this behaviour made them feel. Then the teacher should ask the class what could be done to help them, what solution would they propose. This is very important in order to create empathy and compassion, and for the problem to become everyone’s problem.
In the majority of the cases, it is the bully that provides a solution, as they normally do not realise that they are the bullies.
The group therapy needs to be regular.
Further information:
- Prévention de la violence et du harcèlement dans les cours de récréation (sciencesdelafamille.be)
- Plate-forme Amélioration du climat scolaire : prévention du harcèlement (clps-bw.be)
What is next?
The APEEE requested Prof Hardy to prepare a report with practical suggestions to improve playground area and current school measures. This report is expected to be delivered in a few weeks time. For this report, Prof Hardy visited the school on 26 October, had discussions with students and met the Primary Deputy Director and many members of its staff (in particular the "Vivre ensemble" team) on several occasions to understand the needs and reality of the school. Last year, , he gave a lecture to teachers on the same topic upon the occasion of the pedagogical day 3 November 2015.
The APEEE will continue to work with the school to provide a caring and safe environment for its pupils.
The meeting was attended by Deputy Director Javier Arnedo, several members of his educational team responsible for and/or with a special interest on this issue, in particular Ms Sophie Speeckaert, Ms Christine Frazer and Ms Christine Thomas, as well as by several members of the school staff, and by Sara Roda from the APEEE Board. The conference was recorded and we hope to make the film available soon via the Office 365.
European schools' exchange programme is a "marvellous opportunity"
An interview with school exchange expert Joanna Maguire-Charlat conducted for WoluwInfo by Andreas Rogal
The European School System introduced its exchange programme orginally in 1999, and foresaw exchange opportunities for S3, S4 and S5 pupils, with the duration of their stay increasing from four to six weeks and up to one term, depending on the level. It has since been reduced to S4 and S5, with some schools, though not ours, even deciding to now exclusively offer S5 exchanges. New guidelines have been published on the school's website recently.
The school's liaison officer for exchanges is Hilde Christiaensen, on our APEEE board, Albert Raedler and Andreas Rogal have recently taken over from Carlos Trejo as the programme's mentors.
Our interviewee, Joanna Maguire-Charlat, has been intimately involved in the programme for the last four years. Her three children have graduated from the French Section at three European Schools, Brussels 1-Uccle, Mol and Brussels 3-Ixelles.
As APEEE Board Member and Interparents Rep for Ixelles from 2013, Joanna was a member of the Working Group on Exchanges that recently completed its two-year mandate at the Office of the Secretary-General for the European Schools, resulting in the adoption of the new guidelines.
When our school recently had difficulties finding host families for two S4 students selected for an exchange, coming from the European schools of Luxemburg I and Varese respectively, Joanna successfully came to the rescue as a trouble-shooter.
When one thinks of student exchanges at secondary school level, either short reciprocal visits of substantial numbers of classmates, or longer term stays for individual immersion in a foreign language environment normally spring to mind. The exchange programme, now renamed the Mobility Programme of the European Schools fits neither description. What, to your mind, is the intrinsic value of this programme?
The programme has had to define its own ways of functioning within our school system, consisting of the fourteen schools and within each school. This constitutes a limit, of course, but it also provides a marvellous opportunity to have access a a kind of community, making our students aware that there are other students in different European countries following a similar curriculum.
The programme is essentially academic and linguistic but it is also a cultural exchange. The academic aim is to expose students to a reasonably familiar learning environment in which they can be exposed to their L2 or L3.
But how does it expose them to their L2 or L3, when the students stay in their original language section?
That is a constraint, that's true, and our Working Group has argued for a more flexible approach on this, allowing pupils to change sections and not having to follow all their options. But there is the exposure through the host family. In general, I try to find host families whose main language at home is the exchange pupil’s L2, L3 or even L4. If on one hand we enable students to change their language section for the duration of the exchange, the argument would be that they would have to be particularly bright, particularly apt and mature, which would make it into more of an exclusive type of programme, which I don't think is helpful. All pupils should have an opportunity to go on exchange, providing they understand the adjustments and extra work involved in making the change.
There are school directors who have encouraged pupils who are having to repeat their school to take advantage of the time to go on exchange and improve their language skills and a new learning environment. This, I think is very praiseworthy and the parents and pupils involved have been delighted by the results, but others take a different, more protective, conservative view, possibly to save pupils from having to catch up later etc. and avoid the pressure that change implies.
Your Working Group has also advocated extending the programme to include also the accredited schools of the system, which would more or less double the number of participating schools.
Yes, and the new guidelines provide for it. This is an exciting prospect, but it has to be implemented with more flexibility, namely in allowing cross-section exchanges for pupils in sections with fewer corresponding sections and for SWALS students. This would mean, for example, a Woluwe pupil with L3 Italian can go an study in Parma or Brindisi in Italian.
At the moment, the biggest problem is that we don't yet have a complete list of contacts of the people within school management and the parents' associations of the accredited schools dealing with the exchanges. If, as planned, the inclusion of the accredited schools is to begin in the next school year 2017-18, a lot of preparatory work still needs to be done. This also includes introducing the new harmonised forms, appointing two members of staff at each school and producing induction materials. My particular request, to help pupils to settle back into their home school was not taken on board in the new Guidelines, unfortunately, despite the need for this as expressed by pupils.
We had quite a debate in our Board about what exactly the role of the APEEE should be in facilitating and maintaining the exchange programme. What is your view of it?
This point was, in fact, considerably contested by a couple of a fthe APEEEs, and this has lead to one crucial phrase in the guidelines, namely that the APEEE has to appoint a contact person for the participants in the exchange, and it has been carefully worded as to not imply any legal constraints or responsibilities. This contact person doesn't have to be a Board member, by the way. This can just as well be an interested volunteer parent, who can help find potential host families and facilitate access to the APEEE secretariat and services teams.
But it is evident that the programme cannot work without the assistance of the APEEE, as visiting pupils will always need access to transport, canteen and possibly extracurricular activities. APEEEs have the benefit of an excellent information network that works across sections and classes. This undoubtedly provides the best way of informing parents that the programme exists. Reaching our parents through this network effectively opens up opportunity to host and go exchange later. It also puts parents in touch with one another, and brings parent communities together, across sections and across schools. I have personally found this aspect of coordinating exchanges hugely satisfying.
Having been somewhat dormant for several years, exchange activity at Woluwe has recently picked up again. What should we look out for to keep it thriving?
The new guidelines call for two people responsible for the programme on the side of the school, one for the administration tasks, which are considerable and the other acting as a mentor. The latter is really important for the wellbeing of the visiting students but also for that of your students who go on an exchange, notably when they come back. It's a common occurrence that returning pupils experience difficulties readjusting, and they need the support of the school.
Also, I think that the spirit, if not the principle as this would be too restrictive, of reciprocity is important, even if, regrettably, the programme has now been given the new moniker of "mobility" rather than exchange. But it is the reciprocity, as expressed in the two families, sending and hosting, getting to know each other, informal visits during holidays taking place, etc., which makes the experience valuable for all involved.
I have heard of cases in some schools where the hosting of visiting pupils has, in effect, been franchised out to landladies, former parents at schools, whose motivation is mainly profit, it would seem. That has to be avoided, in my opinion.
Imagine tomorrow at EEB II
By Corinna Valente, APEEE Board Member
'Imagine tomorrow' is the first initiative that has been jointly organised by the school management, the teachers, the students and the parents through the APEEE.
On Sunday 23 October 2016, the EEB II Salle Polyvalente was animated by teachers, students and parents reflecting together on how the school community can engage and contribute to finding solutions to the current ecological, economical and social crises.
This reflection day was organised after having together watched the movie 'Demain', screened at school two evenings before. For that occasion, the film's director, Rob Hopkins, recorded a personal introductory video-message for the EEB II community expressing his excitement and curiosity about what the EEB II of Demain might look like. The movie 'Demain' shows how people, people like us, have started and joined concrete and positive actions which are working and expanding at high speed around the world. Participants in the movie screening reported that they spent the day after in a feel-good mood.
Despite the early hour, on reflection day teachers, students and parents were fully motivated to share their thoughts on what could be tomorrow's world and on how the school community could help in achieving such a world. The non-conference technique used during the reflection day, called the 'fishbowl' technique, created some magic: everybody felt free to actively participate in the discussions, and they did so for hours without noticing the time passing by. Students expressed their happiness to be able to speak freely in a space where contributions are all equally important. All participants expressed their wish to initiate specific projects related to agriculture, energy, economy, democracy and education, and all came out of the school inspired on that Sunday.
On the planning day that took place in November, we practiced "Open Space Technology", i.e. a marketplace of inquiry, reflection and learning, that brought out the best in participants by releasing their inherent creativity and leadership. A shared lunch was also proposed, along with planting activities in the school garden. Several project ideas are now currently being developed through self-organisation among different school community groups.
If you wish to be part of 'Imagine tomorrow' please join us on Facebook!
Extracurricular maths workshop suggested
By Fiona Meyer, APEEE Board Member
After a great success from the Dyscalculia conference this past month, we are hoping to offer math workshops as an extracurricular activity at our school, EEBII. Children can learn an easy maths method called Vedic Maths. It is a method which is based on pattern recognition and it is easier for children to learn and express their creativity.
Why Vedic Maths?
- Because it helps pupils who have problems with abstract and logical reasoning.
- It is a fun way to learn Maths using this method
- Vedic Mathematics helps with Math anxiety
Please find enclosed a flyer with more information about this Maths workshop.