Introduction

By Francesca Tudini, APEEE President

Dear Parents,

This is our last newsletter for 2017. Once again, it has been a challenging year.

As a Board we have been working hard to fulfil our mandate and I am quite proud of what we have achieved. We have positioned ourselves as a knowledgeable interlocutor with the Secretariat General of the European Schools and increased our efforts in Interparents. Our cooperation with the other APEEEs, in particular those of the Brussels schools, has never been so intensive.

Within the school, our experience is that school management is asking more and more for our input, opinion and support. Together we are fighting for our school’s needs, for example when it comes to infrastructures. We still remain attentive to areas in which progress ought to be made, such as ensuring a consistently high teaching quality.

Our Working Groups and Task Forces cover a variety of topics, and this year have welcomed more volunteer parents than ever before. We are active in all fields that are related to the life of our children at school. This requires considerable effort. I would like to thank all those parents who have been contacting us and working with us, giving ideas, suggestions, or asking support for their initiatives. The brand new Welcome Policy has helped new families in getting familiar with the system in an easier way. The partnership with the parents' community at large is growing. We want to continue on this way.

You all know that our next General Assembly will be on 29 January. All class representatives are all kindly invited to attend. There will be at least 14 vacancies to fill and we are hoping for at least as many candidates. We always need fresh ideas and motivated people. And remember: you do not have to be a class rep to stand!

At this time of the year, we would also like to thank all Class Representatives for the work they have done in cooperation with APEEE.

We look forward to seeing you all at the General Assembly. As a reminder, the description of class reps’ tasks is published on our website:

http://woluweparents.org/en/action-hub/class-representatives/

It has recently been slightly updated with an important call to the respect of confidential data they might have knowledge of because of their position.

Our Annual Report with all the details on the work done this year will be published in due time before the GA. Please read it carefully and find the gaps: should you consider that the APEEE is not active in a field where we should be, please tell us. We wish you all a great Christmas and a wonderful New Year.

Educational Support: review of a year

The best job in the world!

By Manuela Caramujo, Education Support coordinator

Being a parent is by far the hardest and most demanding job in the world. Children come without an instruction manual. There are never two the same (even if they are twins). Everyone, family, co-workers, friends, are happy to give advice, but there are no miracle solutions. And, of course, comparisons are forbidden!

If children develop into what it is called a pattern of "normality", things can still be demanding and sometimes difficult, but they adhere to the rules. Society likes rules (and of course, we need them to live), so everything is ok.

But when a child falls out of that pattern, when he/she lacks the ability to socialize, when she/he suffers from some learning disability, just to mention "lighter" differences, the family has to deal with incomprehension and, at some point, suffering. And as every suffering process, it can breed pressure and loneliness.

A school environment is always stressful for everybody, specially if you are new to the system. But you are not alone!

Our parents association has a working group responsible for Educational Support that is always available to try to help in any difficulty you may encounter at this level at school. During this year, we answered to every call, to every message sent directly to the working group members or to the APEEE secretariat. We offered our support, we clarified doubts, we accompanied parents to meetings with the school administration every time we were required, we advised parents on how to formulate their demands for educational support and how to continue struggling when the first demand was denied. On that subject, we are very happy that we have been able to advise a family to positively influence the Board of Inspectors' decision to recognize dyscalculia as a learning disability condition, allowing, for the first time, the use of formula sheets during the BAC examinations.

To enlighten parents about the procedure of Educational Support, we organized an informal info-evening on 20 November, where parents and school management (directors and support coordinators) were able to discuss in a fruitful and constructive way. Certainly, there is always room for improvement, but the FAQ's that we now have at the families' disposal on our website are a good starting point for further discussion. We would like to thank the school's administration for their support and the almost 100 parents who attended.

During this event, we presented the results of the survey on educational support that we conducted last Spring and that are available on the APEEE website.

For next year, we already have scheduled a conference on "Learning Disabilities: ADHD, Autism, Dyslexia and Dyscalculia" by Dr Nuno Lobo-Antunes, on the 26th February, at 7pm, at our school. This conference will be a joint event of the 4 Brussels schools' APEEEs, in a sign of positive cooperation in the best interest of our school community.

In Educational Support, and especially when it comes to inclusiveness, the European School System still has a long way to go, but with your help, input and support we are on a good path.

2017 is nearing its end, 2018 is around the corner. Time for a toast to the most wonderful job in the world: being a parent!

Happy New Year! with Good Health, Peace, Love and Inclusiveness!

Sankt Martin

By Kai-Christine Pyka

When I was a child, the lantern procession behind Sankt Martin on his horse was an autumn highlight*. We would either have made the lanterns ourselves, or bought some with fancy motives and shapes. We would sing traditional songs about lanterns and Saint Martin and how he was a good man, sharing with the poor. The procession would end with our Saint Martin getting off his horse next to a beggar and slicing his cloak in two, so he could share it. Us kids would then go to the next bakery to get our Weckmann, a dough person with a clay pipe that you could really whistle through.

So, when the German Maternelle Section parents had a choice between either celebrating Christmas or Sankt Martin together with the teachers, the overwhelming majority doodled for Sankt Martin. The teachers made the lanterns with the kids beforehand and on the evening also replaced Sankt Martin on the horse by leading the procession across the school yard. We all sang together and little brothers and sisters happily waved the electric lights stripped of their lanterns. The evening ended in the préau, with Weckmänner, alcohol-free mulled wine, hot dogs, and various other snacks. It was our own little version of a big tradition, which is even celebrated in Tervuren each year now and attracts quite a crowd.

*Only as an adult did I find out that Sankt Martin, celebrated on 11th Nov, also used to be an important date on which farm land leases started or ended because it coincided with the natural cycle of land use. Payment for those leases was often done in form of a goose… which is where the feast of the traditional Martinsgans comes from.

News in brief (from the wider EE world)

By Jan von Pfaler & Andreas Rogal, APEEE Interparents delegates

The Commissioner is on the case

EU-Budget Commissioner Günther Oettinger - in charge of European Schools' affairs due to his role as EC Human Resources supremo - has taken an active interest in the schools and has held a series of meetings with stakeholders to listen to their concerns. His meeting with EE directors in October was reported in the internal Commission publication Au Quotidien on 17.10. Last week, he met with the parents - two Interparents representatives and the presidents of all APEEEs, including ours. The commissioner appeared well briefed and sympathetic to all critical concerns, according to her feedback: from the crisis in teacher recruitment to the Brussels' schools long standing issue of the need for a fifth school. Belgian authorities cannot confirm any concrete plan for the fifth school within next years at this point. The commissioner told the presidents that he had arranged a meeting with Belgian Minister of the Interior Jambon, but that the minister apparently did not turn up to it. He vowed to try to meet him again. And he proposed to the presidents to organise a European School Summit together in the next year.

Already at preceding meetings with members of his cabinet, APEEE representatives, your IP delegates amongst them, were given the impression that Oettinger really wants to make a difference - in the framework and the timeline of his mandate which will end in 18 months time.

Changes in the enrolment policy in Brussels

Even if new sections are not established at the Berkendael school, for next school year new pupils for any section will be sent to Berkendael to fill it up, but only if certain conditions for the class are fullfilled (see separate article in this newsletter) The policy only applies to children without siblings in other European schools. It is likely to create small, vertically combined classes with pupils and teachers isolated from their section.

Marking scale

The new assessment system for Secondary will be taken into use next September. The system will effect all pupils next autumn who are in S5 or below from here on. Those at S6 or above are kept in the old system until they graduate. Parents will have the chance to learn more during the discussion evening organized jointly by the Brussels schools parents' associations. The event is planned for early February, details to follow.

The enrolment guidelines for the European Schools – important changes, including a cross-transfers pilot scheme!

By Katarzyna Horemans, Enrolment policy group coordinator

Do you intend to enroll your child to one of the four existing European Schools in Brussels? Do you consider transferring your child from one school to another? If yes, then this message is very important for you.

On the 8 December 2017 the Board of Governors adopted a decision concerning the guidelines for the 2018-2019 Policy on Enrolment in the Brussels European Schools.

Based on those guidelines the 2018-2019 Policy on Enrolment will be published next week on the website of the Office of the Secretary-General of the European Schools.

It is important to read the Policy before submitting an application.

These are the main points to know:

The Local Staff Committee will organize on the 16 January 2017 between 13h00 14h30 (Grande salle CSC-LSC (L-80 2nd floor)) together with APEEs and Association of Parents Crèches, Jardins d'enfant and Garderies in Brussels an information session on the new enrolment policy.

Some facts about the European Schools

There are currently four European Schools offering a complete, all age range education from the nursery level up to the Baccalaureate (Uccle, Woluwe, Ixelles and Laeken) for a total pupil population of 12 691. The Brussels I European School has two sites, at Uccle and at Berkendael (the latter restricting the provision of schooling to the nursery and primary levels).

Eureka - a very special service

By Andreas Rogal, Information Secretary

Fridays have a particular place in our emotional timetable, especially if we are working normal office hours or going to school. After all, the weekend with all its possibilities of relaxation and self-determined activity beckons. At our school, Fridays are special in yet another way. Between 12:00 and 13:30 it is the time of joyful reunion for lost clothes with their owners, it's Eureka time.

Founded as a volunteer initiative by parents many years ago, the Lost and Found for hats and mittens, jackets and coats, sweaters and trainers - and even the occasional piece of underwear, as WoluwInfo learned during its recent visit of the Eureka operation - has not only been providing an essential service continuously , but has been improving it all the time.

Eureka Primary is located next to the library in a room that, unlike its predecessor, now actually has about enough space for all its items. On the Friday we visit them, traffic is not furious. It is almost closing time already, and there is an added festive atmosphere to the usual Friday feeling in the air: tomorrow, the school's Christmas market will take place.

We are greeted by Myriam, one of the six volunteer parents of the Eureka Primary team. She runs the place every other week but also comes in frequently on Mondays to work on registering and sorting incoming items, as some of her colleagues do, too, during other days of the week. All items, and there are many hundreds of them, get a coloured tag to indicate the month they have been received.

"It's really fun working with the primary children", Myriam says, "but it can be challenging. Often, the children can't quite describe what they have lost, or, once we have identified the item, they declare that this cannot possibly theirs - even though it has their name on it - and they then have to be persuaded to take it home regardless."

Obviously, Eureka Secondary does not have to engage in detective work of this order. Located just off the upper Secondary preau, it is currently run by just two volunteer parents, who are both present every Friday. "Our pupils know what they're looking for and will generally find it", Nancy Lecomte, one of the two tells us. "But there are some special cases, too. One student is well known for losing some item of clothing on an almost daily basis."

Access to the APEEE's parents' e-mail database which was granted earlier this year has proven to be a real game-changer, the volunteers confirm, as it means that all those parents who had the wisdom to attach a name-label to their child's item of clothing can now be notified about it being held at Eureka. This has improved the pick-up rate significantly.

"We regularly remind pupils - and parents, for that matter - that it sometimes takes several weeks for a lost item of clothing to reach us here", Nancy says, "still, some come looking for the lost item on the same day that they lost it, then they come back a week after, it's still not there, and after that they forget about it."

Items are kept at Eureka for three months and are then given to charity if not picked up. Without this time limit, the rooms would quickly run out of space. But some lost items turn into cash for the charities even faster: unmarked sports T-shirts and lab coats - due to the complete lack of identifiability - are immediately washed, ironed and sold for €5 and €6 respectively, with all proceeds going to charity - Eureka Secondary donates in particular to a Lithuanian orphanage.

Eureka is an entirely parent volunteer-driven service that our school community can really be proud of. This is why we are happy to amplify their call for new volunteers here: just a few hours of your time a week will make a difference and introduce you to a spirited and fun team so, why not join it?