Meet the new APEEE Board

Francesca Tudini, President

Dear Parents,

Having been on the APEEE Board for four years now is a real honour for me. I consider it as one of the most interesting experiences that a parent can have. You don't need to be part of the Board to help and support the school community, but of course if you are in, then you are in a privileged position and it is easier to play an active role.

Once again, you have elected a great team. We have been together for two months now and we are working intensively every day. It is such a pleasure to see things moving, to have challenging objectives and work hard to reach them. Apart from the Board members, we now also have many volunteer parents ready to help. There is no doubt that the level of commitment is considerable, as well as the skills and the knowledge of the whole team.

Once again I volunteered for the role of President since my main motivation is to help the machine work in an effective way. My goal is to work in a transparent and democratic way so that everybody can have a voice in all relevant issues, but at the same time to structure our internal procedures so that we can deliver as fast and as efficient as possible. I still believe in our goal of a true school-parents community, a place where we can be part of our children’s life. My own feeling is that we are a respected and trusted partner of the school. We might not always agree, but we have a frank and open dialogue with the school management, which is already a great result. I want to continue in this direction.

As a personal project, I will continue to act as the focal point for the Brussels APEEE’s negotiations with the Secretary General on the future of the Brussels schools. This is something that touches all of us: overcrowding is a key problem and these negotiations, which involve the EC, the Belgian authorities and other relevant stakeholders, are aimed at finding the best possible use of the current and future spaces to offer the best possible educational system to our children.

My personal commitment is to continue keeping "my door open" to all parents. I hope I can say that all of you who have been in contact with our Association have found people responsive and helpful. Unfortunately it is not always possible to find a solution to all problems, but you can be ensured that we always try.

Thanks a lot for your trust, we value it.

Bettina Schmidbauer-Mogensen Vice-President Pedagogical Affairs, Coordinator Canteen Working Group

Ah, it's already more than three years that I joined the APEEE. I cannot believe it! What a nice crowd we got, and a lot to do!

This year I was elected vice president, what an honour, but also what a lot of work!! So many meetings with the school, peers, working groups, I hope I can keep up with the pace.

Apart from the important projects in Secondary, dealt with very competently by Vanessa as Working Group coordinator, I am a member of the newly established Task Force on mobile phones. I make it my duty to keep you in the loop. We are currently waiting for the survey we started among Secondary parents to finish and then start a discussion on the way forward with the school. I can already see diverging views from total no to total yes to mobile phones at school. But we need to take an informed decision, that's why we shall discuss it with all stakeholders involved, teachers, parents, pupils, advisors and the school management of course, which ultimately will be the ones to take the decision on the policy.

Last year, I ventured into the school canteen business. I learned so much since, but what struck me in particular was that there are so many good things done but nearly nobody knows about them. Therefore I have adopted it as my mission to increase communication to parents but also to pupils. We are planning to organise another round of canteen visits, by parents but also, why not?, the pupils. MAT DE is planning a visit. Because if our children become aware of the effort we do for them, if they know the team that cooks for them every day, I am sure they are more likely to have a generally positive view on what they eat.

Johan Melander Vice-President Administrative Affairs, Co-ordinator IT Working Group

I want to be able to continue to build processes that support our staff and keeps costs optimal so the organisation can focus on educational matters since they are the important ones in regards to our children’s future.

Projects

Jovita Lazdiene Treasurer, co-ordinator Budget WG

Motivation:

It is our duty as parents to be active in governance of the school. My main motivation for being part of the board:

Projects:

Albert Raedler Secretary of the Bureau, Co-ordinator Transport Working Group, Co-ordinator Compliance and Risk Assessment WG, APEEE contact Mobility Programme

Together with Anthony, Albert represents the German section at Maternelle/Primary section. He writes:

In 2017, I was re-elected for a 2 year period, so this is my third year as a Member of the APEEE board. Originally, I am from Munich in Southern Germany and work for the Commission. My children are in P1 and P3 of the German section. During this term, I will be coordinating the Transport and the Compliance issues working groups, but I will also be involved in pedagogical questions for Primary. Teaming up with Andreas, we will also look into the dossier "school exchanges", now called the Mobility Programme, within the European School system.

Kasia Horemans Member of the Bureau, Coordinator Central Enrolment Policy Working Group, Coordinator Extracurricular Activities WG

By nature I am a pro-social extrovert, a true free spirit, enjoying the social and emotional connections with others. I like contacts with people, certainly so if I can benefit from exchanging views, learning new things and acquiring new horizons. I believe being part of the parents association provides this opportunity in abundance.

I would like to contribute to the development of the activities programme that APEEE offers to our students after school. As by nature I tend to nurture personal development, and I find it extremely important that our pupils learn how to discover themselves, their interests and their potential. I believe that we should do in life what we really like. Through various options offered in the early stages of life, a person gets an excellent opportunity to learn, discover and eventually grow. With great enthusiasm and true interest I would like to bring a value to this process.

Andreas Rogal Bureau Secretary of Information, INTERPARENTS delegate, APEEE contact Mobility Programme

This is my fourth year on the Board and perhaps the biggest change for me this year is that I am now representing the English section in Secondary rather than in Primary. It sure gets quite a bit more complex up there….

I am continuing to serve as information secretary in the Bureau and as coordinator of the associated Working Group of the Board -- now much enhanced by the advent of new members with substantial experience in the field. The first thing that the group decided was to reinvent itself as the Communications WG. They say even a good thing can always be improved upon and that is certainly what we are going to try and do.

Vanessa Auhlela Coordinator Secondary Pedagogical Affairs (CEES) Working Group

Vanessa represents the Italian speaking section at Secondary level, she writes:

This is my second year at the APEEE board. My daughter is doing her BAC this year, my son is in S3.

Working full time and engaging within the APEEE board, in particular on secondary issues is quite a challenge, but you meet also so many engaged parents, students and teachers and this is (at least most of the time) a real pleasure.

So I would like to continue help parents better understand the school and help the school (teachers and management) understand better the parents. In an environment of mutual trust it is certainly easier to overcome shortcomings and to find solutions for all kinds of problems...

Anthony Bisch Co-ordinator Maternelle and Primary Pedagogical Affairs (CEPM) Working Group

Anthony has been re-elected to the Board after an initial one-year term. With one child in nursery, he represents the German section. He writes:

I aim at fostering interaction and communication between parents and school. As CEPM coordinator, I gather comments from parents to find a workable way ahead with school management in cases of concern or dispute.

My main commitments relate to educational support and to an anti-bullying policy which can offer a harmonious development for our kids.

Furthermore I am strongly involved in the school audit to measure the impact of overcrowding on our kids as well as in the implementation of the data protection rules. I am also committed to guarantee a high quality standard for the transport and canteen services provided by the APEEE.

Bengt Davidsson Co-ordinator Health, Safety and Security Working Group

Bengt was re-elected and is a board member since 2017. He has a child in P3 and one child in Nursery. He represents the Swedish section in Primary.

I stood for relection at the APEEE board as I wanted to continue to be closely involved in my kids' school develoments and to contribute with my experience and my positive energy. Having an engineering and environmental management background, I naturally put an emphasis on good structures and green credentials.

This year, I will continue my task as coordinator for the working group on health, safety and security. This is an important but challenging task with the purpose mainly to keep pressure on the school management. The issues covered by this working group are problems with the school's infrastructure (buildings), controlled access to the school site, and pupils’ well-being.

Another area that interest me is the school bus working group, with a potential to improve our environmental performance. I am also engaged in the nursery and primary education council (CEP&M). It is important to further bridge the gap between the parents and the school management. A positive dialogue with the school is fundamental for good results!

Cristina P. M. Sarmento Active Community Working Group Chair

“You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” Gandhi

It is my first year as a parent at EEBII and it is my first year at the APEEE Board. We can say it has been “2 in 1”, as an overall very rich and impressive experience, so far!

Let’s say that I’m keen on “walking the talk” and that is why I took the challenge to apply to be part of the Parents Association, knowing the huge responsibility that it represents.

Why “Active Community”? The need to promote a participative citizenship is something that has driven me over the years, both at a personal and at a professional level, so it was quite “natural” to accept to be part of this Working Group (WG). Always acknowledging the great work that has been put into place before, so far, we have been defining our path and there are already several initiatives that we shall shortly share with everybody. All of them have one main goal: to promote a sense of belonging to the school community, gathering and enhancing a dialogue between everyone who is in stake.

We are an “open forum” to all ideas/projects that either come from and/or benefit school community, cooperating closely with all other Working Groups (in my case I also take part in the “Welcome WG” and in the “Volunteers Task Force”). Do join us!

Being a mother of 2 students in the EEBII (one of them in the Secondary and the other in the Primary), between the other Portuguese APEEE Board Member, Manuela and myself, it was decided that I should take part on the CEP/M (Comité d’éducation élargie pour la primaire/maternelle). As in all other forums I hope I’ll be able to contribute to the enhancing of this unique opportunity that all of us share which is to be the “change” that we “wish to see”!

Ana Dumitrache Co-ordinator Welcome Committee

This is Ana's second term on the Board, representing the French section. A trained lawyer, she works on employment, education & training policies at the European Economic and Social Committee. Ana writes:

Bonjour! I am very glad and honoured to be part of the APEEE Board, elected for the second year to represent parents from the French section. After my first active year on the Board, I have learned a lot and I can better understand the challenges we face in our school and how much needs to be improved. I would like to get further involved and contribute to creating a more pleasant environment for our children and parents and high quality education and activities.

This year, I took over the co-ordination of the Welcome service for new pupils and parents, and one of my projects is to extend it to all children and families. While it is very important indeed to give information and welcome newcomers in our school, I think it is also important for all of us – different sections, different years – to learn from each other, share best practices and understand how we can prepare our kids for future school years. I am convinced that such a project can contribute to shaping a genuine, friendly community in our school.

I am also interested in pedagogical matters, the transition from nursery to primary and from primary to secondary, and in issues such as overcrowding, health & safety, anti-bullying and anti-drug policies and improving communication with parents.

I take part in several projects and Working Groups, such as: Primary and Nursery educational group (CEP/M), Extra-curricular activities, Health, safety and security, and Communication.

I look forward to working in a constructive way with all of you - parents, pupils, colleagues from the APEEE, the school direction and staff! I am at your disposal and will do my very best to help, so please do contact me on ana.dumitrache@eesc.europa.eu.

Thank you for your trust! Merci de votre confiance et à très bientôt, je l'espère!

Manuela Caramujo Coordinator Educational Support Working Group

It is my second year at the board of the APEEE. It has been a very interesting and rewarding first year, even if it meant a lot of work. As coordinator for educational support I had the opportunity to learn a lot about the functioning of the school and the means that are available to the students with learning difficulties. I am always grateful when I advise or accompany parents to a meeting and my knowledge or presence can be helpful, acting as a mediator in the best interests of students and therefore also their families. We have organized 2 major events in the field of education support (an info-evening and a conference on learning disabilities) that we plan to repeat at the request of parents and the school itself in this new year. A lot of work has still to be done towards an inclusive European school system. Continue to work towards this aim is my motivation. Related to inclusion, induction or welcoming the new students and families at our school, is another of my fields of work at the APEEE. I am also a member of the Health, Safety and Security working group, with a special interest in drugs issues. And of course, since my 2 children are in secondary school, I hope to continue to give my contribution to the CEES (Comité d’éducation élargie pour le sécondaire). I do believe that we, voluntary as well as elected parents of APEEE, can make the difference.

Sanjee Goonetilake Coordinator for the Volunteers

I am representing the Dutch language section with children in P1 and P5.

I am a new parent since September 2016 and I have been a volunteer member of the Active Working Community during the last year focusing on the negative impacts of excessive use of electronic devices such as smart phones, tablets and i-pads.

My name is Sanjee. Sanjee comes from the Sanskrit name 'Sanjeevani' which means ‘the medicine that gives life’. I believe that we all have a role in giving, or enhancing, 'life' and my goal is to enhance life in every possible way. I believe that human warmth, empathy, courtesy, tolerance, mutual respect, honesty, integrity and compassion are fundamental principles of any society striving for peaceful co-existence.

Originally from Sri Lanka, I am a world citizen and a proud European with a passion for ecological issues and opinion making. I have a background in International Relations, European affairs, humanitarian work, creative writing, social media management and grassroots-level development work. I have lived and worked in three continents and I have spent the last 11 years in Eritrea, Zimbabwe and Namibia.

My motivation to become a Board member is summed up by the following: Both my children love the school, its diversity of cultures, linguistic bubbles and the highly qualified, inspiring and motivated staff. Having lived in three different continents, having been exposed to different schools, I would like to offer alternative perspectives to the challenges we face each day. Above all, I am passionate about 'emotional intelligence' and 'human warmth' in education.

In this context, I feel overwhelmed by the mandate I have been given by the parent body to increase awareness and support the school, in partnership with the school management, the student body and the parents, but committed to finding solutions for the challenges we face in the usage of drugs, excessive mobile phone use, screen addiction, bullying of all forms and all negative aspects that we face in the digitally dominated world. Therefore, I will act as a coordinator for all digital-related matters within the Security, Safety and Health Working Group.

I continue to be a member of the Active Working Community which I first joined as a volunteer parent, and where we support different projects in the spirit of community building.

I am delighted to be a member of the Cantine Working Group as I believe in the philosophy that children are what you feed them and in the Communication working group where I will search for my role in contributing to the spirit of community building effort through writing.

As a new parent, I have been a strong supporter of the Welcome Committee which Rose Forrest created. I hope to assist in continuing her dream to make it an essential part of the school community spirit by being a part of the welcome committee and creating another new 'baby' which is the role of the Volunteer Coordinator which will facilitate the work of both the Welcome Committee and the Active Working Community.

I have now begun a journey to search for, define, recognize and activate the role of parent volunteers and parent mentors. I will soon be launching a database and I look forward to meeting you, and listening to and understanding all your concerns in order to reap the best harvest from our highly-qualified parent community.

Feel free to contact me, should you be interested in volunteering for the school in any form.

sanjee.goonetilake.apeee@gmail.com

Jan von Pfaler INTERPARENTS delegate

I have represented the parents on the Board for two years now. I am grateful to have parent colleagues, both in and outside the Board, who do much for the immediate everyday well-being in the school. I choose to focus on long-term issues, the sustainability and accountability of the school system and I believe this the best use of my time.

I am motivated by two things that I feel cannot easily be replaced by alternatives: I find the fundamental mission of the European schools, including plurilingualism, important. I also see the European Schools fundamentally supporting the national diversity of the institutions' staff. Other international organizations do not provide anything like our schools.

The schools have a lot on their plate - Brussels infrastructure, retaining and recruiting teachers, school pedagogical reform, expansion of the accredited schools and more - none of which are impossible to solve, but equally, none of which are solved by wishing them away. I have seen parents make a big difference in simply not letting the issues be forgotten, but I believe the biggest difference comes from setting out a realistic vision.

There is one issue parents should have a vision on as it lies at the core of our pedagogy: the role of the mother tongue, or dominant language. Our system is still largely based on an implicit assumption of an encompassing family language, clear and strong. Yet the existing reality comprises increasingly plurilingual families. Occasionally, children - entering the school - speak best neither/no parent's mother tongue. How would we like to make sure the child gets the best feasible and even sufficient support in this environment; which language should be L1 for a trilingual child; which role we can reasonably expect the schools to perform?

We need a clear vision on this for the school we want to have. I would welcome a discussion on how you see this - I am happy to get your comments and first hand experience on how this works for your child.

jan.von.pfaler.apeee@gmail.com

Ruta Avulyte Jelage

Ruta is a new Board member, representing the Lithuanian (mainly Primary) section. Her elder daughter is at P1 and the younger one is a soon-to-be-Maternelle pupil. Ruta has more than 20 years of professional experience in the fields of internationalization of (higher) education, sustainable development, humanitarian assistance, research, public information/relations, TV reporting through United Nations, OSCE, EU, (inter)governmental institutions, various think tanks, (inter)national media outlets. Ruta lived, studied and worked on six continents, longest being (apart from Lithuania) in Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Liberia, The Netherlands, Portugal, Timor Leste (East Timor) and the USA. Most recently she was heading the Lithuanian Non-Governmental Development Cooperation Organisations' Platform (NGDO Platform), being the main watchdog in Lithuania of the UN Sustainable Development Goals implementation.

Ruta is a doer and thus prefers to get involved rather than keep complaining. At the APEEE Board she mainly focuses on the welcome service, bullying prevention, harmonisation of cross-cutting syllabus, which would foster the empathy to diversity of the cultures/life style, etc., and the promotion of volunteerism.

Christian Bondeson-Eggert

Christian has two daughters in the Swedish section, and was elected to the board in January 2018. His experience of communication work is the reason why he decided to run for the APEEE board.

I think that for many parents the role of the APEEE is unclear. I think that there are many stories to tell to explain what the APEEE is doing, with the aim to engage parents and to ensure that they keep volunteering. Telling these stories to busy parents and making communication as efficient as possible may perhaps sound as an easy task, but communicating in a multicultural, multilingual environment never is, as I have learned in my professional life. I am looking forward to the challenge!

Christian is - not surprisingly - a member of the Communication working group. Its top priority for 2018 is to establish a communication policy and provide clear guidelines for the APEEEE communication work. The different channels - website, newsletter, facebook, twitter, emails, meetings, printed material - will also be reviewed. The last priority is to ensure that the board members'actively contribute to creating relevant content for these channels.

Johanna Saarentalo-Vuorimäki

I have two children in European School Woluwe, a daughter in 4th grade and a son in 6th grade. This is my third year on the APEEE Board. I will continue on the Secondary Pedagogical working group and on the Canteen working group, and I also joined the new Health, Security and Safety group, where I will concentrate on issues that concern the Secondary school. I am a social psychologist by profession, and I will offer my expertise in this respect to the APEEE.

Jeroen Janss

is a new member of the Board, representing the Dutch section at Primary level. He writes:

I have three boys in the Dutch section (P5, P2 and M2) and over the past 7 years I got to know the many wonders of the school as well as its challenges.

Some challenges are specific to our school and some are shared with many other schools. In fact, my father was a teacher at a secondary school and experienced a burn-out, some 30 years ago. Since then, the pace and the amount of impulses have increased a lot and around me I see what that does.

Over the coming year I hope to be able to “take the pulse”, focusing on well-being and mental health and see what can and what needs to be done - in partnership with staff, teachers, parents and children.

My past experience can be helpful. Following a career in HR consulting, I decided 5 years ago to focus on teaching mindfulness, yoga and other ways to lead a more balanced and conscious life. Time and again I am inspired by how people open up to life’s challenges and find ways to cope and flourish.

I trust that our collective school community has answers to our challenges and I look forward to connecting with you. In fact, if you read this and would like to get involved, do contact me via jejanss@gmail.com. Looking forward to hearing from you.

Saïda Khanboubi

Saida has been newly elected to the Board, representing the English section (Primary). She writes:

I am from Moroccan city of Eljadida. I left Morocco to study IT in Paris, and then I got a scholarship to study information systems at the IAE Sorbonne.

Since 2010 I work for DG Research ERCEA in the IT unit; to develop and support the IT application undera Horizon 2020 ERC grant. Previously, I worded as an IT consultant in the banking sector in France and in Belgium.

I have 2 children in the school who are aged 10 (in English Primary section) and 14 (in the French Secondary section).

Recently I have been elected into the APEEE CA, which I see as a great opportunity for me to get to know the school system. I will be very happy to help the parents and try to answer their questions.

I like the variety of tasks within my mandate, in particular in the Working Groups on Education Support, on Health, Safety and Security, on the Canteen, and on IT issues.

Mounia Benyahia

Motivation:

La volonté de participer plus activement aux différents projets encours et faire entendre nos voix car à l ’EEB 2, la section francophone est majoritaire et pourtant n’est pas assez représentée.

Projets:

Guido Ricci

Motivation et projets:

Our children’s right to proper health, safety and security conditions

By Bengt Davidsson

All pupils must be safe at school. This is a starting point for APEEE: health, safety and security matters are a high priority. With the new APEEE board in place, the working group on health,, safety and security (WG HSS) has been re-established, aiming at developing a consistent and coherent strategy within the following three areas:

APEEE’s objective is straightforward – to ensure all children’s right to proper health, safety and security conditions at our school. Our role in these areas is to support and keep pressure on the school management to maintain and improve its performance on safety and security, and to further advance in the field of health and well-being. APEEE is, however, not in the driving seat for activities related to these three areas, as the responsibility lies with the school management.

Although not a legal service of the APEEE, we are getting involved because we see a need for it, and we believe we can be of help. This has the following background: in February 2013, our school experienced a gas leak which nearly resulted in a serious incident. As a result, the entire school was immediately evacuated and remained closed for two weeks. Fortunately, no one was hurt or injured.

As a follow-up, immediate safety risks were assessed, flaws in the piping system were repaired, and the school management organized meetings on health and safety, in which APEEE took part. With the terrorist attacks in Brussels in March 2016, attention switched to security matters, but only a year thereafter, the central school administration decided to stop the meetings dedicated to health, safety and security.

A success story: the escape staircase

In autumn 2017, the APEEE wrote to the Belgian Deputy Prime Minister, Jan Jambon, with a request to urgently install an external evacuation staircase of the primary section’s school building. This building is every day used by 1.100 pupils, aged 4-11 years, plus school staff.

Structural problems to the building were identified already after the gas leak incident, such as the absence of an external escape route from the top floor of the primary section’s building. The lack of separate escape routes endangers safe evacuation of also the second and first floors, particularly in a panic situation.

Therefore, we failed to understand why the installation of such simple but important piece of equipment, that concerns the immediate safety of hundreds of children, has not been completed despite the significant risk that was identified almost five years ago. Please note that this is just one example of the structural problems at our school. But the good news are that the fire staircased will be installed during the Easter break, so our efforts have in the end paid off!

Upon request of the APEEE board, the school management has agreed to organise dedicated meetings on health, safety and security matters starting from this spring. Although the safety situation has improved greatly at school since the gas leak incident, the above incidents and later developments demonstrates a need for a critical but friendly pressure group on these matters.

Well-being: a complex matter

Good health and wellbeing of pupils are important factors of a successful school. This area includes items such as the prevention and tackling of emotional, physical and sexual abuse; addresses harassment, bullying; mental health; negative effects of smoking, alcohol and drugs abuse; and negative effects of excessive use of electronic devices, social media behaviour; and digital dementia.

Our school has for a long time been active in these areas. But they are complex and evolve with the society. The approach to these items may require different methods compared to safety and security, which will develop over time. Assessment of compliance to child protection policies, the need for targeted actions, setting-up pilots, etc., are examples of possible developments. It should be noted that our support is on systemic level, not addressing individuals.

Our priorities for 2018

Based on the priorities, detailed programmes or action lists are to be developed by the working group.

More information

Our working group consists of members of the APEEE board. Volunteering parents are also invited, to contribute with suggestions, ambitions, expertise and network. Please contact us if you are interested to contribute or to join the working group, or have suggestions or questions!

For future updates on plans and programmes by the working group, please see our website under the Health, Safety & Security folder. For news update, please see the NEWSFLASH on our website.

Contact details of the APEEE on health, safety and security matters are:

News from the canteen

By Bettina Schmidbauer-Mogensen

Dear parents,

The canteen is a subject very dear to me and I suppose many of you too! We want good food, we want happy kids who eat well so they are able to master the day. Rest assured the canteen is working hard every day for this purpose.

What we already do:

As most of you know already, we organised an info session in the canteen last year and many of you were positively surprised by the efforts that are put into cooking the food. In case you missed it, here is the presentation shown at that info session again: http://woluweparents.org/2017/11/24/presentation-de-reunion-cantine-21112017/

Sometimes we receive complaints from parents, as to their kids did not get enough or it was just not the right thing. Well, now you can actually see the dish of the day online every day as we make a picture for you to see: http://woluweparents.org/2018/02/26/menu-mars-2018/

We already produce most of our dishes on the premises, avoiding ready-made products, e.g. potato purée. But kids love potato purée! Therefore, APEEE invested money to buy two new Thermomix-like huge cooking pans in order to be able to process our nice bio veggies directly on site into nice purées and other good stuff. Delivery of the monsters is expected before the summer, let's keep fingers crossed.

We also support our children when they come up with food initiatives, like the meat free week coming up soon.

We also don't want to forget the teachers: happy teachers, happy kids, right? Therefore, we headed their long standing calls for a salad buffet. Two weeks ago, the APEEE Board voted to invest money for a self-service project. In fact, we wil serve the menu but it'll be possible to just buy parts of it. Plus we will offer a salad bar. This is a more flexible, modern solution and like that we can also offer longer opening hours for the teachers. Expect this to happen hopefully before the summer break.

Our upcoming projects:

I am in contact with a nutritionist and together with the canteen we will discuss what else we can do to improve our food. She also has a lot of contacts for bio and local producers.

And finally, another initiative is to tackle the issue of eating disorders. Increasingly, our children are under pressure from media, peers, etc. I will try to bring this issue and how we can tackle it up for discussion. Either in a module at class or in a course for teenagers as an after school activity. If you have ideas, you are most welcome to contribute!

Our challenges:

Having said all that, we cannot forget the limitations of our space. We have the smallest canteen of all the Brussels European Schools! But we work with the most varied producers, mainly bio ones. Others are looking at our example already. In the meantime, we continue to struggle with limited eating time for our children - imposed by the overcrowding and small spaces we have.

The BAC - and what next? Orientation, school and career counselling

An interview with French teacher and orientation coordinator Nathalie Chesse Chesnot by Vanessa Aulehla

WoluwInfo: Ms Chesse Chesnot, let me start with quoting the official European school programme on careers guidance. It’s quite impressive.

The European Schools have the two objectives of providing formal education and of encouraging pupils’ personal development in a wider social and cultural context. (...) These two objectives are nurtured in the context of an enhanced awareness of the richness of European culture. (...)

The pupils of the European Schools are future citizens of Europe and the world. As such, they need a range of competences if they are to meet the challenges of a rapidly-changing world. In 2006 the European Council and European Parliament adopted a European

Framework for Key Competences for Lifelong Learning. It identifies eight key competences which all individuals need for personal fulfilment and development, for active citizenship, for social inclusion and for employment:

  1. communication in the mother tongue
  2. communication in foreign languages
  3. mathematical competence and basic competences in science and technology
  4. digital competence
  5. learning to learn
  6. social and civic competences
  7. sense of initiative and entrepreneurship
  8. cultural awareness and expression

(...) Within this framework, the Careers Guidance programme focuses on specific elements of the key competences with the aim of facilitating students’ future participation in the wider world of work.

(Syllabus for Careers Guidance – Secondary cycle - FEBRUARY 2014)

WoluwInfo: That sounds terrific!! Are you really doing all this? If so, I think we as parents know too little about it.

Chesse Chesnot: It´s true, the official syllabus sounds very ambitious and as usual between objectives and reality there is always a gap. But Orientation/career guidance is indeed an official EEB2 school policy which de facto takes place from S2 to S7 and encompasses dedicated lessons/sessions on a wide range of issues like

Some are organized at section level, some at school level, some in cooperation with other European schools in BXL like the university fairs. Each section has a coordinator and together with the class teacher and the educational advisors we establish a yearly planning of the different lessons for the different years and sections. It has to be said that overall not much additional resources are available, so mostly we are doing this on top of our normal job as teachers. We only get minimal working time compensation (between 0.2 and 1 hour per week).

WoluwInfo: As regards the lower secondary grades, would you think that there is time and interest to know more and to get more inspiration about possible career options by inviting experts to the school?

Chesse Chesnot: We are already doing orientation sessions starting with researching parents’ backgrounds and choosing professions with a view to inviting experts to speak about their life and job. I think it would be a great idea if teachers would have access to a list of possible mentors and experts among the parents that they could invite easily. I am certain that there are a lot of interesting and inspiring curricula to be shared with students out there...

WoluwInfo: That is a very timely suggestion! In fact, the APEEE Board is currently planning to create just such a mentor database... What are your needs for the higher secondary?

Chesse Chesnot: Here, too it would be great if we were to have such list of potential mentors which we could activate to get the latest information on universities, on jobs of the future, but also to help students train for interviews for university applications.

WoluwInfo: And what are the most recurrent questions that students have? Where would you think school could help them even more?

Chesse Chesnot: I have the feeling that the help for S6 and S7 subject choice works quite well in our school but certainly in S5 it is for many too early to know what exactly they want to do afterwards. I know that in some schools, tests to measure professional and academic aptitudes are organized in S5. At EEB2 it is done differently from section to section, but in general there is not too much time for individual counselling. In the French section, students are given an individual interview with the orientation teachers and with the CPMS faculty. In S6, the students have the possibility to meet the school orientation counsellor from the French Lycée.

The “University fairs” organized by the Brussels European and international schools where higher education institutions set up information stands and give presentations about their education offers and application systems are very popular among students.

Some countries send national careers advisors to the European Schools in order to provide relevant information about their higher education offers. Other countries also offer the possibility of contacting national career advisors through electronic means (e.g.: email, video conference...) We try to inform also other sections about the different offers as our students are really not limited to one country only for their university careers...

Furthermore the school is helping students to handle their dossier which is quite complex and has tight deadlines in some countries (UK, France, Spain...)

WoluwInfo: That´s already a lot, more than the EEB2 homepage is indicating...

Chesse Chesnot: The Homepage!!! You are right, we need to improve this...most of the information is so far given directly to students and per email to S6 and S7 parents... hopefully soon we will have a new link, watch out...!!

WoluwInfo: You have been a French teacher at this school for 6 years, you are the responsible teacher for orientation for France, and you coordinate the orientation for the whole Secondary, and last not least you represent also teachers in the GTC working group on career guidance, how do you cope?

Chesse Chesnot: I strongly believe that, for a full education, the orientation course is an essential element and I am very interested in managing it. Before coming to Brussels, I taught in the French higher education system (in “Classes Préparatoires aux Grandes Ecoles” at the HEC / MPSI / PC *, BCPST). I shared this experience with our pupils. I have organized the interviews, the correction of their motivation letter, the training written argumentation that is needed in/for their application to universities or preparatory classes in France, etc. As far as France is concerned, I believe that European school students have a particularly interesting profile that would be recognized internationally in prestigious courses such as Science Po International and the Preparatory Classes at the Grandes Ecoles de Commerce (HEC, ESSEC ESCP etc.). In fact,their mathematical (from their math 5+ course) and their language skills are a real asset that most French candidates do not have.

WoluwInfo: What is your highlight of the last year?

Chesse Chesnot: With the help of colleagues and parents, we prepared pupils for the SciencesPo interviews and 5 out of 6 students taking them succeeded.

WoluwInfo: And where do you think the system needs to improve

Chesse Chesnot: When applying, European school students may be disadvantaged by our marking system. In order to prevent misinterpretation, the school needs to give a clear presentation of the European school-specific marking system to the countries/universities that do not know it.

Some countries such as Spain and UK ask the students who are applying for minimum grades. As for France, it demands numerous files: the average grade of the student, the average grade of the class, the highest grade and the lowest grade. But the success of the students that we have already sent to France has started to give the school a certain credibility.

WoluwInfo: Madame Chesse Chesnot, thank you for this interview.

Brexit Update

By Andreas Rogal, with Robert MacLaren and INTERPARENTS

Things are moving ahead in the Brexit negotiations. At the end of last month, the European Commission published a draft legal text on the withdrawal and transition process.

https://ec.europa.eu/commission/sites/beta-political/files/negotiation-agreements-atom-energy-15mar_en.pdf

It contains a paragraph about the European Schools (EE). On page 69 it states:

Article 120 European Schools

  1. The United Kingdom shall be bound by the Convention defining the Statute of the European Schools (a), as well as by the Regulations on Accredited European Schools adopted by the Board of Governors of the European Schools, until the end of the school year that is ongoing at the end of the transition period*.
  2. The United Kingdom shall, with respect to pupils who before 31 August 2021 acquired a European baccalaureate and to pupils who are enrolled in a cycle of secondary studies in a European School before 31 August 2021 and acquire a European baccalaureate after that date, ensure that they enjoy the rights provided for in Article 5(2) of the Convention defining the Statute of the European Schools.

a) OJ L 212, 17.8.1994, p. 3.
* Explanatory note: i.e. until 31 August 2021.

and OJ L 212, 17.8.1994, p. 3. is here:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=OJ:L:1994:212:FULL&from=HR

The INTERPARENTS Brexit Working Group has itself just drafted a new Brexit bulletin. In full, it will be published on their website, http://interparents.eu/ very shortly. But here are some of the main conclusions that our representative body in the EE’s administrative structure has drawn:

“So far, so good! – The European Schools will start the school year 2018/19 with the UK still being a contracting party of the European Schools’ Convention. This includes, among others, the obligation to provide seconded teachers and inspectors
ⓘThe continued status of the UK as a contracting party to the Convention at the start the academic year 2018/19 was assured by the fact that the UK did not denounce the Convention by the beginning of the 2017/18 school year.. Moreover, concrete steps have already been taken to secure the participation of the UK in the European Schools well beyond the announced departure date for Brexit of 29/03/19, in the context of the proposed Transitional Period for exiting the EU.

Who is negotiating for the European Schools? – The Board of Governors of the European Schools, the Office of the Secretary General and The European Commission all have central but different roles to play in determining the future of the Schools post-Brexit. As INTERPARENTS indicated a year ago ⓘhttp://interparents.eu/pdf/BrexitBulletin-INTERPARENTS-2017-03-en.pdf, it is important to understand that the withdrawal of the UK from the EU itself has an impact on the schools, notwithstanding the fact that the ‘Convention defining the Statute of the European Schools’1 is a separate inter-governmental agreement and irrespective of what might ultimately be agreed in relation to the UK’s participation in that Convention.

The European Commission administers the EU financial contribution ⓘThe UK currently finances the school system indirectly in two ways: firstly through its secondment to the Schools on behalf of the EU Budgetary Authority. Accordingly, the European Commission included the European Schools in its Working Paper “Essential Principles on Financial Settlement” in May 2017 ⓘhttps://ec.europa.eu/commission/sites/beta-political/files/financial-settlement-essential-principles-draft-position-paper_en.pdf -- See VII, page 4..

In February (2018), the position set out in the Working Paper was formalised, in the framework of the UK-EU BREXIT negotiations, in the Position Paper “Transitional Arrangements in the Withdrawal Agreement” published ⓘhttps://ec.europa.eu/commission/sites/beta-political/files/transition.pdf 07/02/18. This proposed that the United Kingdom would be bound by the Convention defining the Statute of the European Schools until the end of the school year that is ongoing at the end of the transition period ⓘi.e. until 31 August 2021.

Significantly, the UK has already declared its position on the European Schools to be in “alignment” with this proposal ⓘSee UK response published 21/02/18 https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/682894/Draft_Text_for_Discussion_-_Implementation_Period__1_.pdf .

For better or worse, the fate of the European Schools is therefore intimately tied to the outcome of the ‘Article 50’ negotiations for the withdrawal of the UK from the EU.

What does this mean? Our reading is that if this Commission proposal for the European Schools within the overall Draft Withdrawal Agreement is finally accepted by both parties:

What happens in the event of ‘no deal’ being reached? In the event of this “not very probable” scenario, the UK would leave the EU in March 2019, without a transition period, and might notify its withdrawal from the Convention of the European Schools. If such a notification occurs any time after 31/08/18 i.e. from the beginning of the new school year of 2018/2019, the UK would be bound by the Convention of the European Schools up to the end of the 2019/2020 school year ⓘSee Article 31.1 of the Convention of the European Schools in connection with Article 70 (1) (b) of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties.).

In such an outcome, the European Baccalaureate would no longer be legally recognised in the UK. But this does not mean that it would not be accepted by individual UK institutions offering tertiary education. The large majority of the foreign “End of Secondary” qualifications, accepted for entrance to the UK universities, are not a part of specific treaties, but are judged on their merits ⓘIn this regard, it is noteworthy that UK universities will shortly have to assess the ‘New Marking Scale’ which will enter into force for the European Baccalaureate session 2021., and the educational value of the European Baccalaureate has never been questioned.

What could be the impact in the schools?

Other possible outcomes post Brexit? Finally, it should be noted that ‘Brexit’, either with or without a transition period, would not necessarily signal the end of the cooperation between the Convention of the European Schools and the UK. Some experts consider that a new agreement could be envisaged for the future if both parties were interested.

What is INTERPARENTS doing?

INTERPARENTS has been active in pushing the concerns of European School parents about Brexit to the fore since the day of the UK referendum result and continues to work hard to ensure the interests of families are safeguarded ⓘSee ‘Annual Review 2017’ www.interparents.eu.

INTERPARENTS was instrumental in the launch of the Working Group mandated by the Board of Governors in April 2017 to analyse Brexit, as it relates to the European Schools, and to make proposals. The Working Group has met four times so far, with the mandate to analyse the legal situation (including for the Accredited School ‘Europa’ in Culham), to monitor the negotiations in the EU institutions, to analyse the risks (such as financing, staffing, the quality of teaching and learning and the future recognition of the European Baccalaureate), to define measures to mitigate the risks and provide an action plan, and finally to prepare concrete proposals ⓘSee ‘Decisions of the Board of Governors’ https://www.eursc.eu/Documents/2017-04-D-2-en-3.pdf.

Given the political nature of the TEU Article 50 Brexit negotiations, INTERPARENTS is urging that the Working Group focus particularly on what is within the control of the European School system itself and that measures are taken promptly (and well before March 2019) to protect teaching, quality control and finances, whatever the timing and outcome of the negotiations may be.

Random Scribblings of a nomadic mom

By Sanjee Goonetilake

Part 1- How I was offered Ecstasy in a restroom...

So I arrived at the Barajas airport in Madrid on a cold Sunday in January 1994 after a 48 hour journey from Colombo, Sri Lanka via a night in Singapore. It was my first day in Spain and my international university would start its orientation programme the next day. Not speaking a word of Spanish and not having any idea of how I would spend the next four years without my family (remember this was before the internet became ubiquitous, and well before WhatsApp and Skype). I wrote my first letter home that would be one of the many that I would be sending over the next four years.

The following week, as I met the new international students and moved in to a Spanish family home to learn Spanish and start learning my first Spanish words on the streets, I was struck by the first reality of life, that the world does not function in English outside the Commonwealth countries.

During the second week, there were a series of parties to welcome the new students and during those parties I was surprised by the very tasty fruit juice called Sangria which I learned later was Wine mixed with pieces of Oranges. It was my first experience with alcohol and I understood what it means to be drunk when you start feeling that you are not wearing your spectacles while your spectacles are on.

It was during one of these parties that some friendly girls asked me in the rest room, if I wanted a pill to feel good. They pulled out this really small white tablet and said it keeps you dancing all night. It was called 'Ecstasy' and they were popping them like Smarties. I wanted to belong to the group and I really felt like I should take it to be accepted. But deep down, I felt some thing even though I had taken a glass of Sangria and I was not really myself. I was having deja vus of a far away place with sweaty children in pain and of children with wounds. I told them, 'not this time' as I am having stomach pain and I actually went to throw up. This gave me a fresh perspective and I decided to continue dancing after a glass of water.

What came back to me as a deja vu was a part of the 'service' I did as Duke of Edinburgh Youth Award volunteer. The Duke of Edinburgh Youth Award is a programme meant for young adults with a series of challenges. It has a 'skills' section, an 'expedition' section, etc. and the 'service' section was involved helping with community work in a place that deserves volunteers. We helped in this centre with young drug addicts who were being rehabilitated. What I saw is worth a book to write about but what I mean to write here is that it stays with me for the rest of my life. I had done this 'service' from the age of 15-18 and it gave me a perspective on what 'real problems' are in life. We had also helped at the Cancer children's ward where there were children who had massive holes in their neck where the throat cancer had dug itself. These visual images stayed with me for the rest of my life and they haunted me when I think of a 'temporary kick' of some thing illicit that is offered in a random place like the restrooms of a party or in the school yard in plain day light. What appeared normal to my peers, was visible to me through my inner eyes and I did not need any parental lectures, my parents being far away anyway. However, during my adolescent years, we had discussed these children in the rehabilitation center at our school and we had learned about different stages of rehabilitation as we organized events for them through the school. We had learned about personal stories and we knew them by their first names.

Thus in Madrid, I thought of these children whom I used to know so well in Sri Lanka and who were giving their very best to survive in circumstances they had landed in, some times by sheer recklessness and not having thought about it. It was a heart rending experience when one of the eighteen year old boys in my class who took so much Ecstasy was deported back to his home country for having had illicit drugs in his possession three months later. He was only eighteen years old and he had been on Ecstasy for three months every day and night. I look back at that time and I realize, that drugs are a part of our lives in different periods in history. It is nothing new as names change but what keeps us conscious as human beings in this life is our ability to be perceptive, our ability to differentiate between what is harmful and not. In the end what counts is 'integrity', for ourselves and for others, at all times.

My children are six and ten years old. And I tell this story often and I also tell them other stories. Please talk to your children about your personal experiences and that is what will come across as less patronizing and what will teach them valuable lessons in life. And show them the consequences of addiction not only by statistics but by visual images like pictures or movies or visiting a real life drug rehabilitation center. I think it's time we, the parents start a dialogue on drugs.

You can follow Sanjee’s new blog on this Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/ScribblingsNomadicMom/