JOINT PARENT REPS AND PA COMMITTEE MEETING REPORT MAY 2009

13th May 2009

A joint Parents Class reps and PA Committee meeting was held on 13th May in the Conference Room at ESK. Once again there were 2 meetings, the first in the morning at 8.30 and the second in the evening at 6.30. The comments of the meetings have been amalgamated into one document.
Feedback from parents about the Open Day.
On the whole parents enjoyed the Open Day. The weather was fantastic and there was a good atmosphere all round the school and in the new canteen.
The following comments were made:
• There was no sense of “whole school”. There was no link between Oberschule and Grundschule and parents found it difficult to attend different language section activities in the Grundschule because of clashes in time.
• Some parents found it difficult to know exactly where to go to see the classes, especially in the Oberschule.
• It was felt that there was considerable inconsistency between what was offered by teachers in the Oberschule.
• Not enough food in the canteen, especially for the Oberschule pupils and parents who were hungry after their morning of lessons! Some classes would have like to have been able to offer their own refreshment table so that class funds could be topped up.
• Even though the projects of the Grundschule were very good, some parents would like to see more cross year and section collaboration in projects especially in the Oberschule.
• Some parents felt that projects should offer an opportunity to do something different and for the Oberschule, not to last more that 2 or 3 days, to restrict loss of teaching hours.
• A general feeling of a lack of motivation and enthusiasm in the Oberschule was noted by some parents.
• The information corner in the canteen for prospective parents and was not marked clearly enough and visitors were confused about where to go.
Report of the 9th May Europatag Celebrations
Cindy Van Velzen reported that the Europatag celebrations went very well and she was extremely happy to have the support from parents and teachers at the stand in Karlsruhe. Everyone was very excited about the Princess of Denmark’s visit and the ESK choir sang beautifully. A reception was held at the school for the Princess and all the Danish children were there to welcome her warmly. In town she signed the Golden Book of Karlsruhe and all the parents and teachers that were there said they had a wonderful time. Through the efforts of Herr Hoyem and many others at ESK, a CD of European national anthems has been produced with an accompanying book explaining the histories and developments of all the songs. The CD and book are available for purchasing (CD - €15.00 or CD + Book - €60.00) from the school for parents who are interested in having a copy. Cindy apologised for the last-minute emails about this event and emphasised again that the PA are already working more closely with the school so that events like this can be properly managed, especially when parents are being asked to be involved.
Many thanks to all the parents who found time on Saturday to come and support the ESK stand in Karlsruhe.
Forthcoming Educational Council meetings –
Primary School:18th May, joint primary and secondary: 4nd June
Your voice counts!
Class reps were requested to gather points of discussion or issues which parents would like to be raised in these meeting. Some comments for the primary school have already been received, however, if there are important issues regarding the primary and secondary schools that you feel need to be brought to attention at the joint Education Council, please forward them to your class reps so that they can be reported back to the PA.

The new PA website.

The PA is in the final stages of appointing a design team for the new website. It is still anticipated that the first new pages will be available in the summer holidays and for the first day of next term. If you would like to join the team that will be supporting the new website (it is planned that there will be a lot of new topics to help new and existing parents), please contact the PA (evesk@eskar.org).

The new Canteen
The plans for appointing new caterers for the canteen are moving forward fast now and if all goes well the canteen should be able to offer meals freshly cooked on the premises. The PA anticipates that the unacceptable queue lengths at peak times and eating arrangements for pupils with packed lunches will be resolved with the introduction of the new system and hope that everything is in place at the beginning of next term. Details of how the new canteen system will work will be forwarded to everyone separately.

New Multilingual Club for the Extra-curricula Activities
A new language club for extra-curricular activities has been proposed by Maryse Mazouk, one of the parents of ESK. The PA are very excited by this initiative and feel that it may offer an opportunity for some pupils at school who would like extra lessons in learning a 2nd or 3rd language after school has finished and to have the lessons on school premises so that they do not have to waste time travelling in to Karlsruhe. A trial run of the courses is available in June and if it is popular and sensible to do, the new club will start next term. Details of the whole project have been already forwarded to most of you but you can also contact Maryse Mazouk directly on maryse.marzouk@yahoo.fr if you have further questions.
The PA would like to make it clear that signing your child up for after school language club, does not under any circumstances replace any school classes, school language support or pedagogical programme. Nor does it in any way absolve the school of its responsibilities to children learning 2 or 3 languages. We have kept the school informed so as to create as many synergies as possible.
This is an extra-curricula activity... it is not a school activity or school language class and as such has no place on the educational council. It is an after-school activity and is being coordinated by Anja Bühner who looks after all extra-curricula activities.

Please also note that this is not a Parents’ Association activity or a PA service such as the Canteen or our website, nor have we promoted it in any more than we have promoted other parental suggestions for activities such as last year's coffee mornings. Of course, we welcome all ideas and concrete suggestions/activities/proposals etc. from parents and look forward to supporting many other initiatives that bring benefits to all pupils at ESK.

Our next big event - THE SUMMER FEST on Sunday 21st June

Everyone at the meeting was requested to put the 21st June into their diary. It is a very important date. This fest is a great day for everyone – Grundschule and Oberschule alike and the PA would like to invite you all to come and enjoy yourselves, meet other parents and have fun while supporting the school community. The PA also took this opportunity to remind everyone that we are going to need volunteers to make sure that the day runs well so please...don’t forget.

Details of the Summer Fest are going to be sent to you separately. However in the meantime, if you have any good ideas or suggestions for any aspect (food, games, entertainment) of the Fest, please email them to us (evesk@eskar.org) we welcome them all. We really appreciate all your help even though things may seem a bit chaotic at the time. Many thanks.

Last minute info: unfortunately the Etoile Education sponsored bike ride, planned for the morning of the Summer Fest has been postponed due to organisational problems. However, as this is a very popular event, we hope it will take place at the beginning of next term while the weather is still fine.

“Start-of-the-Year” parents party and meeting

It was suggested that an all-school parents’ meeting and party be held on the same evening of the PA annual general meeting next term, to be followed by the PA general meeting. This idea was well received and the PA will go ahead and organise the evening. Details will have to be carefully discussed and input and support from class reps will be essential for ensuring that topics that are most important to parents are the main agenda and that the specific aims of the meeting are realised.

The ESK PA EuroBoutique

The PA would very much like to develop the current EuroBoutique, where t-shirts and sweatshirts, umbrellas and mugs are available for sale. The aim is to extend the range of clothing and items available to possibly include such things as sports clothing and sports bags. In order to do this, the PA would welcome anyone who would be interested in taking part in this initiative. Previous experience may be useful, but of course not essential. If you think that this is the kind of project you would like to help us with for a year or so, please contact Cindy at the PA.

Everyone was thanked for their contribution to the meeting and their participation.

No date was set for the next Parent Class Rep/PA committee meeting.
The next PA meeting is on the 27th June so if there are any topics that you would like to have raised, please email us at the PA directly.

ESK PA May 2009