Minutes of the joint KiGa/GS/OS Education Council September 29th 2010

Mr Hoyem welcomed everybody and opened the meeting. Members of the SAC were present as SAC was on the agenda.
Mr Hoyem announced the sad news that Dominic Leins, pupil of 6E has died last week of cancer. Condolences were sent to his family.
Mr Hoyem introduced Mr Pialoglou, new deputy director of the Oberschule. Mr Pialoglou presented himself and said that he has been a science teacher for many years, in particular he spent 5 years in the European School system.

SAC
A very short SAC meeting was held during which the minutes of the previous meeting were approved. The PA raised concerns about such a short meeting for the SAC. Mr Hoyem answered that this meeting was a welcome meeting rather than a formal, regular SAC meeting. The details of the SAC will be discussed at the next SAC meeting which was set to October 14th.

JEC:
The following points were presented and/or discussed

General information from Mr Hoyem, Mrs Pavlicikova and Mr Pialoglou:
From October 5th, the ESK will be hosting the „Mahnende Mühlstein”, a project launched to raise awareness about and prevent violence and abuses against children. The symbol of this project is materialized as a large millstone that will be placed at the school entrance. The main ceremony will be held on October 26th and there will be many activities and projects related to this theme in the next weeks. The millstone will stay at ESK until December 15th.

Report about the GS/Kindergarten
The Nursery (KiTa) "Polyglott" on the ESK grounds will open on October 1st. It is a municipal nursery of Karlsruhe city in which ITU has financially participated and bought 5 places for the children of their staff. It will host 40 children. Mrs Pavlicikova warned that there might be more traffic on the roads outside the school when these children are dropped off in the morning and picked up in the afternoon.
The GS has undergone renovation and modernization during the Summer (playgrounds, toilets, furniture, computers).
Many projects will run in the GS this school year, including art, music and acting.

Report about the OS
It is reminded that the school trip in year 3 and 6 of the OS are compulsory and students can only be excused for medical reason. The PA can financially support families in needs to pay for those trips.
There have been many teachers absent due to sickness in the OS at the beginning of term. Replacement teachers have been found for all affected classes.
The drug and addiction prevention programme runs this year again, including activities in year 1 to 5.
ESK pupils have won several competitions last year, amongst which: Gold medal for Mathematics, European Schools Science Symposium, MUN.
The Pedagogical Day will take place on November 8th. There will be no lessons on that day.

Parents Association
Cindy van Velzen thanked the teachers for cooperation over the last school year, in particular the project weeks and open day which were a real success.
The PA invite the whole school community to the Welcome Back Party on October 2nd, an opportunity for new school staff and new families to get to know each other.
The PA will continue offering financial support for projects (Eurosport in European School Frankfurt, Open day at ESK, School trips, Book price) and for families in needs. It is very important that teachers/pupils/families apply as early as possible for support so that the PA can fairly divide its funds.
Mrs Ribeiro said that the Cantine Committee will meet during next week, and the results of the survey completed in June 2010 will be analysed.
The PA expresses concerns about the limited choices of options for students in the French section (due to the small class sizes). Mr Pialoglou said that he is trying to offer all students the best possibilities of options. It was suggested to communicate this matter to the parents in order to reassure them. Mr Hoyem felt that the Boarding facility initiative will attract more Cat I students which will also help strengthen the French section.
PA said that some parents of 1D_OS feel that the groups have been split unfavorably, i.e. according to alphabetical order rather than following some recommendations done by the GS teachers. The PA are also concerned about the situation of some Italians students (now SWALS) who have L1 lessons with 2 different teachers, one of them taking place during lunch break. Mr Pialoglou explained that this is done to allow the students to have 4 L1 periods. PA request that those situations are reviewed.
The PA asked if efforts could be made to prevent adults and students to smoke in the vicinity of the school entrance. The drug and addiction prevention group welcomed such suggestions, as it has been actively involved in anti-smoking activities. Mr Hoyem welcomed ideas how this could be done.

Teacher’s report
Mrs Stricker presented the project of paper collection in the school, where students are involved in emptying the paper boxes once a week, according to a rota system. The collected paper is sold for recycling, the funds raised will be donated to a charity organisation. The idea is to raise the pupils’ awareness about paper waste and help them develop a sense of responsibility for the environment. Although the principle of reducing waste paper, raising money for charity through re-cycling initiatives and making students more aware of their environment was applauded, concerns was raised as this scheme implies that students are removed from lessons to participate. It was felt that students should not be taken out of class and alternative solutions should be considered.

Mr Hoyem thanked everyone for attending and the meeting was closed.

Sophie Chabanis-Davidson,
12 October 2010.

Attending members : Mr Hoyem, Mr Pialoglou, Mrs Pavlicikova, Mrs Delveau, Mrs Spenlé, Mrs Braun, Mrs Maddock, Mrs Mombaerts, Mrs Vitale, Mrs Stricker, Mrs Ribeiro, Mrs Intra, Mrs Chabanis, Mrs Brauensdorf, Mr Morgan, Mr, Singer, Mrs van Velzen, Mrs Winthrop, Mr Messmer.
Since there was no sign-list for attendance on that day, you are kindly asked to check if the list of attendees is correct and report any error to Mrs Braunschweig.