Noticeboard 29 April 2009

29th April 2009

Welcome to the April PA Noticeboard. In this issue there are short summaries of the latest meetings that have taken place in school as well as a report on the Open Day and details of forthcoming events.

Educational Council for Secondary School 2nd April 2009
Members of the PA committee attended the Educational Council for Secondary School on 2nd April, where they represented the parents of ESK. Also present apart from Herr Hoyem and Herr Da Torre, were teacher representatives, student representatives, ITU representatives, and locally recruited staff representatives. At the meeting the following topics were discussed:
• Due to the improved security of the school, incidences of theft were dramatically down.
• Updating of the School rule book. The PA requested that a system be introduced to ensure that all parents and pupils receive and read the rule book. Herr Da Torre assured everyone that the rule book is on the school website for all to read.
• School trips for Year 6 are approved by the Educational Council on the basis of the outlines provided by the trip organisers. The PA requested to see a basic breakdown of costs as a follow-up to this decision.
• The PA voiced their disappointment at the decision not to have project days in Secondary and looked forward to supporting the school with ideas for activities for next year.
• The PA requested that the current policy of shortening of the summer term for years 1 – 6 by four days due to year 7 Baccalaureate oral exams be re-examined and a better solution be found. Although 4 days is better than many other European Schools is not acceptable to parents.
• Lost teaching hours due to teacher absenteeism was of serious concern to many parents. The PA is in the dark and requested that in order to allay fears, the school provide (anonymous) data to determine if there were general trends or specific problem areas.
• The management team assured everyone that since the tragedy at Erfurt and Winnenden schools, ESK has had regular meetings with police and the City of Karlsruhe to be prepared for any crisis that may occur. The PA underlined the need for the provision of sufficient pastoral care as pupil well-being is of primary importance in the school community.
• Student representative elections were carried out late this year, and Herr Da Torre explained that, due to irregularities in the voting process, they had to be re- run. The student representative requested more opportunities for the pupils to get together as it was in the spirit of Eurosport. Also it was requested that the digital screens displaying information such as absent teachers, be made simpler to read. The student representative also pointed out that important tests are often scheduled for the same day making it stressful for many pupils. It was proposed that an electronic calendar be used to avoid these incidences.
If you are interested, the full minutes of the meeting can be found on the school website.
As you may realise many topics discussed at this meeting are of importance to parents at the school. It is imperative that we at the PA represent your views accurately so if you have comments on any of these subjects, please pass them on to your parent class representative who will make sure that they are addressed in the appropriate way.

ESK Parents’ Association Committee meeting 22nd April
The PA committee meets about once a month to discuss issues that are of concern to parents and the school. Also, it is our aim to support all the good work that is done by teachers and other staff, and to help promote the best in every working aspect of the school. To this aim, the PA is keen to have an up-to-date overall view of school issues and the backbone of this is the active participation of all the class reps.
One aspect of the PA’s role is as mediator between school and parents. It was requested that parents should be encouraged to contact their class reps and language section reps whenever there is an issue that cannot be quickly and easily solved by talking to the individuals concerned. The advantage of this approach is that the PA can advise on procedures, and also to take up issues on behalf of parents so that if necessary, anonymity can be maintained, or a general perspective can be portrayed. The school is also requested to inform and involve the PA early on, so that satisfactory outcomes can be achieved as smoothly as possible for both parents and school.
Three design companies have been asked to present their ideas for the new PA website and it is hoped that work on the new site will begin very soon. We still need volunteer translators, so if are interested please contact us at the PA office.
The School Management meeting (about budgets for next year) and the Secondary school Educational Council meeting (see the above points) were also discussed. In conclusion it was agreed that this year has been a steep learning curve for all those involved with the PA and that parents should be invited to join the committee members to help work on topics that are of interest to them. Position papers on subjects such as L2 and SWALS, among others, can be produced and used at future Interparents meetings were parental concerns from all the European schools are discussed and presented at the Board of Governors. (Interparents in the umbrella organisation for all the European Schools’ PAs. For more information on Interparents, please visit their website: www.interparents.eu)

Interparents
ESK PA representatives attended the Interparents meeting at the European School Brussels I on April 20th. The reform of the European Schools was discussed as The Board of Governors is expected to accept all the recommendations that have been made so far. The reform issues are important to parents because they affect the autonomy of the school, allowing it to make more decisions about the pedagogical, financial and general management of the school independently of Brussels. Other topics on the agenda included the integration of SWALS and language teaching, SEN and Learning Support, mother-tongue teachers, school trips and the missing teaching days for Years 1-6 in the Secondary school.
It is important for the PA to attend these meetings, to ensure that the views and concerns of the ESK parents are represented. Often complex issues for example L2, or mother-tongue teaching are of concern in all the European Schools and Interparents can influence decisions made by the Board of Governors in Brussels. Please visit their website www.interparents.eu for the full report of the April meeting.

Open Day
We hope you all enjoyed the School’s Open Day on 25th April. Special thanks go to all parents who very kindly helped on the refreshments stands and all those who donated cakes. It was very much appreciated and together with the fantastic efforts of the children and their teachers for the project week in primary and the lesson schedule offered by the Secondary pupils and teachers, we hope you found the day a great success.
In order that we can accurately report back to the school management on the success of this year’s Open Day, the Parents’ Association would be very grateful if you could send in your comments or feelings about the School Open Days past, present and future. If you wish to make a comment, please forward it to your Parent Class Representative and they will pass it on to the ESK PA. In this way we can present an overall picture of your opinions and offer sensible suggestions for future Open Days. Many thanks for your cooperation.

Europatag in Karlsruhe - May 9th 2009
As some of you may be aware, the Princess of Denmark is visiting the school on the 9th May. On the same day ESK has a stand in the Marktplatz in Karlsruhe as part of the Europatag celebrations. The girls’ choir Sankt Annae Pigekoy from Denmark will be singing, and the PA will also be there at the ESK stand. A book and CD containing all the 27 national anthems will be available from the European School Karlsruhe. It would be great if parents could also be there to participate as well and talk to the visitors. If you have a little free time on Saturday 9th May and would like to take part, please email the PA (evesk@eskar.org).
9th May agenda:
11.00am (at the Marktplatz in Karlsruhe) The official opening of Europatag by the Mayor of Karlsruhe. The School choir, ESKADO will be performing.
11.00am (at school) Reception for the Princess of Denmark and a tour of the school.
1.00pm Concert of the PIGEKOY Choir in the Evangelical Stadtkirche
2.30pm celebration at the Marktplatz
3.15pm City tour for the Danish Delegation
4.30pm Signing of the Golden Book of the City of Karlsruhe
6.00pm finish

Can you help?
A student from European School Varese is coming to study here at the European School Karlsruhe. The boy would very much like to stay with a family who has children at the school. If you think you might be able to host this student and would like more information about the pupil and the visit, please contact the PA or Mrs Sarah Van Loon (sarah.van_loon@eursc.org)

Good news!
The Baker Books spring sale sold books for about 700 Euros.
This brought books for about 190 Euros into the library. Many thanks to Eva Geerken for her hard work organising it all.

It is great to see initiatives like this in school. We are very pleased to hear about any initiatives that come from parents or teachers that benefit our children in some way. If you have an idea that needs support from the PA, please get in touch as we would be happy to hear from you.

Sunday 21st June - The Etoile Education Sponsored Bike Ride
This year the traditional Etoile Education sponsored bike ride will be taking place on the same day as the Summer Fest, Sunday 21st June. Everyone is invited to bike to the Summer Fest together from the Karlsruhe Hauptbahnhof (main station) at 10.00am to arrive at school for 11.00am. There will be a choice of 2 bike rides this year, so that the more experienced bike riders get a real workout. Forms will be sent out before the May half term holiday (20th – 24th May) with all the details on how to join in and for the ADAC competition that is held at the same time. It promises to be a great day for all the family with the Summer Fest celebrations following directly afterwards. We invite you all to come and join in and bike to our Summer Fest together.

Sunday 21st June – The Summer Fest
The preparations for this year’s Summer Fest are going to begin shortly and if you are interested in joining the PA team to help organise it, or have any great ideas that could be used (especially to more involve the Secondary School), please contact us – we would love to hear from you!
Dates for your diary:
Saturday 9th May Europatag in Karlsruhe
Monday 18th May Primary School Educational Council meeting
Wednesday 20th – 24th May School half term holiday
Monday 1st June no school – Whitsuntide
Thursday 11th June no school – Feast of Corpus Christi
Sunday 21st June Summer Fest and Etoile Education Bike ride

Parents’ Association