PA Report of the Educational Council Oberschule 29th April 2010

Mr Da Torre welcomed everyone to the meeting and asked for the agenda to be approved. Although a small point still had to be clarified, it was approved.

School Photos
The teachers were not happy with the way that the school photos were handled last year and requested that another system be found. The PA reported that there had been discussions with the photographer, and that he has been asked to deal with the parents directly, in the transfer of payment and the release of photograph codes. If this does not work this September, then the PA will reconsider their future involvement with the whole matter.

Project Days
Mr Sperl and Mr Figel were thanked for all their hard work coordinating the projects for Open Day. All the teachers did a fantastic job, but there was concern that there were still a few teachers in the OS who did not get properly involved or gave up for various reasons. It was hoped that the enthusiasm shown this year would ensure that everyone participates properly next year. About 2000 people, parents and potentially new parents, visited the ESK Open Day. The Students agreed that it had been very successful for them too. The teachers thanked the PA for their financial assistance.

Class sizes
Decision to restrict Class sizes to a maximum of 28 which was due to start September 2011 has been postponed until 2012.

School Budget
The Board of Governors insist on zero increase in the budget in the future and the Commission is looking at how every euro is spent. All the European schools have been charged with a 14 million Euro saving which will be very tough for all concerned. Defining priorities will be very important.

BAC classes
The Central Office in Brussels is always very strict about the minimum number of students in BAC classes. However, it is hoped that discretion will be applied for next year’s 6th Class as keeping as basic subject options open is very important for the French department otherwise it will discourage French families lower down the system or new families.

BAC examinations
Central Office is very late this year sending the final detailed information for the organisation of the Baccalaureat exams. However the school is confident that the BAC exams themselves will not be impacted by this delay.

Absent Teachers – Lost Hours
There have been a couple of difficult situations due to teachers who have been on prolonged sick leave. Lessons in the English section have had to be rearranged to accommodate this, and to minimise the impact on BAC students. However, this solution is not ideal. The SG Office is aware of these absences. In addition, there will be a visit from the UK delegation to the Board of Governors in the coming weeks where this issue will also be raised. The PA requested that concrete measures could be put into place to create a pool of supply teachers that can be called upon when such situations arise as well as for general replacement. Everyone acknowledged that this may take some time and needed to be discussed and examined in a smaller group being fully aware of all the rules and regulations. However, with positive advertising and a recruitment drive, over the next few years, this may provide acceptable alternatives.

Mr Da Torre pointed out that taking teachers from outside “the ES system” is not acceptable because it take too long to teach them all the rules.

The PA requested again that accurate data on lost hours be forthcoming so that they are in a position to support the school’s efforts and reassure parents who feel that the number of lost hours due to teacher absences is unacceptably high. This request was also made in the last Management meeting (5th March) and although it was reported in the meeting notes that the deputy directors would provide information (without compromising confidentiality), Mr Da Torre stated categorically that he will not do this.

There was concern expressed that students may not attain adequate levels of competence due to persistent lost hours and it was requested that classes are not given a 2nd year with any known problem teacher. It was recognised that this unfortunate situation only applied to a very small minority of teachers and the lack of provision of work usually given to students if the lesson is cancelled for whatever reason.

There was a proposal from the teachers that a small working group be formed specifically to discuss and to agree on a structure to replace absent teachers. The ES rules can be analysed to see what is possible within the restrictions and the resulting structure would be agreed by the teachers, management and parents. The PA fully supported this request.

The teacher representative also mentioned the increase in pupil absenteeism and urged parents to look at the information provided to parents about their children on the internet. However, it is the school advisors duty to inform parents directly as well, if this problem persists.

New Seconded Teachers
Yet again, not all teachers that are leaving the OS are being replaced with seconded staff. This is a failing of the EU member states to fulfil their obligation to send teachers for the ES schools. This problem is felt across all European Schools and the Board of Governors are charged with persuading the various European countries to honour their commitments. For every seconded teacher that is not replaced, ESK will be employing locally recruited teachers. However this is very expensive and impacts the availability for across-the-board mother-tongue teaching in some subjects. The PA asked what measures the school took to advertise for these posts.

Year 6 School Trip – October 2010
Four proposals for the year 6 school trip were presented: Amsterdam, Barcelona, Krakau and Breslau, South Italy. It was requested that the Spanish, Polish and Italian trips be re-submitted showing clearly the costs and expenses. It was not always clear what the total cost to the parents included, viz. entrance fees, evening meals, local bus or tram travelling costs, any other possible extraneous costs etc. All the trips were approved with the above reservations. The general discussion about the year 6 school trip highlighted that these trips were proposals from the teachers and not from the students as was the norm in previous years. The year 6 trip is compulsory for all students. However the organisation and participation of teachers is totally voluntary. It was not explained how the school would deal with the situation if no teacher was willing to fulfil this duty. The pupils will be told about the trips as soon as they are fully approved.

OS school timetable
Discussion on the proposed changes to the school timetable was postponed. Any decisions arrived at today would be too late for implementation for September 2010.

The Parent’s Association

The teachers were all thanked again for making the projects and Open Day so stimulating for students and parents alike. The feed back from parents was very positive and the enthusiasm and dynamism was felt by all. The Book Prize initiative was successful, and welcomed by many parents and pupils alike. The PA thanked again all the teachers involved as well as the sponsors of the books and hopes that the school will make this a permanent feature of future Open Days.

PA objectives for 2009/10
Languages - French Section.
The PA expressed serious concern for the limited BAC choices for next year’s 6th Class in the French section. If too many subjects are not available in mother-tongue French then this has worrying implications for the future of the French section as it will not be able to attract new French families up to Baccalaureat level. It was pointed out that with no French section there would be no European school. Moral and motivation is very low at the moment in the French section.
Lost hours – already discussed.
Ligne directif - Policies and Guidelines
School policies and guidelines are not visible enough, and many parents are still not aware of them. It was requested again that all school policies and projects be made more easily available to all parents, so that they are informed which classes deal with issues such as smoking, drugs bullying, sexual health, etc.

Other PA Issues
More double teaching periods
A suggestion was made at the meeting to have more double teaching periods (this would be especially beneficial in the science subjects) so that there are fewer subjects being taught each day. The benefits of this would include cutting down on the number of subject books that need to be carried, thus lighter school bags and less homework for pupils especially after a long day.
The PA requested that more consideration be given to the amount of books that students are required to carry around with them. Although the answer is always that it is up the student to organise themselves, this is just not reality and other suggestions should be explored.
New Maths Calculator
The PA requested that information about the new compulsory maths calculator for year 4 and 6 be sent out to parents as soon as possible to allow them maximum time to purchase it at the best possible price.
Social calendar
There is the “Tanz in den Mai” party on 30th April in the canteen. Everyone is welcome.
Saturday 20th June – The Summer Fest. Despite this fest being in the middle of the BAC exams, the PA hopes that everyone will be able to find a few hours to come to the fest this year. This is a school fest and not just for the Grundschule. More activities are being planed this year to interest the students from the Oberschule as well.

The Students

Students were very happy with Open Day and would like them to continue every year, rather than the proposed alternating with open classes showing teaching lessons.
The next student class rep election is taking place in May and there is a suggestion box for students to submit their points for the Educational Council meetings.
The Students request that there be a drinking fountain installed in the Oberschule building. This is especially important during hot weather, as currently students can only get water for their water bottles from the toilets. There was concern over the quality of the drinking water from the toilet taps, and this would be investigated.

The meeting was adjourned at 6.30 by Mr Da Torre who thanked everyone for attending.