UPDATE 17th MARCH
Dear parents,
Our School community – along with many others – is facing an unprecedented challenge in responding to the Coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic.
In a new section of the website at
your Parents’ Association is bringing together resources and contacts to help you cope with the closure of school buildings, remote teaching, suspension of périscolaire activities etc.:
Examples of best practice of remote teaching from other European Schools and elsewhere
Offers of help and solidarity from other parents within our School community
Updates from the Parents’ Association
In addition, we have set up a system for class reps to report both problems and examples of good practice in remote teaching at our School. Please contact your respective class rep so that we can deliver a regular, representative and systematic report to the School management.
The new website section is a work in progress and both your contributions and suggestions for improvement are very welcome.
We are all in unchartered territory. Let’s work together with patience, understanding and goodwill both to combat the virus and to ensure that the disruption to our children’s education is kept to a minimum.
Kind regards,
John Coughlan
President, APEEEL1
UPDATE 12th MARCH
Dear parents,
You will by now have received the information that the school buildings will be closed from Monday 16 March 2020 for two weeks as a precautionary measure in light of the Coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic.
As your Parents’ Association, we have been in regular contact with the school management and — through Interparents — with the Office of the Secretary General in order to encourage them to prepare and respond as well as possible to this situation. Communication has not always been timely but we know that there has been much activity going on behind the scenes. We hope and trust that our School will be able to manage this challenge and we will keep working with the management to ensure that parents’ concerns are addressed.
As regards the Association’s périscolaire activities, we will be obliged to cancel or postpone most group activities scheduled to take place in the school buildings during the period of their closure. Where possible, we aim to continue activities such as private music lessons and language classes through remote tuition online. In both cases, the périscolaire activities team will be in contact with you individually about your child’s activity.
These are challenging times. We are all working our hardest, balancing the risks and trying to find the solution that best serves the common good. Your understanding, cooperation and solidarity are of great value in achieving this.
Thank you in advance.
UPDATE 10th MARCH
Dear parents,
COVID-19 and the efforts to contain it are already causing significant disruption to life in many countries. As of Monday 9 March, three European Schools — Brussels III, Munich and Varese — will be closed either as a precautionary measure (due to pupils or parents being diagnosed with the virus) or due to wider quarantine measures.
As your parents’ association, we are working closely with the parents’ associations of the other European Schools and with the administration of our own School to ensure that the necessary precautions are applied and that the response remains proportionate to the situation here in Luxembourg.
Without causing unnecessary alarm, it makes sense to be prepared for the possibility that our School might also be closed at short notice. In the secondary cycle, the School already has an effective infrastructure in place through SMS to deliver remote teaching; students have an active account in Office365. Additional training for teachers is currently being organised.
In the nursery and primary cycles, this would undoubtedly be more difficult. As parents, we can support remote teaching if this becomes necessary by ensuring that:
1) you can print off assignments at home;
2) your parent login to SMS is active and working;
3) secondary pupils have active login to Office 365 (i.e. they know their ID and passwords);
4) pupils bring their books home from school from their lockers and classrooms. The School will inform you of any changes to the scheduled programme affecting your child.
We will continue to monitor the situation and work with the School to seek the best solution.
Kind regards,
John Coughlan President,
APEEEL1
UPDATE 4th MARCH
The current spread of COVID-19 in Europe and particularly in Member States where European Schools are located is of great concern to the Parents’ Associations of the European Schools.
Working together through Interparents – the network of the Parents’ Associations of the European Schools – we wrote to the Secretary General (OSGES) and the Directors of the European Schools on Sunday 1 March to seek reassurance that the European Schools are well prepared and ready to put in place necessary measures to prevent the spread of the disease and to ensure the pedagogical continuity of the schools.
In particular, Interparents asked OSGES and the School Directors to consider the following issues of concern and made a number of detailed suggestions to address them:
1) School trips and inter-school events
2) School attendance
3) Remote teaching and learning
4) Common hygiene standards to be adhered to in all our schools
5) Information and communication
6) Teacher/staff guidelines in case of concern
7) Direct communication flow from Commission experts
APEEEL1 and Interparents continue to monitor developments and are working closely with the School administration and OSGES to ensure that problems are addressed and appropriate solutions found as quickly as possible.
Contact: office@apeeel1.lu