School return
The return to school has gone very smoothly this year and the students have settled back to their work and timetable routines.
In numbers, the school has a total of 3,369 students (as at 14 September) with the breakdown as follows:
- Maternelle – 462
- Primary school – 1367
- Secondary school – 1540
These numbers are provisional and will not be confirmed until mid October.
The school have reported that there were no issues of note in the early weeks and so far the parents evenings have not revealed any major issues that were not known about before.
English language teachers
Of course, there is always an exception and the issue of English language teachers in the Anglophone section is being addressed by us on your behalf. This issue is a common issue to all European Schools and there are one or two Luxembourg specific circumstances that we have, and will do again, highlighted to the Secretary General of the European Schools and to the Board of Governors. Our first opportunity to raise the issues again is at the Administration Board meeting that is to take place on 27 September 2017.
Other ongoing issues with the school involve the available space for the classes in the Primary school, and the size and noise levels in the canteen, outdoor sports facilities, and so on. We will publish a separate update for the canteen in October as this is quite a big subject.
Annual General Meeting
Our Annual General Meeting (AGM), is planned to take place on the evening of 7 November in the Primary school. This is the meeting where you, as members of the parents association (APEEE Lux 1), decide how the association is to be run and how the money raised from membership subscriptions, school fête, donations and other activities is to be spent. It is also where you have an opportunity to review the activities of the previous year detailed in the annual report that will be published nearer the time of the AGM
FAPEEEL
Many of you may know the work of the FAPEEEL (Federation of the parents’ associations for the European schools Lux 1 and Lux 2) through your children’s involvement with the periscolaire activities. You may not know that FAPEEEL also runs our secretariat office and arranges the bulk purchase of calculators for the secondary school.
FAPEEEL was established some years ago with the intention of it being an overarching organisation to represent the interests of the parents of both European Schools in Luxembourg at Interparents and also with regard to contact with the Luxembourg government departments. In reality, FAPEEEL became a service provider to the two associations. This has not worked well for the last 3 or 4 years and so the Management Committee of the Lux 2 parents association (APEEEL2) informed us that they wish to leave FAPEEEL and run their own affairs. The work to make this happen will be undertaken during this school year, the aim being that each association will begin their own operations from the beginning of September 2018.
There should be little visible change from our (Lux 1) perspective as it is the Lux 2 association that will need to establish its own periscolaire structure and secretariat office – something which is already under way. Any changes that are seen as being needed for the separation to succeed will be notified to you as far in advance as possible but please bear in mind that it is a complex process that requires cooperation and patience to make it happen.
The first thing that you should know is that the Annual General Meeting of FAPEEEL will take place after our own AGM on 7 November 2017.
Social Fund
The first big school trip for our children is the Primary 5 winter trip to Zinal in December. This always causes concern for parents as it is often the first time their children have been away from home for such a long period. It is also an expensive trip compared to the others that the children have done up to that point.
However, it is not the only long trip that the children do during their career at the European School. In the secondary school there are year trips and subject trips spread across all the years with the biggest being the 6th year trip to various destinations throughout Europe.
One ethos of the school is that no child should be denied the opportunity to participate in school activities purely on the grounds of cost. Therefore, the school has a Social Fund that families can apply to if they have difficulty in meeting the cost of school activities. The criteria to be eligible for an award from the school social fund are very strict and so awards tend to be few and the amounts quite low.
Fortunately, your parents’ association operates a Social Fund as well and the criteria are extended so that more families can be helped with funding school activities. We do have information about our social fund and details are also made available during the parents’ meetings for the school trips. If you would like information about the social fund to help with other school activities then please contact the office – contact details are on the home page.