Hello there! It’s another bumper edition for you, and this time with two colour supplements: the invitations for the Dads’ and Mums’ Drinks! Sorry that there isn’t a discount code included for the Internet Service Provider that took over our parking bays this week:
diabolical…
Cycling in Oudburgh
Please dismount! Oudburgh’s management would like to remind cyclists passing through the Oudburgh grounds that they must dismount their cycles and push them.
EU Fruit Programme
Hopefully you have heard the good news that our school was one of the lucky few to gain access to the EU Free Fruit programme again next year. However, we need someone to oversee it! We’ve got one or two former PAC members already in place to offer advice and support, but we need someone to step up and help to organize the fruit collection and distribution. It’s a lot less to do than it sounds. Please contact us if you’d like to offer to take this on, or even just to learn more about the role: esbpaCONTACT@gmail.com.
Second Hand Bookmarket
The PA will once again organize the traditional end-of-year book market in the Aula on 27th June at 15.00. Secondary school books only please.
The All-New PA Website
Back in April we launched our new website and hope you like it. Not visited yet? Take a look now! https://europeanschool-parents.nl. In order not to miss any news or events we publish there, please sign up for the newsfeed. This is available to everybody - PA member or not. Nobody is perfect. If you miss anything or find something not working as you expect, please send a note to esbpaCONTACT@gmail.com.
Mobility Programme in S5
We URGENTLY need Dutch speaking host families for 1 or 2 exchange students coming from the other European Schools to Bergen to spend the first semester at ESB (4 th Sept to 21st December 2022). Please contact esbpac.symons@gmail.com if you would like to hear more!
Last Orders
The 2021-2022 school year comes to an end very soon! Do not miss the Dads’ & Moms’ Drinks! - Last gathering of the year! Join us at Café de Taverne, Karel de Grotelaan 1, Bergen for a fun night out! Buy your own drinks and enjoy the company! The evening’s hosts, Allen & Susanne Erickson (also an ESB parents) will be there to welcome you. Not required, but if you are planning to attend, please send an email to esbpaEVENTS@gmail.com.
o Dads! Meet at the pub on Friday June 24th from 20:00h
o Moms! Meet at the pub on Monday June 27th from 20:00h
2022/23 Welcome Coffee Morning – Save the Date!
On Tuesday 6th September, from 09.15-11.00, The Parents Association Committee, the PA Events team volunteers and the school Director would like to welcome all parents to the new school year! See you at the school Aula / Canteen!
Bike exam volunteers!
We are looking for volunteer parents to coordinate both the bike exam theory and practical exams in our school. Our faithful volunteer who organised the bike exam for many years does not have children in Primary anymore and it is time for somebody else to take over. Please contact PA if you are interested ESBPAcontact@gmail.com.
We follow the program from Veilig Verkeer Nederland (VVN), so it would be good if you understand Dutch. You can have a look here: https://youtu.be/ExHM79Zs8Es. The VVN coordinators will work closely together with school in organising both the lessons and the bike exams. We hope we hear from you soon, so that it is possible for ESB to participate in the bike exam next year as well.
Sustainability
What could we as a parent community (us) continue doing to support our children’s Education for Sustainable Development? The ESB PA Sustainability Working Group is working with Roy Stroomer, School Concierge, and the ESB Sustainability Coordinator. Our aim is to keep up the good work started this school year and to continue building the foundations for Sustainability at ESB. We are also working with other European Schools and institutions in trying to find synergies and benchmarks. This is just the beginning… Are you interested in this key topic? Would you like to learn more and join the efforts? Join the ESBergen Sustainability Parents WG! esbpaSUSTAINABLE@gmail.com.
School Canteen
The school’s management has now released the canteen call-for-tender to attract potential canteen service providers to our school, starting from the 2022-23 school year.
The call-for-tender may be found here: https://www.esbergen.eu/procurements/canteen- concession-2022-01/. If you or someone that you know may be interested in managing the school canteen from next year, please do review the call-for-tender and submit your application by email to ber-procurement@eursc.eu.
Further Chess Success for ESB!
Following success for the ESB chess team as winners of the Bergen schools chess competition earlier this year, they took their place at the North Holland regional Championship in Hoorn recently. After a great performance they won a fantastic 2nd place, narrowly beaten (by half a point!) by the Mathieu Wiegman School, also from Bergen. The team went on to represent ESB at the national schools chess championship in Gouda on 11th and 18th June. They came an amazing 23rd out of 38 teams. They finished higher than their Bergen rivals the Mathieu Wiegman School and higher than the 27th place the last time ESB got this far in the competition- which was quite some time ago. A huge “well done” to Arnav, Cristian, Martin and Joshua!
Amazing support at Avondvierdaagse by ESB
After 2 years without Avondvierdaagse it was heart-warming to see so many pupils and families come together for the Bergen 2022 event. An impressive 69 ESB students registered for the walking event, enjoying their orange/mint ‘bursts’ along the way. A huge thankyou to the volunteers who helped with these each evening. For many ESB pupils, who were newcomers to the Netherlands during the last 3 years, this was their first experience of this fun Dutch walking tradition. See you all again for the 2023 event!
The first ESBergen’s Family Rally took place on Sunday, June 19th 2022.
A fun “treasure hunt” throughout Bergen, school families walked or biked at their own pace. The main aim of this event was to encourage the bond between school families from all sections (nursery, primary and secondary) and to celebrate the end of the school year 2021 2022. Ten voluntary ESB families, living in Bergen, supported by school parents, hosted a stand in their garden, organized games and riddles, offered refreshments. Once the participants played the games, the host family gave the address of the next host house in order for the families to complete the full track. A group of volunteer students and parents have managed the start/finish registrations. Two tracks around Bergen were available and each family was able to choose one when booking: East (8km) or West (10km). At the end of the rally the families received an award to be prepared and enjoyed by the whole family!
A big THANK YOU to The 33 ESB families (112 participants) that joined us! We were very happy to welcome you and to enjoy this special and fun afternoon together!!
And another big THANK YOU to host families and their supporters as well as the volunteers (students and parents) who helped at the Start & Finish lines. Without you all, we would have not been able to offer this enjoyable moment!
The ESB PA Events Team continues endeavoring to create, sponsor, host, and/or support a wide-range of activities fostering the sense of the ESB School Community. If you have ideas and a desire to join the effort, do get in touch with us! esbpaEVENTS@gmail.com.
So that’s all from us for now. Please do come along to the coffee morning on 6th September. We’d like to hear from you about how we can improve our approach to both new and existing parents, about what event you might be keen to help us organise and about how the role of class rep could be made even more fun and enticing! Oh and we would always welcome a chat with potential volunteers for our own PA Committee, hence the bribery with drinks and biscuits!
Have a lovely summer, wherever it may be spent.
Take care,
ESB Parents’ Association