Date: March 11, 2021

PA News February I 2021

Dear Parents,

Well, we were all ready to send this out as a January update and then the news came in about Primary schools reopening next week AND our school’s possible change of location was featured in the local paper. Let’s start with an update about another hot topic from last year, by sharing with you a message that we received from the Food Bank in Alkmaar.

”Heden hebben wij van u een mooie donatie mogen ontvangen. Wij danken u zeer voor dit bedrag ad €1.900,- . Wij zullen dit geld gebruiken om ontbrekende etenswaren te kopen ten behoeve van de voedselpakketten voor de klanten van Voedselbank Alkmaar, Heerhugowaard e.o.” o I’m only 12 lessons into learning Dutch but I believe that the above message translates as “you’re awesome, thank you”.

  • We wish to highlight that the following classes do not have a parent Class Representative for this academic year; S1N, S2N, S2F, S4F, S6N, and S6F. If you do not have a Class Rep in your class, it is difficult for us as P.A. to contact the parents of the class and to hear of any issues that might occur. A Class Rep also gathers input from their respective class parents for the Primary and Secondary Educational Councils (PEC/SEC) and attends the PEC/SEC Class Reps' preparatory meetings. These meetings take place four times during a full school year are held during school hours. They are also, unsurprisingly, held online at the moment.A class may have more than a one Class Rep, so the role can be shared between a number of parents. Please refer to the other attachment you have been sent to see an outline of what a Class Reps' role entails, and if any parents in the above classes are interested in becoming Class Rep, please contact esbpasecretary@gmail.com.
  • Representatives of the P.A. and the school recently attended online the first of several meetings about the potential plans for the traffic flow and area surrounding our school. There were a lot of attendees in the meeting to represent the different tenants and residents of the area. Whilst this first meeting was primarily intended to explain the nature of the meetings that would follow, it was also taken as an opportunity for us to reiterate our primary concern: ensuring the safety of our children in the area around the school. When we have further information to share with you we will gladly do so.
  • This month saw the school’s Admin Board meet online and one of the items discussed was the future of our school canteen. We are not the only European School and Parents’ Association having such a discussion and, due to that fact, it was stated in the Admin Board that this discussion will move up the managerial chain to allow a more central discussion to take place about the relationship between European schools, their canteens and their Parents’ Associations. We will keep you updated once these discussions have begun.
  • By now, both the Alkmaar and Zaanstad Gemeentes should have submitted their proposed locations of our future school to the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (“OCW”) for consideration. In this weekend’s local newspaper you may have seen two artist’s renditions of how a school in Alkmaar could look: please do treat them as suggestions, not certainties. Later this week we will have a “first contact” online meeting with the OCW’s new leader of this project as they begin their dialogue with the various stakeholders that are involved.

That’s all from us for now: thanks again for making such a great contribution to the Food Bank and for continuing to be your children’s IT Manager/Classroom Assistant/Personal Motivator/Chef de Cuisine/Print Shop Executive/Peace Treaty Negotiator, all while they think that they have the tougher time of it right now. Let’s hope that next week’s return of Nursery and Primary goes well and that it is a sign of more positive things to come.

Take care,

ESB Parents’ Association

If you have any questions that you would like for PA to communicate on your behalf, please send them to us.

Organisatie Oudervereniging van de Europese School te Bergen
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