APEEE New Year wishes & Updates

APEEE wishes you and your families a joyful and fulfilling 2021. May this be the year in which our lives resume their usual course!

At its start, we have considered it useful to share some thoughts concerning the state of our business and the future co-operation within the school.

Schooling plans

 We are glad that the planning so far has allowed all members of our school community to celebrate the festive season while allowing an appropriate adaptation to the epidemiological situation. The experience of the rotation system in Secondary was assessed very positively so far, as it allowed a significant reduction of risks relating to overcrowding and much lower numbers of confirmed COVID-19 cases within our school.

As some members of our school community may be back from holidays with families abroad, it is extremely important that they respect the applicable provisions, including the conduct of two PCR tests and the respect of the quarantine period before coming back to the school in person. 

On Monday 11 January, the four Brussels Directors are expected to take a decision regarding the future schooling schemes (to be applied after the 18 January).. Without underestimating parental preferences for on-site teaching and learning, we must remain pragmatic and realistic as to our expectations by considering the overall situation. The situation is handled with due care and well-balanced consideration of all interests at stake.  

Our focus was and will continue to be the full implementation of the Distance Learning recommendations adopted by the Board of Governors last December, as long as it will be required as a necessary corollary to on-line schooling. In 2021 our APEEE will be working also hard on the monitoring of the new school educational support policy at all levels, thereby ensuring that quality standards will remain as high as possible while serving all individual pupil needs.  

APEEE forthcoming plans

 Our operations (transport, catering, extracurricular activities) will continue being performed in parallel to the on-site schooling (with the exception of the on-line extra-curricular activities which will continue regardless of the pupils' physical presence). Our APEEE demonstrated determination in keeping up the highest possible hygiene and safety standards and adapted its services, when required so, while striving for quality and continuous improvements albeit the various regulatory and physical constraints.

Any refunds for services not provided during the few days of total closure of the school (from 3 to 13 November 2020 as well as from 21/22 December 2020 to 15 January 2021) will be decided and allocated before the end of January.

The ordinary General Meeting is planned during the last week before the Carnival holidays (the week starting on 8 February 2021). This postponement was necessary for a sound assessment of our accounts in 2019/2020 as well as for the preparation of a meaningful draft budget during the crisis in 2020/2021 school year. The precise date of the meeting with the draft agenda will be published after the last APEEE Board on 19 January.  

 Temporary site in Evere - establishment of the 5th European School

 The construction work for the temporary site in Evere is planned to start in February. The tight schedule for its completion involves a close monitoring by the EEB2 School Director and the EEB2 APEEE contribution, as regards the services to be in place for September 2021. In a recent meeting prior to Christmas between the Secretary-General and the Belgian Prime Minister's Office, it was confirmed that the necessary investments for the temporary site in Evere and the prolonged provision of the Berkendael location have been budgeted, while the forward planning for the opening of the fifth School in September 2028 was underway.

The enrolment policy for September 2021 can be found on the General Secretariat's website (www.eursc.eu).   

Other priorities

 A special dossier with other APEEE plans during the 2020/2021 school year will be circulated at the margins of the upcoming General Meeting in February.  

Kind regards,

Tassos PAPADOPOULOS

APEEE President