Two novelties in Extracurricular Activities programme for 2020-21

Message from the APEEE Working Group 

On the occasion of the opening of the enrolment period for extracurricular activities on 15 June 2020, the Working Group would like to introduce two novelties: new activities proposed in cooperation with external providers and a new pricing policy for the school year 2020-21.

Undoubtedly the lockdown posed many challenges, including the suspension of our activities since 16 March 2020, yet the Working Group for Extracurricular Activities took advantage of this period to explore new opportunities on how to respond to frequent demands from parents for high added-value activities, such as language lessons, ICT/coding and soft skills that are necessary in the complex world we live in. 

It is with great pleasure that we would like to introduce this year new activities offered in cooperation with four external partners, namely 2 coding schools, a language school and an organisation offering innovative soft skills training to youngsters:

• English, French and Dutch   
• Coding
• Emotional Intelligence, Improvisational Theatre and Debate Club

These activities come in addition to our regular activities, which have proven to be popular year after year. The cost of the new activities is similar to what parents would have to pay if their children attended the same activity at the premises of the external provider. Thus, it is convenient for parents and children, who can participate in these activities in a familiar environment along with some of their school friends or classmates.

Moreover, the providers indicated that their activities could run online and without any interruption in case of another temporary closure of the School in autumn/winter 2020. This is also the case for some of our regular activities, where our instructors suggested that they could adapt them and make them available online. More information about all online extracurricular activities in school year 2020-21 will be provided very soon. 

The second novelty, the new pricing policy, comes in response to our need to ensure that each activity covers at least the costs of instructors and other specific costs (access fee for the swimming pool, rental fees for tennis courts, transport costs for activities taking place outside the school premises) while also contributing to our fixed administrative costs. We recalculated the price of each type of activity based on the average number of participations in previous years and established the prices to apply for school year 2020-21. As a non-profit organisation ran by parents with the operational support of our staff, getting the pricing “just” right (and correcting if and where necessary) to ensure that fees cover our operational costs is a matter of utmost priority.

The Working Group for Extracurricular Activities (Nicole, Adán, Tassos, Tomáš and Viola)