Visit to the temporary site - Discussion with the Secretary-General at our General Meeting on 28 January 2019

Dear Parents,

Following APEEE Presidents' meeting with Commissioner Oettinger on 10 January, parent and teacher representatives from all Brussels-based European schools were invited on Monday 21 January 2019 to visit the buildings at Rue du Commerce 96, which the host country plans to offer to the European schools on a temporary basis as from September 2020 up until August 2026.

In their effort to alleviate overcrowding pressure on all schools, the Belgian authorities have already signalled their intention to set up the 5th European school close to the old NATO HQ as from September 2024 or 2025, while it will be proposed to the Belgian Council of Ministers that the Berkendael site remains for European schools' use for an indefinite period.

Although the political decision on all the above issues is still pending, an informal feasibility study for the new temporary site has been undertaken since early 2018. Parents had the opportunity, for the first time, to walk through the infrastructure and raised a number of preliminary questions aimed at confirming the suitability of the building.

In previous communications, we stressed that the sports hall will not be available within the building itself, while transportation will rely on the public network with a walking distance of 5 minutes to and from the Arts-Loi metro station.

The visit enabled us to form a more realistic view about the daily life of students and teachers in those buildings that offer space on five floors. It became clear that the student population cannot exceed easily one thousand. Significant technical preparations have already been carried out on many internal aspects. We understood that there is still a margin for adaptations to the plans with a view to facilitating the school's organisation. Essential facilities, like a canteen, library, ICT room, music rooms and arts hall as well as a number of science laboratories and of large rooms for shared use are included in the provisional plan. We were given also some information orally about the safety and security plans.

The Monitoring Group meeting that was convened by the Secretary-General afterwards in the course of the day assessed the outstanding issues and agreed to meet again by early March to discuss, in particular:

1. The alternative proposal submitted by parent representatives for a modular block building at the open site in Evere as well as any further options that the Belgian Building Authority could present by that time, as well as

2. A fully-fledged educational plan with different variables for the use of the new temporary site at Rue du Commerce 96, including all educational, technical and organisational requirements that parent and teacher representatives have requested, thus responding to as many legitimate queries and concerns as possible.

The final assessment must also include forecasts about additional human and financial resources that are necessary, in order for this site to be fully operational with minimum risks, especially in relation to the organisation of examinations.

I would like to re-iterate on this occasion that no discussion has taken place yet as to whether upper Secondary students from our school will be part of a transfer in September 2020, provided the host country adopts a political decision in that respect. The examination of any model still requires in-depth preparation and further examination both of which need to take place in the near future.

To present you all with an update about all the latest developments, the Secretary-General of European Schools, Mr Marcheggiano and our School Director, Mr de Tournemire have been invited to attend our General Meeting on 28 January 2019 from 7 to 8 pm, with a view to replying to questions from all linguistic sections.

As the time-schedule for this point will be very tight within a universally heavy agenda, all class representatives and other parents are kindly requested to send their questions in writing to their section co-ordinators. Only section co-ordinators will have the possibility to make interventions concerning this item for a maximum of three minutes.

I would like to thank you for your understanding and trust in handling of such an important issue for the future of our school and for the crucial interests of our students.

Yours sincerely

Tassos PAPADOPOULOS
APEEE President