Following the success of our first edition of the Yearbook last year, we have prepared a new edition for you to share the best moments of our children at EELM.
Inside, You will find the photos of all the children of the school (M, P and S), the presentation of each class, the PA’s projects, the messages of the different members of the educational community… 100 pages to leaf through to better get to know the EELM and see it grow…
This 2021-22 yearbook aims to show what we have all experienced collectively this year. We have undoubtedly taken the greatest care. It is offered at the price of 12 euros. Orders are open until June 1st for delivery after class on Wednesday June 22nd following the link :
This is the third school year for the students and families of EELM, and the year 2021 is almost over already. The Parents’ Association and its new team are happy to present the actions of the different working groups. If these actions inspire you, and you are interested in joining a group, do not hesitate. You are more than welcome!
FUNDRAISING
Thank you all for your participation in our first Easy Wednesday on 20 October. A second Easy Wednesday will take place on 2 February with a Chinese New Year theme. For Christmas, we were a little frustrated in our enthusiasm. We would have liked to been able to organise a friendly Christmas festival so that we could finally meet in person. We realised that we would have to wait a little longer for that, so we proposed a Christmas tree sale. On the expense side, we financed sports equipment and playground game equipment to the tune of 500 euros for the school. We also approved two financial contributions from the APE to the school, for a total of 1900 euros to help finance outings and trips for the pupils of sections M, P and S. We are now getting down to work to prepare a magnificent yearbook for the end of the year. If any of you would like to have a copy of the 2020-21 yearbook, please contact us, as we still have some left.
LIBRARY
The library group is in the process of cataloguing the contents of the M and P library using software purchased by the school. This will allow us to start lending books in the near future. The group would also like to continue opening the library during lunchtime for the children. We need many volunteers to be able to offer as many opening days as possible! Please contact us at library@ape-eelm.eu if you are interested.
AFTERSCHOOL
This year we have further expanded our range of extra-curricular activities. Our extra-curricular activities for M1/M2 and P1/P2/P3 have resumed with great success and have been running since 6 September. Thanks to the precautions taken from the start, all the workshops have been maintained despite changes in the health protocol. In total, there are 13 workshops and 155 children taking part on a daily basis! We are pleased to offer extra-curricular activities to secondary school pupils from 3 January. You can register since 5 December with UFCV for one of the 6 workshops proposed: Kung Fu, theatre (FR), capoeira, chess, Bollywood (EN), and Brazilian music. Thank you to all the parents involved in this group who allow us to ensure a follow-up of the workshops and good communication between the professionals and the parents.
ECO-SCHOOL
An appeal has been made to families to collect eco-cups that you do not use at home. This will allow us to organise birthdays and events without using plastic or nonrecyclable/reusable cups. The collection is not over yet, so please have your child bring them to school, and we will collect them! When you pass by the school, the vegetable garden seems abandoned. Well, it’s not, it’s resting. We have added potting soil and dead leaves to the vegetable trays so that the seedlings and plantations will have the best possible environment to grow in the coming months. The bird feeders have also been filled to help the birds through the harsh winter months. Finally, the toy collection for the benefit of the associations Ludopital and Enfance et Vie will take place in December.
MOBILITY
As soon as school was back in session, the group members were mobilized for the School Ecomobility Challenge that took place from October 11th to the 15th in order to encourage participation in the event among school staff and families. Several routes to come to school together were proposed which allowed for some lovely meetings between families! Once again this year, a class from our school won the award for being the class with the best progression towards ecomobility. Bravo P3 EN! The pupils will receive their award December 14th in the presence of the CREM (EcoMobility Resource Center). This spirit of collaboration was strengthened thanks to the sale organized with the EcoSchool and Fundraising groups of fluorescent yellow safety vests personalized by the APE. Don’t worry if you missed out! We will be holding another sale in May for the annual Bike Challenge. Additionally, the Mobility group is currently working on implementing the PDES “Plan Déplacement Établissement Scolaire” (School Commute Plan) in collaboration with the school. We will be sharing more about this soon to make use of this research and action tool concerning your home-to-school commutes. We’re counting on you! Don’t hesitate to contact us at mobility@ape-eelm.eu
COMMUNICATION & DIVERSITY
In the Communication & Diversity group, we are thinking about how to highlight the many nationalities present in the school. A Diversity project is in the making, the idea being to regularly highlight one nationality through cultural actions and events. If you want to be part of this project, please join us! We are looking for volunteers who will be able to share their ideas and bring diversity to life in our school. We would also like to know your expectations and opinions in terms of communication. That is why we are launching a survey for all families. We would like to thank you in advance for taking the time to answer it so that we can better understand your expectations and improve the points that need to be optimised. Thank you, everyone!
We would like to invite you to take part, with the School, in the ‘School Ecomobility Challenge’, which takes places next week from Monday 11 to Friday 15 October. Every morning during the week, your child’s teacher will make a note of the type of transportation they used to come to school.
What’s the goal?
To increase awareness about nicer ways (walking, cycling, using scooters, public transport, carsharing, etc.) to travel to and from school;
To increase awareness about the beneficial effects of these alternatives for our health and for the environment;
To reduce, throughout this ‘ecomobility’ week, the amount of car traffic around the School;
To make getting to school safer for pupils and parents.
How?
By traveling to School by a means other than the personal car. Doing so just on one day in the week would make a real contribution to meeting this Challenge!
Where and when?
Several routes/dates setting off from the following locations:
Saint Vincent Church in Marcq-en-Barœul by bike on Monday 11, Tuesday 12, Thursday 14 and Friday 15 October
Saint Maurice Pellevoisin by bike on Friday 15 October
Quesnoy-sur-Deûle by bike on Tuesday 12, and Friday 15 October You can see the detail of the proposed routes in the attached document. And you can create your own route if you wish with other families (and don’t forget Cmabulle might help you to do so).
With whom?
TFull details of the routes are available on the forum.
You can help us meet this Challenge!
Parents remain responsible for their children.And last but not least, don’t forget to wear a yellow vest and a helmet!
For those of us who do not have a child or adult safety vest, the PA is selling EELM-customized neon vests for 9 euros each.
Child and adult sizes available!
This will allow as many people as possible to be visible, and thus make our journeys and the area around the school safer.
Delivery scheduled the week of 11 October.
Interested ? Flash the below QR code for ordering !
The members of the APE EELM (parents’ association) would like to welcome the families joining the school, and to welcome back the families returning after the summer break.
Here you will find some important upcoming events to put in your diary for the month of September.
EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES
From the 6th of September, the extracurricular workshops will be starting up for M1/M2 and P1/P2/P3 students. In total 16 workshops are full and 168 students will be able to enjoy them. We are currently working on the possibility of proposing specific workshops to secondary-level students. Thanks to members of the ‘périscolaire’ working group who have worked really hard during the holidays to organise a wide range of activities and get everything ready for the beginning of September !
For parents who would like to know more about the association, the way it works, the members of the bureau and administrative board, as well as the many different ways in which you can get involved, a virtual meeting will be held on September 16th from 8 to 9.30pm on Teams. You will receive a link and an invitation by email very soon.
CALL FOR APPLICATIONS
Our association is young, and we rely on the contributions of parents who are keen to get involved with life at the school. We are looking for parents interested in joining the bureau, the administrative board or one of the working groups of our association.
If you are interested in joining the team, please let us know before the 20th of September by writing to the follwing address: bureau@ape-eelm.eu.
MEMBERSHIP OF THE ASSOCIATION
Those families who have registered their child or children for an extracurricular workshop must be members of the association. It is also necessary to be a member in order to vote at the General Assembly. It is not compulsory to make a financial contribution in order to join the association.
The General Assembly of our Association will take place on September 29th at 8pm at the Centre Social in Marcq en Baroeul (69 boulevard Clémenceau). During this meeting we will inform you about last year’s activities including the financial situation of the association and the projects developed by the working groups. We will also elect the members of the new bureau and the new administrative board for the 2021-2022 school year.
You will receive an invitation to the General Assembly, a copy of the Activity Report and the Financial Report on September 15th.
For those parents who are unable to attend the meeting it will be possible to cast an electronic vote in advance.
MANY THANKS FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION WE WISH YOU ALL A GREAT SCHOOL YEAR !
The Yearbook is a book that gathers pictures of all the classes that make up our school, mini-portraits of all the students. You will also find the highlights of each section and the actions carried out by the APE.
This yearbook will allow students and their parents to keep vivid memories of ending year with their class but also all the other ones.
This collection is a complementary souvenir to the class photo that you may have already ordered.
Orders for the Yearbook will open on June 1st and close on June 10th at 8 p.m., as it will go to press early June. It will be distributed in class on June 25. You will receive the link to order it in a few days.
As with every action taken by the APE, the profits collected will be used to finance projects for our children’s school.
Winter is finally over, and we all want to get out and about more. And there’s no shortage of ideas to keep us busy.
The Parents’Association has lots of projects on the boil which, with the help of the many families who volunteer their time, are contributing to make our school a place where our children are happy and where we all want to get together.
As in the first newsletter, you will find updates about what’s been going on since January and our plans for the coming months.
Mobility Group
Our aim to work towards greener ways of getting around, a more accessible school and to ensure everyone’s safety.
The P1 and P2 students are thrilled about the new cycle racks which have been installed near their gate. The Region has promised to supply bike shelters before the end of the school year.
This month you have the opportunity to get involved in the challenge organized by the Lille Metropolitan Authority (MEL) : “Ensemble en selle”. You can create an account on the website https://www.naviki.org/fr/naviki and join the team “Ecole Européenne Lille Métropole”. 90 participants had already registered on May 9!
Every kilometre counts, to come to school, go to work or out on a ride at the weekend. Let’s try to beat last year’s record, when we clocked up more than 2000 km.
You can track the results on https://challengevelo.lillemetropole.fr, and we’ll certainly be celebrating our success, cyclists and non cyclists all together.
Fundraising Group
We’ve had the pleasure of organising two “easy mercredi” sales so far this year : pizzas on January 13th and Pad Thai on March 31st. Each event raised about 500 euros for the association. This money will be used to purchase equipment for the school yard (outdoor games equipment such as balls, circus equipment, …) and supplies for the after school clubs. There will be a third “easy mercredi” before the end of the year with a new destination.
As you know, we worked with Sylvain David (photographer and M1 EN parent) to organise the class photos. For the end of the year we are also preparing a Year Book. It will include photos of the school’s pupils, the different projects which the classes and the Parents’Association have worked on, and also the highlights of the school year. We hope with this first edition to provide you with a souvenir of your child’s year at the EELM 2020 2021.
Eco School Group
Many parents have got involved in the eco school group, working on projects which highlight the importance of sustainable development for our school.
One of the most important events of recent months : the Parents’ Association has been working with the school and the City of Marcq to create a small vegetable garden. The first fruits and vegetables will be ready to pick before the end of the school year.
To contact the group or to get involved: ecoschool@ape eelm.eu.
Culture & Diversity Group
As we mentioned in the first newsletter, we are very excited about our Virtual and Multilingual Library. We will be inaugurating it very soon, so watch your e-mails all the information about how to access the library will be sent out very soon.
At our school we are lucky to have families of many different nationalities. We would like to make this diversity visible by creating a large scale map of the world representing the countries of origin of our school’s families. We are currently working on this, and we hope to be able to tell you more before the end of the school year.
The culture and diversity group is always looking for new ideas and contributions from the school’s families, please get in touch with your ideas! Feel free to contact us at culture diversity@ape eelm.eu.
Communication Group
Over the last few months we have been working behind the scenes on improving the forum and making it more user-friendly. We have drawn up a user’s charter, and we are setting up channels of information for each of the association’s working groups.
We also hope, before the end of the year, to create a new section entitled “helping hand”. This section will be aimed at any families who may occasionally need help with dropping off or picking up their kids, for example, but who don’t have any family or friends in the region to call on. It will also be useful for families who have recently arrived, don’t necessarily speak French, and may need help with some administrative procedures. We’ll keep you up to date as this project takes shape.
Library Group
Parents, accompanied by municipal staff, will offer nursery and primary children access to their library during lunchtime. The opening will be one day a week and will be extended according to the mobilization of parents. NOTICE TO VOLUNTEERS!
Other projects are underway and will soon allow children to benefit even more from this library.
Extracurricular Activities Group
Despite the sanitary conditions we have been able to maintain the activities. They will, as far as possible, take place outdoors until the end of the year.
Many thanks to all the parents who completed the survey about the extracurricular activities!
We’ll be in touch soon with more information about next year’s activities.
You have also received a request for authorization to use your child’s photo. Our aim is to be able to share with you some pictures and videos of the after school workshops.
A final word
Despite the covid-19 restrictions, the working groups have enables many families to get to know each other and to get involved with the association. But of course we all want to meet up and have some fun together. We hope to be able to do that very soon. We are working on the possibility of organising small-scale gatherings (by school level) at the end of this year, and we are planning a fantastic picnic for September to allow us to meet up and give the new families a warm welcome.
We thank you all for your energy and your contributions which make the EELM such a unique and friendly place.
January is already coming to an end. In our December newsletter we highlighted all the great projects we completed together over the past few months and I can only thank you again for your generosity and for the support that you regularly show :
Nearly 500 books and games were donated for the associations Ludopital and Enfance et Vie
242 copies of our recipe books were sold
142 pizzas were also sold during ‘Easy Mercredi’
These two latest projects have enabled us to collect more than 1 800 euros.
The money raised by the Parents’ Association is mainly intended to finance travel and cultural activities for the children, but in this unusual year we will also make a contribution for the purchase of equipment for the playground, materials for the M&P after-school club, and the chess club which will be set up by the “S” pupils in the coming weeks.
On behalf of the bureau and all the members of the C-APE, I wish you a happy 2021 with lots of laughter, dreams, good health and the desire to share great projects for our children.
