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.
