CIRCULAR OF THE DIRECTOR December 2014 No. 21 Dear parents, ein herzliches Grüß Gott, The year 2014 is almost over and although it hasn’t been an easy year for some members of our school community from a personal point of view, the overall balance is positive, as far as our school is concerned. I have already expressed my sincere gratitude to all colleagues for their share in making our school such a wonderful place to be and work for and I would like to thank all of you for your confidence in us and for the support you give us. I also thank our partners from the European Patent Office and the Parents’ Association wholeheartedly for the great and constructive cooperation we have. Outcome of the Follow-Up Inspection 2014 As I have already mentioned at various occasions, the outcome of the Follow-Up Inspection was very positive and the result of the very constructive and effective working together from colleagues and with colleagues. This outcome will be discussed with your representatives in the School Advisory Council and the Administrative Board. I am and we as your school management are very grateful for all positive developments in various areas such as differentiation, in order to meet the needs of the individual pupil/student as much as possible. The exchange of good practice within and between sections has proven to be a tool par excellence to achieve further improvements and we will go on promoting and supporting this model of learning from and with each other and thus ameliorating our educational concept. In many evaluations that we as a school management carried out, we have noticed the progress made in the most important areas of our school development (differentiation, forward planning, transition, European dimension, social dimension, whole day concept, learning strategies, languages) and the impact of all kinds of projects and initiatives, embedded in the respective Action Plans, to guarantee a structured approach. One out of many excellent examples is a current common project between the classes S4 of the Italian and the Dutch speaking sections about Caravaggio and Rembrandt. In this project the subjects Italian, Dutch, German, art and chemistry are integrated in a very European way and both teachers and students show a high degree of motivation and involvement. In February an impression of this project will be shown in our display cabinet in the entrance hall. Europäische Schule München Elise-Aulinger-Str.21 81739 München Telefon: +49 (0) 89-62816–0 Fax: +49 (0) 89-62816–444 Website: www.esmunich.de Öffentliche Verkehrsmittel: U-Bahn-Linie 5 Therese-Giehse-Allee -2- Self-evaluation among parents’ and students’ representatives In the context of our cyclic Quality Assurance system and with the aim to facilitate the further school development in a structured way, a self-evaluation among parents’ and students’ representatives is taking place in December 2014 and January 2015. As the teachers’ recommendations, the recommendations from parents’ and students’ representatives will be part of the input for our Multi Annual School Plan 2015 – 2019. Of course we will discuss these recommendations from students and parents internally and in the Educational Councils, the School Advisory Council and the Administrative Board. Security At various occasions I have already mentioned that security is an issue that needs to be taken very seriously, especially in European institutions. The Secretary-General also made this very clear at our Administrative Board in January 2014. First of all, each and every European School needs to respect and implement the local laws on security, and secondly, as mentioned, a European School needs to be extra cautious, to prevent unsecure situations to happen and to be able, in case of an emergency, to act as adequately and professionally as possible. For all these reasons our school has a security manager, Mr Otto Schönbrunner. He has been working in our school since 1st May 2014 and the planning is that by the end of 2015 the school’s policy on security in its broadest sense will be available and implemented. The security manager gives advice to the management and the security company, in order to organise the security in our school in a more professional way than up to now. Since a more professional security concept is new in our school, we will go on discussing within the management team, with the security manager and with the staff representatives, and also with the Parents’ Association and the Educational Councils to develop and implement a security policy that suits our school. In the School Advisory Council and in the Administrative Board we will inform all representatives on a regular basis. In case of any questions, please, contact your representatives and also Mr Schönbrunner is available to receive your ideas and feedback. December December is a wonderful month, full of reflection and celebration. Millions of people all over the world celebrate the birth of Christ and come together with family and friends, sharing memories and hopes. All kinds of celebrations have also taken place in our school as well and our colleagues and our pupils/students have done a magnificent job in organising Christmas concerts and parties for nursery, primary and secondary and for members of staff, theatre plays, an ecumenical celebration, and so on. It is really impressive to witness how dedicated and professional the colleagues involved are and how motivating they are for our pupils and students. I wish you and your families, also on behalf of my colleagues, a Christmas full of wonders, and a new year with health and happiness! Rudolph Ensing Director Europäische Schule München Elise-Aulinger-Str.21 81739 München Telefon: +49 (0) 89-62816–0 Fax: +49 (0) 89-62816–444 Website: www.esmunich.de Öffentliche Verkehrsmittel: U-Bahn-Linie 5 Therese-Giehse-Allee