APE Notes of the 2nd of December’s Conseil d’Ecole
Attendees :
President, Hayat Merabet – Primary school Director
Teachers and non-teachers Representatives
Marie Bourbon – FLSCO
Stéphane Chammah – CE1 A
Céline Charat – CP A
Jean-Charles Clorennec – MS B
Anne Dejean – MS A
Jean-Yves De Paris – CM2 A
Anne-Laure Ludot – Documentaliste
Corinne Marcel-Huet – PS A
Anita Morikawa – GS A
Anne-Sophie Perhirin – CE2 A
Cécile Pin – Conseillère pédagogique
Didier Roszak – CM1 A
Ayumi Tomala – Japonais
Carol Vallet – Anglais
Parents representatives :
N’Dickou Shibata – APE
Nathalie Etzenbach-Huguenin – APE
Céline Viola – APE
Dominique Péguin – AF-FCPE
Ayoka Mizobe – AF-FCPE
Marion Frenkenberg – AF-FCPE
Catherine Brix – AF-FCPE
Corinne Aso – AF-FCPE
Agenda
I. Class Sizes and Organization
II. Opening of a Bilingual Class (French-Japanese Petite Section)
III. Educational Projects
IV. Afterschool activities
V. School news (Christmas preparation, Christmas market, etc.)
VI. H1N1 Flu Status
VII. 2010/2011 School Year
I. Class sizes and Organization
There are 23 classes in the elementary school including 7 in pre-elementary. Cycles 1 and 3 shows the largest class sizes :
- Cycle 1 : 28-29 students, up to 30 students in MS and GS
- Cycle 3: 28-29 students
Classes in cycle 2 are smaller with 20-23 students.
Mrs. Merabet said she would not allow classes’ size to rise above 30 students. There are already waiting lists for newcomers. Priority is given to French families, French-Japanese families and families from francophone countries. Despite our request, there won’t be any class opening during the year (too difficult to manage according to the direction) but the bilingual French-Japanese class, already budgeted, if it opens. We mentioned last year’s suppression of two teaching positions and our suggestion at the time to keep the two positions. Current class sizes show that these teaching positions should not have been eliminated. The Director said she thought that at least one of the two positions should have been kept. According to the teachers, chances are that a GS class will be closed next year. In previous year, one PS and one MS have been closed. This move is likely to affect in time our recruitment pool for the other cycles and even junior high school.
II. Bilingual class opening (French-Japanese PS)
Preparation meetings between direction and parents organizations have been held prior to the Conseil d’Ecole to discuss the opening of a bilingual French-Japanese class (either PS or MS). We had then been told that the bilingual French-Japanese small section (PS) would open after the February holiday. We were happy about this opening that would set up the third pillar of the educational linguistic project of the LFJT. We were informed this morning that the project of a bilingual French-Japanese PS was compromised as more families than expected were leaving the LFJT primary school. The school needs to have a net gain of 20 new students over the school year to fund this project. 15 students’ departures have been announced within the past few weeks, for only 21 students arrivals, therefore the goal of 20 new students is not reached. We regret that those unexpected departures, affecting principally the third cycle of the elementary school, suddenly prevent the opening of the bilingual class. We feel that opening such a class respond to families’ expectation, especially French-Japanese families, as 35 LFJT families showed interest in registering their children with the new program and is consistent with the educational project of the LFJT.
We reemphasized the importance of keeping class sizes small to avoid damaging both the quality of the teaching and the attractiveness of LFJT compared to other schools. A work group will be created to address issues such as promotion of the new French-Japanese class (there was no promotion for the recruitment of new students for the school although new arrivals are needed to allow the opening of this class) and other available financing sources to allow the opening of the class in March or September 2010. We would like to have a better grasp of the financial aspects of the project, such as school fees (our association, APE, raised the question of the fees for bilingual pre-elementary students that are identical to those of non-bilingual pre-elementary ones despite the fact that charges associated with running the bilingual classes are higher. This is reflected in the fee structure of the elementary school, where fees for bilingual sections are higher than non-bilingual sections) , companies or public organization’s sponsorships to support the opening of the class.
The Conseil d’Ecole ruled in favor of the opening of a French-Japanese class in March or September 2010 with 4 abstentions from teachers, as the project had not been discussed previously at the Conseil des Maitres (Teachers’ council).
III. Educational Projects
Mrs. Merabet listed the educational projects for each class level, from reading challenges, book creation, news live program, play workshops, introduction to art history, to musical productions. Eight overnight field trips are planned during the school year. One in November was postponed because of the H1N1 flu. Teachers are responsible for initiating those outings and parents pay for the trip. The library will receive funding from AEFE to invite French authors for activities the CM2/6eme level.
We discuss the possibility to better inform parents at the beginning of the school year on school life and educational program. To improve students’ preparation and better inform parents, we, the parent’s organization APE, suggested preparing a « syllabus » for the students and the parents that would be distributed at the beginning of the school year, following the welcome meeting, and that would include information on curriculum, teaching methods and evaluation period. Additionally, we discussed the need for more explanation to parents, especially Japanese parents, at the time of school year start on the cultural differences between France and Japan in the schooling, the teaching. This could take the form of a pamphlet. A gradual start of the school year for the youngest classes (PS and MS) was also discussed to allow for a better adjustment for children.
Topics discussed included homework and teachers’ requirements with that matter. An harmonization work for same level classes could be initiated by techers to avoid great discrepencies. However, we were reminded that homework is up to each individual teacher and that parents should speak with them first if their children have difficulties finishing them.
Parents associations have asked again for a work group on language teaching. We specified that the creation of a language department was of utmost importance for the LFJT, now that it is developing its linguistic project. Additionally, the quality of languages education in non-bilingual sections should be a topic for discussion in this work group.
The APE mentioned the decrease in class funding which impacts the educational materials used by teachers. Mrs. Merabet agreed that last year’s funding had been allocated incoherently. For the financial year start in April 2010, funding will be allocated according to class size. Meanwhile, remaining funds were redistributed to address needs. Specific funding has been requested by the library to increase the pool of Japanese and English books.
IV. Afterschool activities
Madame Merabet restated the various measures that had been taken in association with parental organizations to facilitate circulation in front of the school and improve children safety. ASEM and a group of parents will be in charge of the pre-elementary children between the end of their school day and the beginning of their after school. Parents will also be reminded not to stay in the school once they have picked up their pre-elementary child. This as not to disturb elementary classes which finish up at 3.15pm. Parents with children in both pre-elementary and elementary school will be able to use the little playground (petit preau) to wait from 3pm to 3.30pm the end of the school for their older children. An incentive for parents of older grades students (CM2) to let their children come alone to and back from school was also discussed, along with a school project centered around safety and transport to give the children more autonomy.
V. School life (Christmas preparations, Christmas market, etc…)
Decorations started being put up for the Christmas celebrations. The Christmas market for « Asie au coeur » will be held on the12th of December at Fujimi.
VI. H1N1 Flu status
Refer to the 30th of November Health and Safety commission report (available on line on our website). Vaccination campaign will start on the 16th of December for children younger than 10. The vaccination is free and open to French nationals and their spouses.
APE raised the issue of the nurse and her non-replacement during lunch breaks and other breaks. Mrs Merabet will review the issue.
VII. 2010/2011 School Year
The 2010-2011 proposed school year is as follow:
Start : Wednesay the 1st of September for teachers
Thursday the 2nd of September for students
Fall Break : Friday the 15th of October evening
To Monday the 1st of November excluded
Christmas Break : Friday the 17th of December evening
To Tuesday the 4th of January excluded
Winter Break : Friday the 18th of February evening
To Monday the 7th of March excluded
Spring Break : Friday 22nd of April evening
To Monday the 9th of May excluded
*End of the Year : Friday the 1st of July
Holidays : Monday the 20th of September
Tuesday the 23rd of November
Friday the 11th of February
Monday the 21st of March
*It was proposed to change the last day of school to Thursday June 30th from Friday July 1st.
