As in years past, the Parents Association invited all new parents for a Welcome Coffee on Friday, 17th September. Luckily, we were able to host the event outdoors at EuroKids, so we could offer real coffee and even some breakfast items for the interested parents.
After the registration and checking the 3G rules, every guest had the chance to look around and collect all the information they need to get around better in Frankfurt and to make their and their children’s life easier in the school.
Firstly, Ms. Floriana Grimaldi, the president of the PA Board, welcomed the guests and introduced the Board members. Then Ms. Marja Korpimäki, the Coordinator of the Secondary Counseling shared some words about the school’s anti-bullying project. Mr Ferdinand Patscheider, the director of the school, followed by greeting all the new parents and emphasized how nice is to celebrate multilingualism together. Speeches continued with Ms. Minna Laatu, the Deputy Director of the Secondary school and Ms. Anastazija Avsec, the Deputy Director of the Nursery and Primary school. They both expressed how happy they are we began the new school year with everyone in the school building, and they do hope - as all of us do - we will be able to continue with in-situ teaching. This year we even had the chance to learn why is it good to be a student at ESF with the help of Gianluca Commisso, an S7 student. He told us how much he likes the sport and music activities and how much extra credit it gives to you if you study in an international school as the ESF. Last but not least, Mr. George Betts, the General Manager of the Eurokids, briefly introduced the services offered, and he invited every interested parent on a walk to get to know the Eurokids premises better.
This year, we also had many special guests helping the parents with gathering information. Ms. Ombeline de Bridier from Usborne Publishing arrived with some beautiful children books. Ms. Christelle Felix invited us to join to the PA’s Nordic walking group and Ms. Christelle Pilot gave useful information about the mindfulness activity she is offering every year for the ESF students. Ms. Bénédicte Kérébel from the Francort Accueil gave us some tips what to do around Frankfurt. Damaris Brun, the Président of Dys à Francfort was also present. They have a good collaboration with the Educational Support group at ESF about the topic of children with learning difficulties. Unfortunately, the librarian, Ms. Stephanie von Selchow couldn’t join to the event, but she is asking every enthusiastic parent to help her in the library.
After the speeches, the participants had the chance to talk to the PA Board members, ask their questions from the management of the school and Eurokids and to collect useful information from our special guests.
All in all it was a very successful event and we hope people left satisfied not only because of the coffee smell (which we could not serve last year).
The PA would like to say thank you for all the participants and helpers.
If you are interested in more details, please watch our video about the event here.