Chairman's Welcome Speech at AGM 12th October 2004

Dear parents

A very warm welcome to this meeting tonight, especially to those parents who have just joined us this year. A special welcome also to …. Who have joined us tonight to represent the school and a welcome also to any other member of the school’s staff who may be here as parents.

Last year was a significant one in the life of the school; so much that we had to call an EGM to discuss measures that were agreed at a Board of Governors in April, in relation to two sections here in Culham. For the benefit of new parents, the BoG is the governing body of ALL EU schools and is made up of representatives of the participating governments and the Commission. Our current CESPA Secretary has prepared a slide which illustrates how the schools are run and which she will be presenting shortly.

I will not spend too much time on the details, but I urge new parents to familiarise themselves with the structure of the school, as they will hear terms like BoG, Admin Board and so on very often.

A number of key decisions were taken by the BoG last year, together with some proposals on the possible future of the school. This topic was covered extensively at the EGM. In the period between the EGM and now we have not had any further developments, so I will not go over this matter again. Suffice it to say that we were able to gain more time with regard to the small sections while other matters concerning broad strategies were also deferred or handed over to sub-committees. We need to take into account the fact that we have had European election this year, as well as a new Commission so there is still scant information available right now. But all indicators point towards the upholding of the same strategy, with just some minor tactical adjustments. However, if you wish to refresh your mind on these matters, I recommend you read my report which is available in the CESPA web site.

The focus of this evening’s meeting is on ordinary administration, so I want to concentrate on the achievement of CESPA in the year just gone by, rather than on high-level strategic forecasts, which at this early stage may be of dubious value.

First of all, I would like to take this opportunity to thank and congratulate my colleagues in the Committee for all their work over the last 12 months. Being a Committee member requires a level of dedication which far exceeds the normal call of parental duties and everyone has made a contribution to the cause, offering their skill, energy and input.

On this occasion, I would like to single out in particular our Secretary, Gill, who sadly is leaving us, for her excellent support. Gill was able to extricate herself from the flood of papers we regularly receive, thus helping us all enormously with administrative matters and presenting vital reports, timely and accurately which we were then able to filter down to all the school population. This is beginning to sound like a job reference… ! Although I shall be more than happy to provide her with one if required!

Another special mention goes to Martina, who has been Deputy Chair and Treasurer for a number of years and who is also leaving us now. We will greatly miss her good humour and the sight of Martina carting around the school during the fundraising events a very large wheelie bag, full of coppers and silver, which then had to be painstakingly counted and banked. Of course this was only a small part of her duties, as she also looked after the administration of grants and all general financial affairs of CESPA. Thank you Martina and Gill for all you have done for the Committee and therefore the whole school.

And I should not omit Lisbet Clements for her sterling work on Lost Property, as well as Greet for her excellent tenure as Editor of Europarents. I would of course like to thank each and everyone of the people who have made a contribution and are departing the Committee tonight, but there is insufficient time, so I hope I will be forgiven if your name is not in my list.

This brings me to the next topic, that of resources. CESPA raises its funds through a modest levy which every parent is encouraged to pay annually, as well as the two events which are organised every year, namely the flea market and the Summer fete. Last year we raised several thousand pounds at the summer fete alone.

This money is invested back in the school, in educational resources, playground equipment, extra curricular activities, grants to students groups, travel grants to students to attend other events in other European schools and so on. In fact this year we are showing a healthy surplus and are therefore able to allocate at least £6k to a major project. We are therefore asking ever parent and administration to come up with ideas, not tonight, but in writing by October 30th. These ideas will be considered by the new Committee and they will allocate these funds to the chosen projects. Clearly, if a specific project is supported by a large number of parents or students, then this will be given greater consideration.

And now to other achievements of CESPA last year. At the beginning of the academic year just gone, we were able to obtain a free consultancy period that looked at transport issues related to the school. We all know how difficult it is to get in and out of the school at peak times and we clearly needed to do something. The consultants came up with a very thorough report, as a result of which we were able to call a meeting with all the interested parties such as parish, district, county council and so on. It was because of this meeting, and pressure that was placed before, that we were able to ensure that the timetable of the new route coincided with the new bus to Wallingford, Abingdon and Witney. Another matter that came out of the meeting was the establishment of a proper car share service, web enabled, and which I now urge you to make use of, if you haven’t done so already. [Hold up a copy of the car share leaflet here.] There is much to do and talk on transport which is why we have allocated a specific slot in the Agenda.

You will see that together with the strategic issues mentioned at the beginning, the fund raising events, the transport matters and all other matters of ordinary administration pertaining, we have not been idle.

I hope you will continue to support us, electing a new Committee and helping the new team in their task over the coming months.

Without further ado, I am now passing over the microphone to our Secretary who will introduce the two slides on the school structure I mentioned at the beginning.

Many thanks.