OCTOBER 2018 - Tallinn European School

OCTOBER 2018

Greetings from Miss Auli
Dear pupils, parents and teachers,

The first term in our new spacious building is nearly finished and it is time to look back as well as
ahead. After the first and hectic month, we have settled into an everyday rhythm: the learning
process is established; the English and French section are having joint events; national and KiVa-
assemblies as well the KiVa lessons are taking place as planned; extracurricular activities are
following their schedules; the Student Council, Teachers’ Council, Parents’ Council and the School
Board have been set with newly elected members and the first meetings have been held.

From August to October, we have received a lot of media coverage and hosted many guests. We
can surely say that TES has made waves in Estonia and has found a definite place in the
European Schools’ Network. Our delegation of 7 staff members, 2 parents’ representatives, as
well as a eu-LISA representative, was the biggest delegation that participated in the Accredited
European School Network annual conference in Helsinki.

I am very pleased that our almost 300 pupils and 83 staff members have accepted the new school
building, students have found the shortest path from one class to another, discovered cosy and
quiet places in the library, found enjoyable activities in the schoolyard as well as at the playground.

The growth of the TES community imposes new challenges. This makes maintaining the core
values of TES more important than ever.

The highlight of this term was the celebration of Teachers’ Day. The teachers enjoyed the lessons
given by the students. The rest of the upper secondary pupils obtained valuable experience in the
teaching world. We are grateful for the parents who dedicated their time and experience in
organising the lessons, other duties, and hosted a lovely flower sale.
The Educational Hackathon took place at the school and our pupils from S1, S4 and S5 classes
were actively involved in three of the 17 teams participating. I am very proud of our pupils who all
did very well, two of whom were part of the winning team, FeedBee. The other two teams
including TES pupils finished in the top five!

Educators globally continue to reaffirm that teaching and learning processes are changing, the
school’s role is changing as well as the teacher’s.

I would like to share the thoughts of Haim G. Ginott, the school teacher, child psychologist and
parent educator:

“I’ve come to a frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It is my
personal approach that creates the climate. It’s my daily mood that makes the weather. As a
teacher, I process a power to make a child’s life joyous. I can be an instrument of inspiration. I can
heal or hurt. In all situations, it is my responsibility to think about the child.”

If we all keep this in mind when we think about the learning process for the child, we will be the
best school ever!

I wish you all a lovely autumn holiday!

Auli Udde, TES Director

A committee to improve the canteen
The canteen committee was established to discuss and solve the problems risen this year. The
committee has representatives from all parties - the canteen service provider Daily, teachers,
students and parents: Regina Henk, the canteen manager; Triinu Tõrv, Miriama Krepka and Hilppa
Elmgren from teachers; Ana Vucetic, Algé Paužiené, Birsen Bahşi and Malene Vendelboe from
parents; Mihhail Beljatski, Markus Franch and Josh Archer from students.

Before the first committee meeting on October 16th, parents’ representatives collected feedback
and performed observations in the canteen. Students and teachers also collected feedback
amongst themselves and brought it to the committee.

The committee has met twice and has made changes to improve students experience in the
canteen. In the future, the salad bar will be before the main dishes and starting from the next term
the menus will include direct input from the committee. Also, the card system will be investigated
to see how it could be used better to help parents and the canteen.
There is already extra help for lower primary to get the food and the cafe has removed candies
from its selection and replaced them with healthy options.

The committee will continue its work to help the canteen to provide our students with nutritious,
healthy and tasty school food. The committee will meet again on November 20th.

Hilppa Elmgren

Inside the Garage48 Edutech Hackathon with our teacher/mentor
Ian
This past weekend, the facilities of TES were opened to the Garage48 EduTech Hackathon. More
than 100 participants representing 14 nationalities took part in collaborating on ideas designed to
influence the future of education. And because it’s impossible to truly approach a topic like
education without inviting those who are most affected by it, many students joined as participants
as well.

The event began on Friday, where everyone gathered in our Assembly hall to hear the initial
ideas. A total of 31 ideas were pitched including designs for websites, apps, virtual and
augmented reality software and videogames. Once the pitches were through, a flurry of activity
began as the visionaries worked to convince designers, programmers, business and educational
experts to join their teams, and these same experts shopped around for their favourite idea to
spend the next 48 hours working on.

Seventeen teams were formed out of the original thirty-one ideas and for the next two days the
teams worked tirelessly, spread out amongst the classrooms. Checkpoints with the mentors and
hosts throughout the weekend assured that the teams stayed on track and worked towards
polishing their final pitch.

Included amongst these specialists were a few of our very own educational experts: Marta (S1),
Vera (S1), Neşe (S1), Chantal (S1), Daria (S1), Roman (S4), Ivan (S5), Marco (S5) and Tom (S5).
Primary 2 teacher Ian Karell also took part as one of the mentors who helped guide the teams
throughout the weekend. Many other students joined the hackathon, creating the unique situation
where children and adults were teamed up as equal partners in their venture. “I never felt like I
was being treated like I was eleven,” commented Vera after the event. “I felt respected and
listened to.”

And the students truly were listened to and all three teams in which students from TES were
participating won prizes. First place was awarded to Vera and Marta’s project, FeedBee. Chantal,
Daria and Neşe’s project, VR Confident, received the prize for second place, and Tom, Marco,
Ivan and Roman’s project, Zoment, won the award for “Fastest Exit”.

It was truly inspiring to see so many young minds working together with seasoned professionals
during this whirlwind of a weekend and the final presentations showcased the true spirit of a
hackathon: the combination of good fun, team spirit and hard work.
Neşe summed it up nicely with this quote: “It was the most fun and interesting weekend of my life.”

Ian Karell, P2ENB Class teacher

Read more about the event, teams and winners here.

Photos by Patrik Tamm

A word from Hanna, one of our two first European Baccalaureate
graduates
So far, after graduation, I have been content and busy with university life. I am now studying
International Business Administration at Tallinn University of Technology (TTÜ). This step has
been new and exciting, but I also can't help missing the warm community of TES.

Most of my classmates here are from different countries across the world themselves, so
everyone's experiences have been different. I do still get surprised looks when I mention that my
graduating class had only two people in it. It makes me realise how lucky I was to be in a school
where teachers could devote so much attention to each student.

I hope everyone is enjoying their new shiny school building and good luck with your studies this
year!

Hanna

The European Baccalaureate: 19 exams at TES in 2019
For the 2019 session of the European Baccalaureate, our school will have 7 candidates, who have
already chosen their examinations (5 written and 3 oral). There will be a total of 19 examinations
for this session at TES!

The 19 examinations are: L1 Estonian, L1 English, L1 Finnish, L1 Italian, L2 English, L2 French,
L2 German, L3 French, L3 German, L3 Spanish, Mathematics 3 periods, Mathematics 5 periods,
Economics in English, Economics in French, Geography in French, Philosophy, Art, Chemistry,
History in German.

The official results and statistics for last year's session have been communicated by the Office of
the Secretary-General of the European Schools.

There were 2116 candidates in the European Schools and Accredited European Schools, with a
success rate of 98.16%. The overall average for the Final Mark is 78.12. Our two graduates,
Hanna and Karina, had outstanding results with an overall average of 80.84!

Find out more about the European Baccalaureate

TES is getting more and more media exposure
Our school has got a lot of media exposure since we moved to the new school building. After a
few days in August, we already got a visit from Eesti Päevaleht’s journalists (introduction in
Estonian here).

For the school opening, there was a photo reportage from the national broadcaster ERR (see the
article in Estonian and the photo gallery here). Tallinna TV made a TV report during the
ceremony, and other broadcasters as RBK and Kuku Raadio were also present.

The Estonian news website Delfi also came to our school for a report on school canteens. They
also visited the English College and Tallinn Pae Gümnasium. They enjoyed the food quality and
the peaceful atmosphere in our canteen.
Watch the video report here (in Estonian).

Last, but not least, our P4B class teacher Allison wrote an article published in the Estonian
newspaper for teachers (Õpetajate Leht), also relayed in the national newspaper Postimees, in
which she shares some comparative observations on the U.S. and the Estonian educational
systems based on her personal experience through the U.S. Fulbright Program. You can
download and read the article here and here in Estonian, or in its original English version here.

Join us for TES Carnival, on November 16th
TES Carnival is one of the greatest annual events in TES Community. We celebrate all autumn
festivities together - Harvest, Halloween, Mardipäev, Carnival etc.

All community members and their families (kids and adults) are welcome to dress up and join the
fun from 17:00-20:00. Note that this is a friendly event also for younger guests, so please don’t
wear too scary masks and costumes!

The entrance fee will be 2€ per person or 5€ per family.

These community members who would like to join the organisation team, please come for a
meeting on Tuesday, 6th November, at 9:00, room 233.

Information regarding Extracurricular activities and Aftercare
• Participants are lacking for some of the Extracurricular activities. Your children have a last
chance to join in: Capoeira in Nursery, November 5th; Design for Change, November 7th;
Dancing, November 9th. If we do not get more children joining these activities, we will have to
cancel them.

• As Video & Cinema is very popular instead, we will split the activity into two groups. Primary 1-4
children will continue on Friday, but Primary 5 and Secondary will have their lesson on Thursday
at 16:00.
• Nursery and Primary 1-2 parents, please make sure to pick your child up by 16:00 if you
haven’t registered for Aftercare.

A training for European Schools Secondary L1 Estonian teachers
hosted at TES
Last Friday, October 19th, there was a training for Secondary L1 Estonian teachers at TES. The
main topics were assessment in Secondary and choosing a new format for the L1 Estonian BAC
exam. Teachers from Brussels, Luxembourg, Alicante, Munich and Tallinn shared experiences and
ideas, discussed common problems with assessment and concerns about choosing suitable texts
for the exams. The guests were also given a tour around the new school building.

Le coin francophone
L’ACTUALITÉ DES CHICS CHOUETTES DE MATERNELLE

Quelle rentrée ! Mettre en place une nouvelle classe de A à Z pour accueillir les nouveaux élèves
dans les meilleures conditions n’est pas une mince affaire. Mais comme vous le montrent les
photos, nous sommes passés d’une classe presque vide une semaine avant la rentrée à une
classe plus chaleureuse et mieux structurée 8 semaines après.

Nos 4 chics chouettes ont bien pris leurs marques dans leur classe et prennent plaisir aux
activités proposées. Après s’être familiarisés avec l’école maternelle, les élèves ont travaillé sur
les thèmes de la famille et la maison puis ont commencé celui de l’Automne. Nous finirons cette
première période en fêtant Halloween avec la classe de Primaire française.

Bonnes vacances à tous et à bientôt !

Fanny Pollet
Maternelle Section française

L’ACTUALITÉ DES PRIMAIRES

Les P1 et P2 de la section française ont vécu des moments passionnants depuis le premier jour
de l’école. En août, la journée sportive a permis aux élèves de se connaître, de se découvrir et
d’apprendre à former une équipe soudée. Le mois de septembre a été rempli de nouveaux
apprentissages en lecture, en écriture et en mathématiques. En découverte du monde, les enfants
se sont exprimés sur l’importance de l’école et ont exploré la saison de l’automne et ses
particularités. En sciences, à travers l’unité MA TARTINE EST MOISIE. POURQUOI ? Les élèves
ont formulé des hypothèses et ont conduit une expérience scientifique sur le pain pour
comprendre le phénomène de la moisissure.

Pour fêter ce premier trimestre, les P1 et P2 ont organisé une fête d’Halloween à l’école et ont
invité leurs parents ainsi que la classe de maternelle N1 et N2. Les élèves ont tout organisé avec
succès : carte d’invitation, décoration de la salle de français, spectacle de théâtre inspiré du conte
Hansel et Gretel et jeux. La fête aura lieu vendredi 26 octobre et nous espérons vous y voir
nombreux.

Nadia Fuzier
P1 et P2 Section française

AUTRES INFORMATIONS

• Le site Internet de l’école est à nouveau accessible en français pour l’essentiel, avec des
contenus actualisés et certains dédiés exclusivement à la section francophone. La traduction a été
réalisée avec l’aide de l’Institut français d’Estonie. Pour le visiter, rendez-vous ici.
• Le repas-partage de la communauté de l’école aura lieu ce vendredi à l’Institut français, à
partir de 19h.
• Les inscriptions pour l’année prochaine seront ouvertes à compter du 19 Novembre. Pour la
prochaine rentrée, nous souhaitons ouvrir de nouvelles classes en 3ème et 4ème année de
primaire pour la section francophone. Les enfants de 4 à 10 ans pourront joindre la section, en
attendant l’ouverture de nouvelles classes à les années suivantes.

TES School Calendar / 2nd Term

IN NOVEMBER

• Monday, 5th: Beginning of the 2nd term
• Monday, 12th: Latvian Assembly, starting from 8:15 (Secondary and P5) and 9:00 (Nursery and
P1-P4)
• Fridays, 16th and 23rd: Dentist visits for Primary and Secondary pupils
• Friday, 16th: TES Carnival

IN DECEMBER

• Monday, 3rd: Finnish Assembly, starting from 8:15
• Monday, 10th – Friday, 14th: S5 Exam week
• Tuesday, 11th and Wednesday, 12th: Christmas Concerts (more details coming soon)
• Saturday, 22nd – Sunday, January 6th: Christmas Break

          You can find the detailed and updated school calendar on our website.