Summary of the Primary School Council held on 2022-02-02
Link to the detailed minutes in French (5 pages).
https://www.lfitokyo.org/images/2021-2022/Trimestre-2/CR-CEcole-220202-prov.pdf
One-page summary
Attended by the primary school principal, 8 parent representatives, 9 teacher representatives and 2 guest teachers.
- Update on enrollment
Enrollment is down slightly and below projections. A discussion will take place at the Board of Directors meeting to discuss the possibility of closing one of the 9 kindergarten classes and one CM1 class for the 2022/23 school year, depending on new enrollments.
- Distance Learning Report from January 21 to 28
Teachers and parents gave positive feedback on the 10 days of distance learning.
- School calendar 2022/2023
There has been some discussions regarding the date of the beginning of the school year (September 2 or September 5), the choice of public holidays during which school will open or not, and the dates of the Christmas break. The provisional calendar will be voted on by the school council on February 8, before being validated by the Embassy and the AEFE.
Main answers to parents’ questions
- A reminder was given regarding use of the library, by whole or half class each week and the number of books that students can borrow according to their level. In the first term, some 11,200 books were borrowed in total. It was noted that there is scope for some flexibility on the number of books borrowed depending on the needs of the children. The library teachers can be reached at bcd@lfitokyo.org.
- It was suggested to extend the period of display of the lost and found clothes from 1 to 2 days before the school holidays, and to wait until the week that students are back in classes to give the remaining clothes to charity.
- Concerning the translation of communications into Japanese, an effort has been made in recent years but there is still room for improvement. The director said that a multilingual brochure is being prepared to explain the different language courses (standard, PARLE, and international sections).
- Organization of a meeting on the PARLE and bilingual programs: meetings were organized in September; teachers should be contacted individually for more information.
Health situation
- Parents also appreciate the effort made by the teachers to make the work done each day in class available for those absent since the beginning of the school year.
- Concerning coronavirus contact cases and quarantine periods, the director explained that the different Japanese health centers give different answers depending on the situation and that the LFI Tokyo cannot give any general rules, except that those concerned should follow the recommendations of their own health center.
- Temperature checks at the entrance to the school, or when getting on the bus, are not a substitute for the checks that families should do before the students leave for school.