Parent Rep

Here in German schools, things are run much more democratically than in England.  At my first disciplinary meeting for a pupil, I was surprised to find so many people there - the pupil, all of her teachers, her parents, the class rep and a parent rep.

At the start of every year, every class elects student representatives to represent the interests of all pupils.  They actually take it very seriously and on the whole, do a good job.

In the same way, the first parents' evening is used to elect parent representatives.  Unfortunately, not all classes have parents who are interested in or able to do the job.  My class is in its second year without a rep.  It doesn't disaadvantage us too much as teachers (some reps can be quite a hinderance to the job) but it is so much nicer to have cooperation.

That is why, in the run up to Isabella's first parents' evening, Nico and I agreed that if there were not enough willing volunteers, we would  be prepared to do the job.

In the event, that is exactly what happened and I volunteered to be the second rep for Isabella's class.  It is a responsibility that I take seriously but to be fair, it's not a huge task.  Next week is our first meeting and we'd like to get the parents together regularly but apart from that, it's just helping out with some events and making sure that the staff have what they need and that the parents are happy.

I'm so looking forward to getting started next week and helping to make Isabella's nursery time very special.

Donation

I'm a very proud daughter this morning.  Yesterday, my Dad donated bone marrow!  He's been donating blood for years and one of the more recent options there was to be tested for bone marrow compatibility.  Dad ticked the option and recently received the call that a match had been found.

The process involved an interview and some tests followed a couple of weeks later by the procedure.  There are two ways to donate bone marrow.  You can have a series of injections followed by a blood donation or you can donate directly under general anaesthetic.  Dad opted for the latter so that it would be less hassle.  

The procedure had to take place in London but luckily he was there with work so it didn't take too much out of his schedule and expenses are paid. During the interview he discovered that the patient he is donating to lives in Germany - which is kind of ironic!  Also, their chances of survival will go from 10% to 60% thanks to his donation.

I'm a lot more squeamish than my Dad, giving blood is already a big deal given my fear of needles but I hope that one day I will be able to do something similar.  

Well done Dad!