At ISG, we are also a community for the parents. We’re very conscious of the role we play in supporting families when they’re here. We’ve offered Dutch classes for parents, and this year we have a parents’ fitness class. While the children are learning I have a sports hall full of mums having a workout.
How has the Covid experience affected the school?
Like any other business, some things have shifted online. We’re still offering online or hybrid parent-teacher meetings as an option, especially for parents who travel a lot. Back when the first lockdown started, it was obviously a very abrupt switch to full online learning. And now, because the pandemic is lingering, we use our online learning platform in a low-level way. This allows the children to be familiar with the online platform so that if we had to make that switch – and we hope we don’t ever have to return to complete online learning again – it wouldn’t be as dramatic as it was back then.
One other thing that will permanently stay is frequent handwashing. There are always a lot of germs and bugs circulating at a school so I think even once the worst of the pandemic is over, we will continue with that. Another outcome of the pandemic is that parents have a renewed appreciation of teachers and the work they do, including the importance of schools for the routine and the social aspect.
Do you think young children are more aware now of global issues like Covid and climate?
The children are very aware of climate change without us needing to overtly talk about it. We support that in different ways and are aware of a lot of children having anxiety related to climate change. As a school, we help them have an awareness of the role we can each play and that one person can make a difference. It’s a balance between discussing it and what can we do to help – walking to school, biking, picking up rubbish, being aware of resources – but also keeping it in the realm of what’s possible without creating too much anxiety about it.
The pandemic, of course, created a lot of worry for children. We want to keep them carefree and not burden them too much with the concerns of climate and health.
What’s good, and not so good, about living in Belgium?
I’ve lived in all three language communities, as my husband’s family live in the German community in Eupen. Each one is very different. It continually amazes me that one small country can be so diverse. I find that quite exciting. It also brings its difficulties! Ghent is a beautiful city, I love living here. And also, where Belgium as a country is located means there’s a lot of things on our doorstep. As you can imagine, it’s completely different to New Zealand where the only thing on your doorstep is the ocean. But I do miss the open spaces and nature of New Zealand.
What’s your advice to newcomers?
The people are multilingual, which means you can live here comfortably if you only speak English. That’s a real advantage for expats coming here short-term. But I still think all newcomers should try and learn the local language to some degree, to really feel a connection to the country and the people. Do you find time for hobbies? I always like to have some kind of creative outlet. Depending on the season or the amount of time I have, that can take different forms. At the moment I’m doing a ceramics course and I’m really enjoying it. When winter starts, I get out my needles and start knitting. I wish I had a little bit more free time to do those kinds of things, but I’m probably not the only one who says that.
Written by Paula Dear
This article was first published in the Expat Time magazine, winter 2021-2022