The generation game

In June 2019, BSB welcomed back alumna Larissa Wiegele and her sons, Ben and Sebastian, for the first time since they departed Belgium, Singapore-bound, in 2011. While their new home may be 10,000km and a fifteen-hour flight away, the Wiegele family will always remain deeply rooted here at Pater Dupierreuxlaan 1; they are one of BSB’s multi-generational alumni families, with three generations and over 30 years of history embedded in our community. Larissa’s parents taught at BSB from 1977- 2007. Larissa herself attended from 1977- 1989, as did her brothers Nick and Alastair. As a girl performing onstage in the Brel Theatre, she could not have imagined that she would return to BSB three decades later to enrol her own young children, Ben, Sebastian and their sister, Nathalie.

Much has changed at BSB over the last eight years and although glad to experience the campus additions first-hand, the Wiegele family were delighted to see that the Primary School areas, where Ben, Sebastian and Nathalie had spent most of their days, remained largely recognisable. Excited exclamations of “I remember this!” floated across Tintin and Rubens as early memories resurfaced throughout their tour. Ben vaguely recalled the image of a somehow-important red line, later confirmed to be the painted border that marks the boundaries of the Primary playground! Sebastian, who was only six years old when the Wiegele family left BSB, could still sense that certain spaces were familiar, his memory activated by the smells of building hallways and classroom craft supplies. A stroll along the timeline of archival images surrounding BSB’s Swoosh Lounge allowed Larissa to fill in the gaps of their family’s history at BSB as she reminisced about the major figures and milestones that influenced her own student career.

Reflecting on her overall remembrance of BSB, Larissa fondly described the school as “nurturing; a safe, supportive environment in which each generation of her family could learn and grow.”

All alumni are welcome back. Just email alumni@britishschool.be to schedule a trip down memory lane!

Integrating families and friends

I see the role of FoBSB (Families of BSB) in several facets, says Maurits Wesseling, Chair of FoBSB, with the ultimate aim of continuing to give BSB families the very best experience during their time at BSB. This of course happens hand in hand with the school. We provide support to parents as a community of parents and volunteers, helping make families feel at home through the organisation of a broad range of activities. These activities range from providing a ‘home from

home’ with our Cavell House and café where we come together to organise language classes (currently we have 11 language conversation groups: 1 Japanese class, 4 French, 3 English, 2 Spanish and 1 Italian), cooking lessons, book clubs, guiding tours, walking clubs, babysitting lists and much more! And we notoriously have the best coffee on campus!

We also have several larger events throughout the year for the entire family including a Families Day, a Christmas Market, a Charity Quiz Night, a Charity Summer Ball and an end-of-year Picnic on the Pitch. We partner closely with the school on supporting families on matters linked to child development. Having dialogue with other parents has proved enormously helpful. It provides that extra level of reassurance, especially given the international population.

Our highlights and achievements are lengthy. Today we showcase our overall success over the decades: our incredibly inclusive and diverse group of parent volunteers active in many areas and especially Cavell House. There is probably no other school in the world that offers such a versatile facility on campus to their parent association. In addition, each year we donate around €20-30,000 to a broad range of charitable organisations and we are very proud of our 29-year partnership with the Special Olympics Belgium. Finally, we are very proud of our close partnership with the school.

We continue to strive to extend our support. For example, we want to reach out more to dual-career couples/working parents, as well as more cultures from across the globe, as the mix of nationalities at BSB continues to evolve. We all individually have our unique skills, access to resources and can help; and often that what we can offer makes a big, positive difference for others.

So, we are making a difference across a broad front, building on the legacy of our former FoBSB Committee members and volunteers over our 50- year history.