The friends of the PTA are parents who have decided not to join the committee (who have served their time on the committee and still want to remain involved) but who regularly give up their time to help out with our fundraising efforts. If you would like to get involved with any of our events or have skills you'd like to share, please do get in touch. 

Aiga Summersgill​

Alex Merckx​

Ali Gilbart-Smith

Annie Fabulet

Bal Kalsey

Bernadette Brent

Elizabeth Parham

Evgenia Budanova

Jon Alcantara

Nicki Kimblin

Susana Boo

Vicky Shepherd​

Aiga Summersgill

We are a German/English family and bring up our two children in both languages and traditions. Europa School was the natural choice, but getting in was not easy. After 5 years on the waiting list, our children finally joined the school in 2017 and are now in S3D and 6DE. Whilst waiting for a place, I often browsed the PTA's website and got very excited about the variety of activities on offer. As soon as my children joined, I decided to become a member of the committee. My particular interest lies in language support and cultural events, because languages and different cultures are what sets this school apart.
 
My background is in law, which I practised in Germany. In Oxford, I ran a German language toddler group for several years and organised their fundraising events.​

Alex Merckx

Alex is mother to Leo (S1F), Max (5EE) and Emília (REE) Gonzalez-Merckx. She is married to Alvaro who is Spanish. The family joined the school last year having moved back from living in Norway and, before that, France.

Ali Gilbart-Smith

Profile to follow

Annie Fabulet

I am part of a binational & bilingual French/English family of five. Our youngest daughter graduated from Europa in 2019. I now work for the school.

We are truly multicultural since, having lived in Australia & Sweden, I/we have picked habits and traditions from 4 countries. Celebrating Christmas in our family is a smorgasbord!

I am a double hatted academic on the cusp of Humanities and Sciences with a degree in Linguistics and another one in Psychology. When we lived in France, I worked primarily around Giftedness and the impact of it on families.

I have previously been chair and vice-chair of the PTA, with a specialism in Coffee Mornings, and my Mulled wine is, apparently, legendary!

Bal Kalsey

I have a daughter in primary (German stream) who is very happy at the school.  Coming from a Punjabi background, we were very attracted to the diversity and inclusion of the school.  Both my husband and I are originally from London, but have enjoyed living in Oxfordshire for the last 10 years.

I work as a Strategic Projects Portfolio Manager in the Space and Satellite sector, and I hope to bring some of my perspectives, culture and skillset into the PTA.

Bernadette Brent

​I have two children in the german section of the Europa Primary School. We are a bilingual family and have been at Europa ever since it was opened in 2012.
 
Our kids are very happy and we all love the school. I have organised several events for the PTA before including the St Martin's Procession, the Christmas Fair class stalls and some gardening activities. I am lucky to work part-time and love being able to dedicate some of my free time to the school and its community.​

Elizabeth Parham

We have lived as a family in Germany and Spain so are happy to find a little bit of Europe here in Oxfordshire. 

Evgenia Budanova

Hi, I am Evgenia Budanova, I am a small but loud Russian born person from Moscow, where people have a cold appearance but burning hearts. I am new to Oxfordshire cause before I lived in London for more than 12 years. 

In the past ten years, I worked as a Sustainability consultant back in London trying to make this world a better place by putting together all sorts of environmental reports. 

I have two little blond male tornadoes at home Mark 7.5 (3EE) and Oskar 2.5 y.o. They regularly destroy the house and train me to put their toys back to the place making sure that I spend my time efficiently.

Jon Alcantara

I have 2 children in the German section of the Europa School, one in 
primary and one in secondary. We are a bilingual family and have been 
at Europa ever since it was opened in 2012.

I became associated with the PTA as its Transport Coordinator in 
2013, and have been focusing on transport issues for the school ever 
since. I also organise the Culham Bus Club, which runs seven buses to 
the school. I formally joined the PTA committee in 2018.

I have a doctorate in Linguistics and have been working for more than 
20 years in the Language Technology industry, in management and 
project management roles. I bring my organisational skills to the 
PTA, and look forward to meeting you at school events, and trying to 
persuade you to give up the school run and put your children on the 
school buses, which will save you time, help to relieve traffic and 
benefit everyone.

For bus related queries you can contact me on [email protected]

Nicki Kimblin

Profile to follow

Susana Boo

We are a multinational German/Spanish/British household and are delighted to be part of Europa School. Our daughter is in the German stream. ​

Ute Günkel-Maschek​

We are a German-Austrian family and our son joined the German stream of Europa School in January 2019.  

From the start I was amazed by the many events organised by the PTA and soon decided to join them. I love to organise events enjoyed especially by the pupils of Europa School, such as the Movie Nights, which are very popular with primary children, and I look forward to running similar events in the near future. I am also putting together the Europa PTA Newsletter to bring the PTA’s work closer to the school community, offer information on the many ways to support the PTA and the school, and encourage parents to become involved in our events.

Vicky Shepherd

Victoria Shepherd is committed to Europa School UK's multilingual and multicultural education. Attending the Vienna International School as a 'tweenager, the cultural and linguistic experiences of her peers inspired a life-long interest in teaching, learning, languages and travel. 

Vicky taught English in Peru, and coordinated a Summer School in Guangdong, China, amongst other highlights during her scientific studies at the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford. She went on to work as an Accenture Strategy Consultant, particularly enjoying challenging international projects with bright, committed teams. She is now a member of Europa's Primary and Secondary Education Committees (PEC, SEC), is the Primary Maths Link Governor and part of the Audit & Risk Committee. 

​Vicky supports Europa's After School Activities, volunteers in the Primary Library, and for the Europa Titan's Football team. She has three children studying in the Primary French Stream. ​