Primary education
Compulsory education in the Netherlands starts at the age of five and continues until the child has reached the age of sixteen. From this age on the pupil must attend some form of education for at least two days a week until the eighteenth birthday. Normally, most children attend school from the age of four and most schools accept children from this age group. One can find a primary school in the Netherlands every six square kilometres.
School types
There are two kinds of primary schools, namely public
and special. The difference between these forms of education is somewhat different
from other countries.
Public as well as special primary schools are financed
by the Dutch government, which makes primary education in the Netherlands
always free.
Special primary schools have a base in religion or a
certain belief and can work from a Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Islamic, Hindu
or anthroposophic foundation. They have the right to refuse a student if the
parents do not endorse the faith or ideology of the school. In addition to
these schools, there are also several primary schools that base their
educational system on certain didactic methods, like Jenaplan, Montessori or
Dalton.
Public schools, on the other hand, are open to all
students. These schools have been established by the Dutch government and do
not propagate a certain faith or ideology.
In the Netherlands, about 33% of all primary education
is public and the rest of the schools have a certain special character. Around
a third of these non-public schools are catholic and 25% is protestant.
School hours and holidays
Children at primary schools go to school five days a
week. School normally starts at 8.30 a.m. and the school day lasts until 3.00
or 3.15 p.m. There is an hour lunch
break around noon and some children go home to have lunch where other children
have their lunch at school. All children are free on the Wednesday afternoon. In the Netherlands there are three regions that have a
different roster of the official holidays and the summer holidays (six weeks)
overlap each other.
Overview of all data regarding school holidays in
primary and secondary education can be found here.
Educational sector and ‘historical canon’
The following subjects are taught in primary
education: Dutch, English (lasts two years), arithmetic and mathematics,
geography, history, biology, civics, political science and religious
instruction. Next to these more academic subjects, students receive lessons in
music, drawing or crafts and physical education.
The Dutch government has formulated the “canon of the
Netherlands” as a guideline for primary education and the first years of
secondary education. This canon contains a collection of fifty subjects that
have to do with Dutch history and which provides each Dutch person with a basic
knowledge of his own country.
All schools in the Arnhem Nijmegen Cool Region can be
found via official websites of the mentioned municipalities.
Read further about schoolgoing children
Read further about Arnhem International School
