children of school age
If you come to work in the Arnhem Nijmegen Cool Region, it is most likely that your family will join you. In the Netherlands there are excellent provisions for education and childcare.
Compulsory education
In the Netherlands education is compulsory for all children who live here, regardless of their nationality. If the child is registered at an educational institute abroad, it still has to attend school in the Netherlands. Compulsory education starts on the first day of the next month after the fifth birthday. Most children start their school at the age of four and it is even possible to attend school at the age of three years and ten months. This is especially helpful for foreign children when they are starting to learn the Dutch language.
Compulsory education lasts until the school year in which the student turns sixteen. For the next period of two years partial compulsory education goes into effect, where the student must attend some form of education for at least two days a week.
In the situation where a child does not attend school, there is the possibility to receive a fine (maximum of 2,250 euro) or even a prison sentence. Children, who are 12 years or older and who skip school on a regular basis, will have to do community service. Taking the children on a holiday outside the regular school holidays is only possible when the parents can prove that they cannot travel at other times due to work situations. This exception is allowed only once per school year for a period of ten days.
Read more about child care.
International school
Arnhem Nijmegen Cool Region has one international school, the Arnhem International School [AIS]. The school has a primary and secondary department at three different locations. The school offers English-language education in an international and multi-cultural setting, where safety, mutual respect and world citizenship are keywords. Around forty-five nationalities are represented in a school population of 200-250 pupils. Those pupils come largely from expat families who live and work in the Arnhem region.
The primary department of the AIS has two schools, one in Arnhem and one in another smaller department in Goch. Goch is just over the border in Germany, southeastwards of Nijmegen.
A larger school, the Dutch Lorentz Lyceum in the southern part of Arnhem, hosts the secondary department of the AIS. Students from the age of 12 unto16 can follow the International Baccalaureate Middle Years programme [IB-MYP] here. This can be followed up by the two-year International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme [IB-DP] for students from age 16 unto 19, who would like to continue their study at an academy or university. Furthermore, IB-DP allows students to study at universities all over the world. Read further on the site of the AIS.
