De Noordwijkse School in a class of its own

Most children follow classes at public schools. Just a small percentage of kids are sent to private schools, where parents pay 20,000 euros or so per year. But almost ten years ago a group of parents set up ‘De Noordwijkse School’. At this school, located in Noordwijk, children are taught the regular school material in the mornings, such as Dutch, English, reading, writing, history and math. In the afternoons, however, these kids follow so-called ‘ateliers’, where they put into practice what they learn in theory. JOEP DERKSEN reports.

The Noordwijkse School was a success right from the beginning. In its first year 82 children between 4 and 10 years old were the front runners. Within three years the number of children attending the Noordwijkse School rose to over 200. Most of the kids who started in 2006 came from other schools, where the parents were unhappy about the lack of possibilities for their children to get special attention or extra assignments. At the official opening, co-founder Francis van de Ree informed: “The most important thing is, that the children become motivated again to go to school happily. Our school stimulates the children to do the things in which they are interested. We let the pupils explore their talents.”

For every year of education, parents pay 1200 euros. Teachers, who are specifically trained in subjects such as history, geography and biology, or art, technique and for instance cooking, work intensely with the pupils. Since 2009 the school has set up ‘Group 9’, which is solely for highly intelligent children, with an IQ of over 130. These children (from groups 6, 7 and 8) get even more variation in their education and they can also go deeper into certain subjects, if they so desire. These children are, however, also mixed with the other children in various classes. The Group 9 children go out on excursions and representatives of companies, museums and professionals visit the class to talk about their profession.

Not all highly intelligent children go to ‘Group 9’, though. Some of them prefer to stay in their own class with their friends. For these kids, the school strives to provide them with extra challenges so that they can further explore their talents. This had led to a compliment from the ‘Onderwijsinspectie’ (inspection of education) earlier this year: “Whenever a teacher needs to provide enough challenge and has to introduce an adapted program, this is being done. Also, the teachers give extra instruction and explanation to children that need this extra caretaking. With this, the school is an example to other schools.”

Of course, not all has gone well over the past years. A power struggle arose a few years ago, leading to the departure of one of the co-founders. In her track dozens of parents left as well, taking their children with them. But after two years many of these children returned to the Noordwijkse School. One of the reasons for this is the special way that the children interact with each other. A lot of time is spent teaching children about having respect for each other. Bullying is not accepted and is dealt with swiftly. Not necessarily by punishment, but especially by talking to the child and letting him/her reflect on his own behaviour. By addressing any bullying right from the beginning, the school avoids problems where a whole group of children starts to harass one single individual, for example.

The school also teaches English to the children as early as group 1. In group 8 the pupils do an English examination, which is internationally recognized. To a group of children that so desire, Spanish lessons are provided as well. Nowadays, the Noordwijkse School has set up a solid name amongst parents who want to have the best education for their children. Pupils come from neighbouring villages or even further away; some parents even think it is worthwhile to drive more than 30 kilometres to bring their child to the Noordwijkse School.

 

The current director of the school, Tamme Wiegersma, explains about the success of the Noordwijkse School: “We work based on a specific pedagogue and didactic approach. Every child works on its personal level, being it with calculating, spelling or language. The social-emotional climate is very important at our school. It is crucial for every pupil to know that he or she can be who he/she actually is.”