Eindhoven for Indian families: schools, the ASML posting question, and after-school learning

Eindhoven's Indian community is different from Amstelveen's. It is newer, it is overwhelmingly engineering families, and most of them arrived on a posting with ASML, Philips, NXP or one of the companies on the High Tech Campus whose length nobody quite knows. That uncertainty shapes every school decision, and it is the first thing we ask an Eindhoven parent. This guide covers the schools, the neighbourhoods, the posting question, and how to keep a child's maths and science strong through whatever the family decides.

The region, briefly

Eindhoven is the centre of Brainport, the technology region in the south of the Netherlands. The employers that bring Indian families are ASML in Veldhoven, Philips and the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven, NXP, and the suppliers around them. Families settle in Eindhoven itself, especially Meerhoven and Strijp, and in the surrounding towns of Veldhoven, Waalre, Best and Son. The region has an expat centre (Holland Expat Center South) that handles registration and gives newcomers a good first briefing.

Two practical differences from the Amsterdam area. Eindhoven is in the Zuid holiday region, so the spring holiday falls a week earlier and the summer holiday a week later than in Amsterdam; the full 2026-27 dates are in the Dutch school year 2026-27. And the international school capacity is smaller, so waiting lists bite; what to do in the gap is in on the waiting list.

The schools

International School Eindhoven (ISE). The main international school in the region, large and diverse, government-subsidised so the fees are far below the private schools in Amsterdam, with an international primary and a secondary section on IB programmes. Eligibility for the subsidised stream normally requires a temporary or international posting, which most ASML and Philips families have. It is where the majority of our Eindhoven students are.

Bilingual international primaries. SALTO's I-St@rt in Meerhoven teaches children aged 4 to 12 half in Dutch and half in English and is designed for international families in the region; it suits families who might stay and want the Dutch without losing the English. Similar bilingual streams exist at other primaries in the area.

Sondervick International in Veldhoven. A secondary option close to ASML with an international student body.

Dutch schools. Meerhoven, Veldhoven, Waalre and Best have good Dutch basisscholen, and a growing number of Indian children are in them, usually in families who have decided to stay. Several Dutch secondary schools in the region run bilingual (tto) streams, which are a real middle path for a child who arrives at 12.

The honest comparison of the two routes, on cost, language and the return-to-India question, is in international school or Dutch school.

The posting question

Most Eindhoven families cannot answer "how long are you staying" and it is the answer that decides the school. Our rule of thumb, from the families we teach:

• A real chance of leaving within three years: international or bilingual international. The programme (IB, Cambridge, or an English-language primary) travels to the next posting or back to India; a Dutch school's does not.
• Likely to stay five years or more: a Dutch or bilingual school, with maths and English kept strong in English at home. The child gets Dutch, a Dutch life and a free route to Dutch universities, including the two technical universities that most engineering parents have their eye on.
• Genuinely unknown: start international if a place exists, keep the child's maths and English at a level where a switch to Dutch school is possible, and revisit at the end of each school year. The switch is easier before 9 than after.

Whichever way, the thing that keeps both doors open is a child whose maths and science are strong in English regardless of the school's language. That is why the routine matters more than the school choice.

After-school learning that fits engineering families

Eindhoven parents ask about maths more than any other subject, and they tend to want depth rather than drill. Three things fit:

The Kangaroo competition. Held in Dutch schools each spring from groep 3 up, puzzle-style, national ranking. Ask whether the school takes part; if not, entry can be arranged. For a mathematically strong child it is the fastest way to be noticed, as we explain in plusklas and gifted programmes.

Science done as a subject, early. Children at Dutch primaries do science as topics, not as a subject. A weekly hour of proper science from about age 9, with the "how would you test it" habit, is what both the MYP and the Dutch brugklas will grade later and what most engineering parents want for their children anyway.

Coding. Eindhoven has more coding clubs and events for children than most Dutch cities, and it is a natural fit for the community. We teach it too, from Scratch to Python, but the local clubs are worth a look first.

What we do for Eindhoven families

Weekly 1-on-1 classes in English at Eindhoven-friendly times, from 4 pm Dutch time on weekdays and on weekend mornings. For ISE and other IB students: PYP number and pattern, MYP maths and sciences through the four criteria, and the report habits explained in MYP maths criteria A to D. For children in Dutch and bilingual schools: maths in the Dutch order at a stretch level, science as a subject, and English reading and writing. Details are on our Eindhoven page, and the placement demo is free.

Questions parents ask

See how we teach this, 1-on-1 online →