On the waiting list for an international school in the Netherlands? How to keep learning going in the gap

It happens to a large share of the Indian families who come to us in the Netherlands. The move is confirmed, the apartment is found, and the international school says the place will come in January, or after the summer, or "we will let you know". A child who was in school last month is now at home in Amstelveen with a parent working from the kitchen table. This post is about what to do with those months so that the child walks into the new school ahead, not behind, and so that the family stays on the right side of Dutch attendance rules.

First, the rules

The Netherlands has compulsory schooling (leerplicht) from age 5, and each municipality has an attendance officer. A child living in the Netherlands is expected to be registered at a school. Families on a waiting list are not breaking the law by waiting, but they should tell the municipality what the plan is. A documented plan, whether a newcomer class, a temporary Dutch school, or a structured home programme while a confirmed place is pending, is normally accepted for a limited period. Do this in the first weeks; it removes a worry.

The options while you wait

A newcomer class (nieuwkomersklas or taalklas). Many municipalities run classes for children who have just arrived and do not speak Dutch. Free, sociable, and a good start on the language. Academically light.

A temporary Dutch school. If a local basisschool has a place, some families enrol and move when the international place comes. It gives routine, friends and Dutch, and Dutch schools are used to it. The international programme stops for those months, which is the gap the routine below fills.

Another international school with space. Sometimes a school further away or a smaller school has a place now. For a gap of a few months this can be a good bridge, especially if it runs the same programme.

Home, with structure. For a short gap, or a child under 8, some families keep the child at home with a programme. It works if the days are structured and the child sees other children, and it is the option that needs the most deliberate planning.

What a gap actually costs

Three to six months out of school does not cost a child much knowledge. What it costs is momentum and habits: the daily practice, the writing stamina, the routine of being taught. And it costs the specific programme skills the new school will assess in the first weeks: a PYP school will look at how the child explains their thinking, an MYP school will grade criteria B, C and D in the first unit, a British school will run a baseline test in the first half term. A child who has spent four months on Indian worksheets walks into that with the wrong habits, and the first report reflects it.

The second cost is social and it is real. Children who have been the "new one" for months and then join a class mid-year need friends fast. Sport, a club, or a newcomer class matter as much as the maths.

A weekly routine that keeps the target programme going

The principle: follow the programme of the school the child is waiting for, not a generic curriculum and not the Indian one.

Maths, three sessions a week. In the school's programme and representations. For a PYP school, the five strands with the explaining habit, as in our PYP maths guide. For an MYP school, the current year's units worked through the four criteria. For a British or Cambridge school, the year's scheme of work with full working shown.

English reading and writing, daily. Thirty minutes of reading at the right level and a short piece of writing three times a week. Writing stamina is the first thing to go in a gap and the first thing a new school notices.

Science, for children from about 9. One session a week in the target programme, with the vocabulary and the "how would you test it" habit that international schools grade.

Dutch, a little, whichever school. Even a family headed for an international school benefits from the child picking up playground Dutch, and a newcomer class or a Dutch-speaking tutor does it far better than an app.

Movement and people, every day. A sports club, a library visit, a park. Dutch children are outside a lot; a child who has been indoors for four months joins a class at a disadvantage that has nothing to do with academics.

Documents and the first week at the new school

Keep a simple record of what was covered during the gap: the topics, a few pieces of work, any tests. International schools ask, and a folder answers the question in a way that "we did some maths at home" does not. It also helps the school place the child in the right set from day one.

Before the first day, find out what the school will assess in the first weeks and make sure the child has seen the format. A baseline test in a British school, the first criterion B task in MYP, the first inquiry unit in PYP: each has a shape, and a child who has seen the shape performs like the child they actually are.

What we do for families in the gap

A large share of our Netherlands students started with us in exactly this situation. A gap programme is usually three classes a week, maths and English plus science for older children, following the programme of the target school, at Dutch-friendly times, with a written record for the new school. When the place comes we drop to the normal weekly rhythm and shift to supporting the school's actual units.

Our guide to the Amsterdam-area schools, including how the waiting lists behave, is in international schools in Amsterdam and Amstelveen. If you are in the gap now, the placement demo is free and takes 30 minutes, and it doubles as the baseline the new school will want to see.

Questions parents ask

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