British School of Amsterdam


The British School of Amsterdam is an international school, situated in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, teaching children from nursery through to Year 13. The school follows the National Curriculum for England and is the first school in the Netherlands to be accredited by the UK Government as a British School Overseas. The School was re-accredited following an inspection in November 2017. The school is a member of The Council of British International Schools.

History

Early years

The British School of Amsterdam was founded in 1978 by three families who were on two-year contracts in Amsterdam and did not want their children to fall behind the British system when they returned to the UK. Initially the "school" as it was then was situated in one of the family's living room.
By the summer of 1980, the families secured the use of a building in Jekerstraat 86 in the then-borough of Amsterdam Nieuw-Zuid which it shared with another school. At the time, the British School only taught kindergarten and primary school pupils. Initially, there was not a headmaster, but there was a head-teacher by the name of Linda Duffy.
In the summer of 1982, the school moved to the top floor of the Nicolaas Maas School in Heinzestraat 9 in Amsterdam Oud-Zuid. The two schools shared a playground and a gymnasium. The children in the school were aged between 3 and 11 years old.

Mr. Roberts takes over

In 1983, all of the full-time teaching-staff resigned, but for separate reasons. While recruiting new teachers, the school decided to employ a headmaster. Michael W. G. Roberts, who had been deputy head of a school in Newcastle, England moved to Amsterdam and joined the school in 1983 as Headmaster and class teacher of the oldest children, a mixed group from 8 to 11 years of age.
In January 1985 the Amsterdam Gemeente Amsterdam allowed the school to take over the Jan van Eijckstraat 21 site which had been used as a temporary residence for schools undergoing major renovation etc. The school still occupies this site to the present day. This was also the first time the school had an entire building all to itself. At this time there were five members of full-time teaching-staff and 40 pupils in the school. Until this time the 3 to 5 year old children had all been in one class but when the school moved this group was divided and the first Nursery class was created.
As the number of children increased the decision was made to create classrooms and a staff common room in the roof of the Jan van Eijckstraat building which meant the school could take in more children gradually creating year group classes rather than ones that were partially vertically grouped.

Expansion

In 1999 the numbers grew so rapidly that the school needed to rent another building for a year while the Board of Governors and Headmaster looked for a long term solution to the growing need for suitable space as pupil numbers grew. The oldest children in the school were relocated in the West of Amsterdam, to a school in Orteliusstraat. School buses were arranged to take the children every morning and afternoon from Jan van Eijckstraat to and from the other site and the Gemeente gave the School its very own British School of Amsterdam bus stop.
In 2002 the School bought the site at Anthonie van Dijckstraat and leased the building across the road, next to the Montessori School, which was named the Jubilee Building. The school offices and one of the three nursery classes were in the Jubilee Building and the two other nursery classes, Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 were in Anthonie van Dijckstraat. The rest of the school was still located at Jan van Eijckstraat.
During these years the pupil numbers were always greatest in the Nursery and Reception and gradually decreased as the children grew older as many families made the decision to return to their home countries for their children to continue a more familiar system of education. However, as pupil numbers and demand increased the School gradually added year groups, building up to the point where there were enough older children to create a Senior School and offer British examinations. In 2004 the Senior School moved to the site at Frederick Roeskestraat.
In 2010, The British School of Amsterdam was changed into a Stichting. The main office is located at Anthonie van Dijckstraat. The current school roll is just over 930.

School principals

Headmasters

The Early Years School

The Early Years School accommodates children in Nursery and Reception. The school has three nursery classes and five reception accommodated in the Anthonie van Dijckstraat. The school houses teaching classrooms, a Dutch classroom, Busy Room, Music Room, a school hall/gymnasium, a library and a secure playground.

Infant School

The Infant School is located in the Jan van Eijckstraat which is 175 metres from Early Years School. It accommodates children in Year 1 and Year 2. The maximum class size is 24 pupils. The Infant School is a purpose built school. It consists of teaching classrooms, a computer room, a modern foreign languages classroom, a fiction and non-fiction library, a hall/gymnasium and a secure playground.

Senior and Junior schools

The Junior and Senior school are situated in the Fred Roeskestraat, 1.5 kilometres from the Early Years school. A shuttle bus runs between each school every morning. The Junior School accommodates years 3 to 6 and the Senior School years 7 to 13. It is a purpose-built school offering specialist teaching facilities. It consists of teaching classrooms, computer rooms, science laboratories, music rooms, an art studio and a gymnasium.

New building

Opening Summer 2020

In February 2017, The British School of Amsterdam acquired Havenstraat 6 in Amsterdam Oud-Zuid, a 19th century listed building that will be redeveloped.
Since being founded in 1978, The British School has grown to occupy three separate locations in Amsterdam Old South.
Havenstraat 6 was designed and built between 1888 and 1891. The British School is now coming to the end of the design phase. The school will begin redeveloping the site in the spring of 2018 and expect to move into the new school in Summer 2020 at the latest.
Atelier PRO has been chosen as the lead architect for the new school. Hoogevest Architecten, which was involved in the renovation of the Rijksmuseum, will be responsible for renovation work. Buro Sant en Co will help with the design of the outdoor space. Other technical advisers involved have worked on transforming locations in Amsterdam such as the Anne Frank house, Hermitage Amsterdam and the Van Gogh museum.