When my older child started school in Australia almost 8 years ago, there was a standard dropoff/pickup protocol:

1. Drop your child off at the school gates
2. Pick them up 6.5 hours later at the school gates

Reliable sources have assured me that after they slam out of the car, the child runs into the school, join their friends, wait for the bell, cue up in their class groups for a short assembly, then file quietly to the classrooms, and, you know, spend the day at school.

Then came Amsterdam. This time around, our dropoff experience is quite different.

The Personal Greeting of EACH Student

This is new. It is radical, mind-blowing even: it is not just “goedemorgen!” and a wave.

Here, the primary school head knows the name of almost every student. When she is on door duty, she greets nearly every student by name and with a handshake. So every child gets 2-3 seconds of individual attention straightaway! Amazing.

Then the same occurs at the classroom door after students remove their jackets, bags and shoes. The class teacher greets every single child with “Goede Morgen”, a handshake and direct eye contact!

The parent is not given much attention unless they greet the school staff first. I find this oddly positive. Usually, when adults meet other adults with children in tow, the adult is welcomed, and the child is left to … not be welcomed. This Dutch way is child-focused, and the parent is merely the auxiliary bag-and-coat-hanger.

Their Friends Become Your Friends

Especially true for newly arrived international families with children in Group 1-3, where parents personally drop off and pick up their children. This practice affords you the opportunity to make new friends outside of the neighbour-and-work world. You make tentative connections at the school door and, if you’re lucky, these bloom into real family friendships. It is lovely at social gatherings with your new friends when your children play well together, often because they are the same age. Although, for my youngest daughter, the gender-gap is tricky. She refuses to play with dinosaurs or trains, and her friends, who are boys, do not want to play My Little Pony or fairies or Num Noms. Luckily, playing outdoors and kitchen roleplay still work!

There are multiple playgrounds at our school, and these are magnets for the children, after school. Here, your children beg for extra playtime with their friends while you wait around. It is not time wasted as it is an opportunity to make new connections or catch up with friends. And arrange playdates. And ice cream dates. And park dates.

Come on In!

In Australia, during drop off and pick up, parents remain in the car, and the child goes into school alone. Here, in the Netherlands, we are invited into the first fifteen minutes of their school day. At first, most children are clingy, unsure of their place in the new world and each other – after all, at the age of four, they have only recently mastered the act of pulling up their underwear.

I thoroughly enjoy this shared experience in their classrooms. Here, I see how my child learns and interacts with her classmates; how she gradually owns the protocols and traditions of the school; how she confidently reaches for new paper and pencils for drawing and for games which stimulate her inquisitiveness. As the children map out their new world, it’s rewarding to see them run enthusiastically into the classroom—after that obligatory handshake—rather than slink in.

Then we parents leave secure in the knowledge that, for the next year, they know where they stand in their classrooms. And that is precious.

Yes, the younger one can go to school looking like the aftermath of a fairy-princess themed party. All-year-round! I just make sure we scour the city for warm tights during the winter.

Food for Thought

There are similarities between Australia and Netherlands’ snack and lunch breaks. Both have a break between breakfast and lunch for ‘crunch and sip’, which is a recent initiative for schools in Australia built on the concept of having fresh fruit and a sip of water. (It’s great but doesnt compare with Malaysia, where I grew up. There, lucky kids have canteens where they line up with their pocket change and get a variety of freshly cooked noodles, rice with curry, or roti with curry, and a drink.)

Yet here, in the Netherlands, anything sugary in the lunch box is frowned upon, as is frisdrank (fizzy drink). My youngest soon came home questioning my lunches: “Does this have sugar?” So, it’s fresh fruit and sandwiches daily for the girls. The fruit varies, of course: in my family, fruit must not be ripe, overripe, or soft—we like it firm (bounce off the floor). So in summer, I cut peaches, nectarines, sweet paprika (capsicum), snacking tomatoes (the honey tomatoes from Albert Heijn is a favourite), grapes and mangoes. Raspberries and berries often go untouched because “they’re only nice from the fridge.” During winter, apples and oranges are a go-to.

Dressing for Success

Now this is new for me: no-uniform? In Australia and Malaysia, children have uniforms. In Malaysia, it’s the one style 365 days of the year. In Australia, they have winter and summer uniforms.

Here, there are no uniforms! With my older girl in middelbare school (secondary school), we have to endure the almost-daily, “I have nothing to wear” complaint. The younger one in basisschool (kindergarten plus primary school) is learning to dictate what she’d like to wear too. For me, it’s an exercise in learning to let go. Yes, the older one can wear a staple of jumpers and sweaters and jeans year-round. Yes, the younger one can go to school looking like the aftermath of a fairy-princess themed party. All-year-round! I just make sure we scour the city for warm tights during the winter.

OKT (pronounced ohh-kah-teh)

One significant aspect of schooling in Amsterdam is that the OKT , short for Ouder-en-Kindteams, (Parent and Child Teams) monitor students in public schools. The OKT is an Amsterdam-based organisation with medical and health professionals who work alongside schools and social services to offer parents support, check-ups and advice. There are 22 team centres in Amsterdam.

I love this. Soon after my children started school, the OKT sent a ‘meet and greet’ letter concerning the school we chose. After providing previous immunisation schedules from Australia, my girls were immunised accordingly. Along with necessary medical check-ups, the OKT also hooked us up with further tests, physio and resources for my youngest daughter. They even followed up on medical results. Their genuine care for our children’s wellbeing was encouraging, especially for a newly arrived foreigner wading an unfamiliar health care system.

BSO (buitenschoolse opvang)

Children with working parents in Amsterdam have access to the BSO. This subsidised service (kinderopvangtoeslag) allows parents to work a full day. The services pick the child up from school, often in a large purpose-made bakfiets, and at around 18.30, parents pick their children up from the BSO.  This after-school-care is generally well-received, as the children are guaranteed structured play. Short trips to parks may also be organised to take advantage of good-weather days.

BSOs are typically external organisations that have relationships with the school. The school usually selects the BSOs, and it is the responsibility of the school to provide these services to its students. Some schools, (like DENISE) have BSOs onsite, and other schools have multiple BSO arrangements.

Do read more about other mamas’ experiences, like when Amal Shakeb’s little one started voorschool and the two-part series by Tasneem Hatimbhai about the challenges faced by international children transitioning between schools.

Photo Credit: Canva & Unsplash

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Clarissa Gosling is the author of two new books, Moving Abroad with Children and Raising Bilingual Children: When school speaks a different language. The first is a guide for families moving overseas in which Clarissa blends stories of her own move from the UK to the Netherlands with tips and ideas for readers moving internationally. The second book, Raising Bilingual Children, continues the international theme and is for families with children who speak different languages at home and school; Clarissa offers strategies for navigating foreign education systems, drawing on her experience of sending British children to a Dutch school.

Clarissa became an expat five years ago, settling in a village outside of Amsterdam with her husband and two small children. A native of Canterbury in Kent, she studied Physics at Oxford and worked as a librarian until the birth of her second child. She has blogged for ten years on a variety of subjects and written seriously for the last three. She finds the writing life compatible with motherhood, and the expat experience a rich and inspiring source of subject matter.

Tell us your story and how it led to writing your books?

Just over five years ago, while I was pregnant with my second child, my husband was offered a job in the Netherlands researching at the University of Amsterdam, which is one of the best places for him to work within his particular niche. We had already agreed that I would not be working after the baby was born, so that made it much easier to come here. Both our children were born in the UK, and we moved when my son was two and a half years old and my daughter was six months old. The books came out of my experience moving here, and I wrote them to help other people in a similar situation. Most books I’ve found on the topic were very specific to specific locations, and if that wasn’t the country you were moving to, it wasn’t helpful, so in my first book, Moving Abroad with Children, I tried to generalize it. The second book, Raising Bilingual Children, is more about specific situations of schooling children in different languages than your own, with all the hurdles you cross when you live somewhere and the kids go to school in a different language.

What is the best thing about living abroad? What is the hardest?

I love how relaxed it feels here. People are friendly and say hello, it’s a much more relaxed pace of life, especially with children. The Dutch let kids be independent, autonomous, and allow them to make decisions, and I can see my children thriving in that. The hard part is leaving all your support networks behind. Friends, family, are all left behind, and you have to work out the new people in a new language, and that’s hard. It takes time to build, but you get there. It can be difficult to ask for help, but most people are willing to help if they can.

What advice would you give someone moving abroad with their family?

The first thing I would say is to enjoy it. Treat it as an adventure, because that’s what it is. Your enthusiasm will be a good example to the rest of the family. Then go out to explore and meet people. It can be lonely, but the best way I’ve found to overcome that is to be more outgoing than normal, not to close in on yourself. Although it will, more than likely, be hard at the beginning it won’t stay that way. You will all learn to navigate your new surroundings and start to feel at home in your new place.

As for deciding on a school, you really need to sit down as a family and discuss what’s important to you. The age of your children and how long you are planning to stay in the area are critical here, as well as whether you could afford international school fees if needed.

One thing I would say is not to underestimate the ability of your children, whatever age they are, to adapt and learn a language. While continuing their education in their mother tongue is an easy option, if available, think hard about whether that’s actually the best option.

Personally, we moved here for the long-term and felt strongly that we wanted our children to become part of the local community. And so they were enrolled at the local Dutch school. Though if there were older, and facing exams in the near future I’m sure we would have spent longer making that decision. There is no right decision for everyone, so consider all the options and choose what works best for your family.

How did you publish your books and where are they available? 

I self-published both titles. I got a cover designer to create the covers, and put the rest together and formatted it myself. I used Draft2Digital to create the file to upload, then I put it directly on Amazon and Kobo (including Bol.com). Draft2Digital is the distributor, and I used them to make the titles available on Apple, Barnes & Noble, Nook and other retailers. The paperbacks are also available through Amazon only.

What advice would you give someone trying to self publish?

Do it. It’s incredibly easy to do, and increasingly self-publishing is being taken more seriously across the industry. But you need to be careful to do it well. You need an editor and a proper cover design, and you need to be cognizant of genre expectations. Marketing and finding your readers can be tough, but you can learn a lot from people who have done it before, and there is a lot of information available. One source is the book How to Become a Successful Indie Author, by Craig Martelle.

What are you working on now?

I’m currently working on a story for a fictional anthology about women overcoming abuse. It’s a bit different for me. I also have future plans for more fiction, mainly young adult fiction.

How can readers connect with you?

I’m on Instagram and Facebook, and I have a blog. Amsterdam writers and especially writers in Het Gooi might be interested in joining my new facebook group Gooise Schrijvers to connect with local writers. I’m always interested in getting involved with other writers and I’m available for readings or discussions.

Buy the books on Amazon and Books2read.com

Credits: Pic of globe and child’s hands from Freepik

The post Meet the Author: Clarissa Gosling, Moving Abroad with Children and Raising Bilingual Children appeared first on Amsterdam Mamas.

Relocating to the Netherlands from Australia, for our little family, meant that we’d be (relatively) safe from snakes, sharks, spiders and super-deadly koalas and kangaroos. As absurd as it was, I also decided that Europe would be mosquito-and-lice-free.

Even Queen Maxima was herself a registered luizen moeder (mum who checks for lice) when her children were in school; lice make themselves at home in royal hair as easily as anyone’s! 

This, of course, is not true. I discovered that schools here do regular lice-checks, both private and public. Even Queen Maxima was a registered luizen moeder (mum who checks for lice) when her children were in school; lice make themselves at home in royal hair as easily as anyone’s! 

Depending on the school and the opinion of teachers, if a child is found to have lice parents are called, sirens go blaring, and cones of shame are brought out to mark the area that lice are found … Well not quite, but you get the gist.

Lice

Luizen!

Mothers familiar to this dreaded word usually react in dramatic and immediate ways. My mother would burst into tears. Homes in 1980s Malaysia were not equipped with hot water taps, and our humble home did not come with a washing machine. She’d have to boil all the sheets and towels and clothes, one kettle at a time. I remember turning up to school wearing the turban of shame; a shower cap reeking of kerosene, which was doused all over my scalp and hair. Now, as a mother of two girls, I instantly break out in shivers and goosebumps. My head develops a severe itch, lice or no lice! I immediately want to pick the nits out, strand by strand, never mind my girls’ need for sustenance, sun or water – getting rid of the lice is my priority!

My youngest recently came back from school scratching her head. It was reasonably intermittent, so I thought nothing of it until I saw live lice on her scalp. My precious stash of tea-tree oil products from Australia is now depleted! But this is just one treatment of the suggested three!

Amsterdam Mamas on Facebook helpfully steered me to Prioderm, sold in Etos. Prioderm is an ethanol-based, chemical product. Dimeticon Lotion is also an option. When applied to the hair, the ethanol evaporates, and the chemical stays as a layer over the scalp, which suffocates the lice and burns the top layer off the nits. After 15 minutes (more like 2 hours), the hair is rinsed, and then the nits are painstakingly combed out with a lice comb.

The Anatomy of a Nit (Egg of a Female Louse)

The nit is attached to a strand of hair, near the scalp. The louse attaches its egg with specialised saliva that forms a tail. When you remove a nit and look at it closely, there is always a tail, which is very hard to remove. It does not dissolve in chemicals nor hot water nor coconut oil or conditioner. Nits need to be physically extricated from the strand of hair, with a lice-comb or your nails. 

When removed, you need to remember to squish the nit. If the nymph (infant louse) hasn’t hatched, you will hear the nit pop. I place the nit on a hard surface and make sure I squish it with my thumbnail.

Facts on Lice and Nits

• The warmth of the scalp is the optimum environment for nits, and if lice are removed from the hair and can no longer feed off the scalp, they usually die within a day. 
• While ‘officially’ this is not mandated as necessary, it is wise to prevent reinfestation by hot-water washing bed sheets, pillow cases, towels and headgear.
• Coconut oil does not work to treat or prevent lice.
• Found one nit? That means there are more. Vigilance is needed with rigorous hair-checking for two weeks. 
• Some creepy lice maths…females lay about three or four eggs per day. So 2 lice = 8 new eggs. 4 days of not detecting them = 32 nits!
• Nits must be manually removed. If the nits have been treated but not removed, they will eventually disintegrate, but that can take up to 6 months.
• Most treatments for lice require a 3-part repetitive process for 3 weeks to ensure life cycles of lice and nits are really dealt with.
• Lice become resistant to lice medication, so best go through the hair every other night (after treatment) to check for nits.

Treatment Options

DIY

To treat your child(ren): Sit your child down in front of the TV after rinsing the chemical product off the hair and slowly go through the hair with a lice comb. Amsterdam Mamas recommends the Nitty Gritty Lice Comb. Clean the comb thoroughly after each use.

Bribe a Friend

Treating your own hair is not a DIY project. Bribe a friend with lunch, a nice bottle of red, a delicious Parmesan from Italy, or a diamond…whatever it takes, to do a thorough nit-removal job on your head.

Lice Clinics 

This is a pricey option, but they are thorough. Luizenkliniek is one such facility here in Amsterdam. An Amsterdam Mama says that there is a heat treatment that will get rid of all the lice and nits in an hour with a lice-free guarantee. If the lice return within a week, they’ll do it again for free.

Another Amsterdam Mama suggests washing the hair with Dreft dish soap!  Or, you just become a social pariah for about 2 months.

Prevention of Head Lice

• Some say that dabbing tea tree oil around your child’s head and nape can prevent lice infestation.
• Spray your child’s head before releasing them into the classroom. XT Luis Protect & Go Spray from Etos is one such product. 
• Teach your children not to share combs, brushes, hats, or earmuffs. I teach my daughters that those items are ‘personal things’. Toys, crayons and snacks are ‘share things’.
• Shave your head.

For more information on treating and preventing head lice, please check the official Netherlands health info page. Liceworld also offers some great FAQ.

Photo Credit: Copyright permission for the image of the lifecycle of the lice and the close up of the nit has been granted by Liceworld 2019. Head spa image by nomura8080 from Pixabay. Daughter’s image by Audrey Coggins

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What Is Group 3?

Within Dutch primary school (basisschool) the biggest change is the transition from Group 2 to Group 3. This is when school becomes more academic, less like preschool. Children start to read, write, do proper maths work, and spend most of their time sitting at their own desk.

In Groups 1 and 2 children learn their letters, but not to read and write (beyond their names). They learn their numbers, but don’t really start doing calculations. There is a lot of play time (inside and out) and art and crafts; the focus is really on learning school routines and preparing them to function in that environment.

When Does Group 3 Start?

In the Netherlands, school is compulsory from age five, but children can attend from age four – literally the day after their fourth birthday – and, indeed, that is when most children do start school (Group 1). Thus, children are starting throughout the school year in the first years of school, but when it is time to begin Group 3, they begin the academic year together as a cohort in September.

Schools organise Group 3 classes based on birthdate as well as the individual child’s progress. In effect, what this means is that children can spend differing amounts of time in school before beginning Group 3, depending on their date-of-birth. Here’s the general guide:

• Children born between June and September spend two full academic years in Groups 1 and 2, and progress to Group 3 roughly around their sixth birthday.
• Children born between January and May spend the months between their birthday and the end of the academic year, followed by two full years in Groups 1 and 2, and progress to Group 3 when they are roughly six and a half. 
• Children born between October and December can go either way depending on how they are doing and which path the school thinks is best.

Exactly how this cut-off is managed for children born in the autumn months varies by school. Some schools move children up to Group 3 based on a hard birthdate deadline that can fall between 1 October and 1 January; others are more flexible and place a lot of emphasis on the individual child and their personal qualities. Thus, a child with an earlier birthday may stay another year in Group 2, and very occasionally a child with a birthday after Christmas will enter Group 3 earlier. But those are the outliers and the school will provide a clear reason for their decision and extra support for these children.

Some of the skills that schools assess when determining whether a child should move up to to Group 3 are:

• Fine motor skills.
• Ability to sit still, concentrate, and work independently.
• Ability to dress and undress themselves (for gym).
• Understanding of numbers and letters, and vocabulary.
• Social development.

Each child is individually assessed, and the decision about advancement is based on what suits that particular child best. Talk to your school, and your children’s teacher(s), if you are worried about the transition.

The Primair Onderwijs Raad has a brochure about the decision-making process around when children are ready to go to Group 3 (in Dutch).

A Personal Story

My son has a November birthday, so he was in the group that choose which year to enter Group 3. His school decided that he was ready to go up before his sixth birthday and he is now thriving in Group 4. But last year was very hard for all of us. He was the second youngest in the class and he found it very tiring, which made him incredibly grumpy and uncommunicative, probably more so because Dutch is his second language, and he had to work even harder to keep up both languages every day.

On the other hand, my daughter has a January birthday, and there was no question about when she would move up to Group 3. We know that she will do two and a half years in Groups 1 and 2 and I’m sure that she will appreciate the extra time playing. My only concern is that many of her friends are older than her, and will likely end up a year ahead of her, but that isn’t a good enough reason for me to push her ahead. She loves school and learning new things and I want to encourage that, rather than force her to sit still before she’s ready.

Do Your Own Assessment

If your child in currently in Groups 1 or 2 and has an autumn birthday, the question about when they join Group 3 is an important one. At its most basic, it is a question about whether your child will be the youngest or the oldest in the class and the implications that this has for them.

It is helpful to consider the following:

• Is your child is likely to get bored if they remain in Group 2 for another year? What provisions does the school offer to continue to keep them engaged and learning?
• Is your child is finding Group 2 hard? Would an extra year without pressure allow them to develop their social skills and confidence more fully before being moved into more academic learning?
• Who are their friends and which class will they will be in?

There are no absolute right answers to these questions and it will be different in every case.

An additional issue for international families is managing the expectations of your extended family and friends. The Dutch school system starts reading and writing later than many others, for example the US and the UK. So there may be a sense that children in the Dutch school system are “behind”, which may be a driver to move children up to Group 3 earlier. Be aware that there is a lot of research showing that is beneficial for children to learn to read and write later, especially for boys; other studies indicate there is no difference in reading ability between children who start earlier or later.

The post The Big Leap: Group 2 to Group 3 appeared first on Amsterdam Mamas.

PART I – Basisschool

Because our family has moved back and forth between Mumbai and Amsterdam several times, our children have needed to transition between the International School System we used in India, and the local public school system we used in the Netherlands. Their International School offered an IGCSE/IB education in English, and Dutch schools were entirely in Dutch. After nearly 14 years and 5 moves, you’d think we’d be professionals at navigating these transitions, but we aren’t.

Schooling is essential and is often one of the most complicated aspects of moving. If you’re able to stick to one system of schooling, and move to locations that have schools within that system (i.e. a British School, an American School, or a German School) then you should consider yourself very fortunate. However, as this is often not the case for a number of reasons, it is necessary to grapple with varied systems and methods of education: public, private, IB, local, partially subsidised, International, ICSE, Dalton, Montessori, Rudolf Steiner, etc., and more often than not, combinations of many of all of these! It is definitely complicated!

The Younger Years

Our children started their education in Mumbai. Our son went to the German International School, with children from over 25 different countries; our daughter went to a wonderful nursery school, a bit like a Dutch peuterspeelzaal. The language of instruction of both schools was English, though the German school taught German as a second language.

When we found out that we had to move to Amsterdam, we started looking for neighbourhoods which not only suited our requirements for housing, but also offered good schools. Our son was four and a half years old and our daughter was three, and although my husband is Dutch, neither of them had mastered much more Dutch than saying goodnight and listening to Dutch bedtime stories. Most of our research on schools was done on the internet. When we chose a neighborhood, some of the schools were full but we finally found a spot for our son in a wonderful basisschool and, one day after we arrived from Mumbai, he joined Groep 1/ 2.

For me, as a parent with virtually no Dutch, the other class parents, teachers, school principals and all the staff made things very easy. They would translate messages, involve me in class activities and give me a sense of being able to participate in the education of my children. Our first experience with a Dutch school was great!

During our two and a half years in The Netherlands, our son went from Groep 1/ 2 to 3 and our daughter spent a few months at peuterspeelzaal before joining the same basisschool as her brother. They loved it! The teachers were fabulous – helping them with the language, and making them feel very welcome. For me, as a parent with virtually no Dutch, the other class parents, teachers, school principals, and all the staff made things very easy. They would translate messages, involve me in class activities and give me a sense of being able to participate in the education of my children. Our first experience with a Dutch school was great!

When we had to move back to Mumbai, the kids returned to the German International School. Now aged seven and five and a half, English continued to be their first language and the transition was very smooth. The kids were still young, so academics were less relevant and systems were less stringent. The IGCSE/IB education meant project based learning, and the kids loved it and had no problem re-adjusting. As a family, we thoroughly enjoyed the diversity of the International school; we became friends with many international families. Also the perks that went along with being in an international school were great: theatre workshops, dance workshops, art appreciation, etc. However, I recalled that at the Dutch basisschool the kids also had project based learning, a healthy/non-competitive attitude, great sports, and fun class trips to theatres and museums. We also missed having more music and drama and swimming, but their after school activities (NSA) at Dutch school compensated for those.

This time the kids were older, and we were much more concerned about their transition back to a Dutch education.

In 2015, after almost four years in Mumbai, we once again needed to move back to the Netherlands. This time the kids were older, and we were much more concerned about their transition back to the Dutch educational system. We knew we wanted them to be in the same basisschool as before, and we were lucky enough to find them spots in it. We timed our arrival to be in the last five weeks before the summer holidays, thinking it would help the kids acclimatise. After the Summer, our son went to Groep 8 (age 11) and our daughter to Groep 6 ( age 9). Although they’d had a Dutch language class once a week in Mumbai, it wasn’t nearly enough!

Groep 8 is a decisive year for students in The Netherlands. Students have their final CITO tests and they get a recommendation which directs them to a particular middelbare school. It’s also the last year of basisschool – being a new student means trying to integrate into pretty established groups of friends. All in all, it was not an easy time. In terms of academics the biggest challenge was the language; in terms of their social life, they had to re-establish old friendships or make brand new ones. Though tough, in the end it worked out just fine.

Our son is now in his second year of middelbare school and our daughter is in Groep 8 of basisschool. Their time in the higher years of basisschool and their transition to middelbare school will be discussed in Part II of this article: Moving to Middelbare School.

The post Transitioning Between Schools – International Style appeared first on Amsterdam Mamas.

Moving to Middelbare School

Moving between the Dutch educational system and an international one is not necessarily complicated for children under the age of ten; basisschools (lower schools) in Holland are wonderful, nurturing, and relaxed places where children play and learn at the same time. Naturally, as a non-native, the Dutch language is a challenge, but most children are terrific at picking up languages, and manage quite well. Indeed, children whose first language is not Dutch even have the option to go to special language schools.

The challenges of shifting systems really begin as your kids get older. Children aged between 10 – 12 (Groep 6, 7 and 8) begin more intensive studies and this is when we noticed the differences between the systems starting to matter more. Maths is a great example. In the Netherlands, our kids had to memorise the times tables; in Mumbai, they were encouraged not to learn things by heart, finding methods to do quick calculations instead. The chunking method, as well as the multiplication and division methods also differed.

Additionally, the international system always promotes an international perspective across all disciplines – whether sciences, business, environmental studies, or cultural studies. In the Netherlands, the focus, naturally, tends to be more Eurocentric.

On a purely practical level, Dutch middelbare schools (upper schools) are not necessarily in your immediate neighbourhood and your child will likely have to learn to bike to school alone. The jump to independence is marked.

CITO Exams

Most international schools offer a seamless education from the lower years all the way up to the IB or A levels etc. The Netherlands, however, has more of a tracking approach and if you are enrolling your children into the Dutch system during Groeps 6, 7, or 8 (ages 10, 11, and 12), it is important that you are prepared for the CITO exams.

In the year of Groep 8, children in the Dutch school system are given an assessment and recommendation that determine the academic track they will follow going forward. Basisschools assess children based on:

1. Their academic performance in Groep 6, 7, and 8
2. Their results from the CITO standardised test
3. Their individual interests, ambitions, will to improve, and attitude

These factors, along with the personal guidance of their teachers during these three years, eventually result in your child getting an ‘advies’ (recommendation). It is this recommendation that determines to which academic category of middelbare school they can apply and is loosely categorised into VWO, HAVO and VMBO.

• VWO:  the highest academic recommendation a student can receive and which allows them to apply to Gymnasium (classical education) or Athenaeum
• HAVO
• VMBO (which is divided into several sub-categories).

A VWO recommendation is the highest academic recommendation that a student can receive and allows them to apply to Gymnasium (classical education) or Athenaeum. A HAVO is a less academically rigorous diploma than VWO, and VMBO is less rigorous than HAVO. In Amsterdam, owing to schools being in very high demand, students are assigned a school based on a lottery system. Students in Groep 8 ought to visit at least 12 schools that are of interest, then submit a list of schools in order of preference. Then, depending on how the lottery plays out, students get into their first, second, etc. school of choice. Needless to say, this works nothing like an international school.

Opinions about this method of school assignment vary greatly. As a non-native parent, it can be quite a shock if you’re not prepared. One way to soften the shock is to talk to friends, neighbours, and classmates and try to get a feel for the system. If you can, visit some schools while still in Groep 7, so that in Groep 8 you’re not overwhelmed at the open days. Most importantly, be prepared that the lottery system setup might result in your child not getting into one of their top three choices. It’s up to you to convince them, and yourself, that this is ok. From personal experience, I’d like to stress that it helps if you just accept the system as it is and not resist it.

His Dutch primary school very kindly accommodated our request to keep the language deficiency in mind and refer to his older report cards to get a clearer and more rounded view of his abilities and academic level

Our son’s official recommendation was based on his one year in Groep 8, the learning aptitude he showed during basisschool, as well as his performance in Mumbai. His Dutch basisschool very kindly accommodated our request to keep the language deficiency in mind and refer to his older report cards to get a clearer and more rounded view of his abilities and academic level. This helped him get into the category of middlebare school we had hoped for.

If you’re in a similar situation, talk to the class teachers and school principals to check for the possibility of a different recommendation. If that doesn’t have an immediate effect, be aware that if your child improves their grades during middlebare school they can move up a level of academic school each year till they reach their optimal level. In that way, it is a flexible system.

One other big difference that stands out between the international upper school system and the Dutch middelbare school one is that only the children who graduate from a Gymnasium or Athenaeum middlebare school can go straight to university. In international schools, it is open to everyone – and depending on your grades you’ll get into an appropriate programme. Of course once again, as is the Dutch way, you can spend a few extra years studying hard and still make it to university.

The education system in the Netherlands is hard to grasp initially. However, it’s a very good system that allows everyone to reach their potential through hard work. Last, but certainly not least, compared to most international education, it’s much more affordable!

The post Transitioning Between Schools – International Style, Part II appeared first on Amsterdam Mamas.

In this country where school cafeterias are the exception rather than the norm, parents face the daily challenge of packing lunches for their little ones. It’s tricky trying to provide a balance: nutritious food, the school’s rules, the amount of time the children have to eat, and the exclusive palate of our little darlings. The ever-so-helpful members of the Amsterdam Mamas community have shared many tips and links that will make our packed school lunches worthy of “Pinteresting”.

Where to go for lunch ideas

Nom Nom Paleo offers ideas based on whole, unprocessed, nutrient-dense nourishing foods. They also have an app so we can search for ideas on the go.

The blog 100 Days of Real Food is a fantastic site, with ideas for picky eaters and special diets as well.

Cafe Mom gives a list of seven creative ideas/recipes that are kid-friendly, fast, simple, and nutritious, with links to more sites with more ideas.

With a printable lunchbox idea list, the mom-blogger at Wendolonia knows the struggle too well. As she puts it:

A tired parent leans forward with one arm holding the refrigerator door open, eyes scanning the shelves for something to pack into a lunch box. What do we have in the house? What do we have that’s healthy? What do we have that he/she will eat?

Find ideas for the whole family, including vegetarian and grain-free/dairy-free recipes at MOMables.

Like the agendas in the Dalton education system, Super Healthy Kids will help you keep organized the whole week. Check out their app to help you plan ahead with menus and grocery lists. 

If your kid is a big fan of sandwiches Slow Robot is the place to go, with 30 examples of innovative sandwiches – one for each day of the month!

Find a downloadable weekly lunchbox planning form at Just Bento – available in English, German, French, Portuguese, Norwegian, and Hungarian.

Watch really encouraging videos from Tasty Junior on YouTube, with recipe ideas to prepare for and with the little ones, and not just for lunchboxes. Here are a few to get you started: Back-to-School Lunch Prep Hacks, 4 Back-to-School Lunches, and Hacks to Make Packing Your Morning Lunches Easier.

And if you happen to be the lucky owner of a Thermomix, you can find fabulous lunchbox-friendly recipes at Thermo Bliss.  

Bento Boxes  

A Bento box is basically a lunch box with several compartments. Bento Boxes have gotten very popular recently as they help provide a nutritious and varied meal presented in small portions. These divided meals are very appealing to the eyes of our little ones.

Fellow Mama, Joanna Monkhouse, is the person to reach out to within the community, in her store at Binnen Brouwersstraat 36 in the centre of Amsterdam, or you can check out her products online. 

Stainless steel drinking bottles, and glass and stainless steel bread/lunch boxes are available at greenjump. All their products are free of BPA, heavy metals, hormone-disrupting substances, and softeners.

De leukste lunch is run by a creative local mom who was inspired by Japanese lunch sites when struggling with a picky eater at home. In her site you can find everything from allergy stickers to egg molds.

The epitome of cuteness, BentoUSA offers all types of bento boxes and accessories shipped directly from the USA. Their products are difficult to resist, even considering that shipping charges do not include international taxes or duties. Kawaii!

Run by a mom of two, bentofabriek sells different bento boxes and accessories as well as a starter package. You can also find interesting bento recipes in her kids’ food blog.

Camelbak specializes in water bottles, both standard and insulated types, and comes highly recommended by the Mamas for our little ones’ drinks.

Founded by two Amsterdam friends who share a passion for Japanese culture and cuisine, roppongi markets the French brand Monbento. They also have an Instagram account for inspiration @jimisbento.

Another site highly recommended by the Mamas, Planetbox, ships from California. Their stainless steel lunch boxes and accessories are made to last.

Bento boxes of the Aladdin brand are available at Amazon UK, Bol, and De Bijenkorf.

The London-based company Tyrell Katz offers colorful and playful lunch and snack boxes, drinking bottles, and other school items.

And in case you are a last-minute mama, any Blokker store will have lunch boxes that will sort you out in a pinch.

With all these tricks from Amsterdam Mamas, you will soon become one of the Bento Sensei of the city.

The post Mastering the Art of Packed School Lunches appeared first on Amsterdam Mamas.

When moving to The Netherlands with children, your first plan might be to send them to an international school. International schools offer curricula that are recognized around the world and the language of instruction is usually English. If you are planning to move out of the Netherlands again shortly, this might be the best choice for you. Learning Dutch may not make much sense for a short-term stay (unless you will be moving to Belgium next).

If you are planning on staying for a longer period of time in the Netherlands, then a Dutch public school may be a good choice for your family. The public schools are of good quality, your children will learn a new language and, furthermore, it makes it easier for them – and you – to integrate into local society.

A Quick Overview of the Dutch School System

A unique feature of the Dutch school system is the choice in types of education. Among the state-funded schools, there are religious schools, schools that follow philosophical or pedagogical principles such as Dalton or Montessori, bilingual schools, and more. They all follow the Dutch curriculum.

Local Dutch basisscholen (primary schools) are for children aged 4-12. After the age of 12, children go to a middelbare school (secondary school), which has different levels: VMBO, HAVO, and VWO. For a summary, watch a video produced by Nuffic, titled School System in the Netherlands. 

There are many advantages to a local Dutch school. Your children will learn Dutch and this will help you, as a parent, learn too. Your children will get to know Dutch kids in the neighborhood and make friends with them. Additionally, most schools are monitored by the government for quality and most of them are free except for a small parental contribution (between 40-80 euros per year) to cover extracurricular activities. This is far cheaper than an international school.

Most children in the Netherlands go to a public school close to their home. Walking or biking to your primary school is normal. This will allow you to integrate into local life by dropping your children off at school by bicycle!

Bridging Classes While Your Child Learns Dutch

It can feel scary to leave your child in a Dutch school if they don’t yet speak the language. The Dutch government has made some provisions for this.

In most cities, children age four and five attend a normal Dutch school. At this age, children learn a lot through play and they absorb a new language quite easily. From the age of six, when children start reading and writing, children follow a Dutch immersion program (language class or Nieuwkomers class) for about a year. After this year they will continue at the local Dutch school. There are immersion classes for primary and secondary schools. The younger the child, the easier it is for them to pick up a new language. Secondary immersion classes take about 1.5 years to complete and sometimes foreign children start at secondary school in group of children of a younger age than them. In language classes, your child is not the only one who doesn’t speak Dutch. Students from all around the world are together learning their new school language!

View a map of all newcomers’ classes and international classes in the Amsterdam area and learn more about their individual enrolment procedures and policies.

Subsidized and Unsubsidized International Schools

Some international schools are partly funded by the government and others are private. For subsidized international schools, the annual fees are between 3,600 and 8,500 euros, depending on the school and grade level. Subsidized schools generally offer the International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum.  This is easily transferable to other IB schools in other countries and classes are mostly taught in English. Fully private schools have fees upward of 12,000-26,000 euros. Some of these schools offer the specialized curricula of other countries (i.e. French, Japanese, American, or British), while others follow the IB curriculum. 

Celebrate Your Choice

If your child speaks English, an international school may give you a safer feeling. Some teens may do best doing high school level work in English. Nevertheless, it has been proven that learning another language has many positive effects on the brain. If you are planning on staying in the Netherlands for a longer period of time, going “local” is certainly a great possibility.  In either case, you will be there to cheer your children on as they overcome new challenges and celebrate successes.

The post Local vs. International School: Choosing the Best Option for Your Family appeared first on Amsterdam Mamas.

Do you sometimes feel overwhelmed when you have to prepare for your kids’ birthdays? There are birthday parties, family celebrations, birthday presents, and then … there are school traktaties, the edible treats that birthday girls and boys in the Netherlands offer to their classmates on their special day. This charming tradition can sometimes be the cause of considerable parental stress. What shall we bring to school? It should be something relatively healthy (some schools forbid sugar completely so keep that in mind), it should be fun or look fun, and it should be practical. If you need to make something for younger kids, you need to make sure that it’s safe to eat and safe to hold (think fruit skewers).

I’m not a crafty mama and I’m not attracted to complicated and difficult recipes. I admire what other parents make but I always struggle to find something fancy and yummy that will make my son and his friends happy. And his teachers, too.

We’ve put together a list of traktaties that are easy to make and relatively “healthy”. Some traktaties are not suitable for younger kids so make sure you choose something that your kids can actually eat. Also you can decide to leave the chocolate or odd marshmallow out if your school doesn’t allow sugar. You can sometimes replace these with cheese or coconut yoghurt.

Ontbijtkoek Cars: I love this one, especially for younger kids. It’s a slice of ontbijtkoek (literally breakfast cake, a Dutch spiced sweet bread) with two toothpicks on each side and four grapes or blueberries as car wheels. Perfection!

Dipped apple slices:  Slice apples into thick pieces and dip them in melted dark chocolate. Add nuts if your school permits. Let them cool in the fridge for an hour. Older kids love this!

Festive fruit skewers: There are so many variations on fruit skewers, from the variety of fruit chosen to the addition of soesjes (marshmallows). Fruit and cheese is another favourite for older children.

Frozen banana or kiwi: Freeze banana and/or kiwi slices on sticks and dip lightly in chocolate. Or you can have whole bananas on a stick, dip them in dark chocolate, and freeze for an hour. You can choose how much chocolate you want.

Poffertjes and strawberries on a toothpick/stick: Slice strawberries thin and add poffertjes (tiny Dutch pancakes which can be bought pre-made and just need to be warmed up) in between. A true classic! You don’t need to add sugar when you have strawberries to provide the sweetness.

Coconut or dairy yoghurt and fruit: You can serve cartons or cups of yoghurt with colourful or wooden spoons and add a small surprise as well. Or serve with a straw for the milkshake experience! Kids love milkshakes and if you add the right amount of fruit (banana is the perfect fruit to add to make the shake sweeter) then they’ll love this, too!

Filled Ice Cream Cones: Ice cream is a bit difficult to transport so try filling cones with fruit and marshmallows or popcorn. You can also add a small toy/sticker as a surprise.

Oat cookies topped with yoghurt and fruit or sprinkles: A favourite with older kids, cookies are always well-received and can be the perfect traktatie for schools with no-sugar policy.

Caterpillar sticks: Green grapes, a strawberry for the head and small eyes. Although it looks fun, for younger children beware of the grapes and the small eyes.

Banana Race Car: Draw the road on whole bananas and attach a small car as a present. Great for younger kids, easy to make, and healthy!

Babybel cheese with fruit: You can cut part of the babybel cover and make cute faces. Then add a toothpick and a fruit for the body.

The cutest mandarins: Draw faces on mandarins. If you are feeling especially crafty, add a toothpick and top with a little candle to look like a hat! Healthy with a twist.

We hope we have given you some new ideas to play around with for your next birthday traktatie undertaking.

The post Great Ideas for School Traktaties appeared first on Amsterdam Mamas.

The first series of swimming lessons

The earliest phase of the Zwem-ABC programme focuses on making children at ease in the water. This is an important foundation-laying stage of learning to swim. Children learn to float on their front and back, get into the water and climb out again, turn from their front to their back and on to their front again, go underwater and open their eyes. The point of these exercises is to make children feel at home in the water.

Young children learn best through play so most exercises are presented in the form of games. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that your child is only playing in the water! Each game has a learning objective. It is only after this initial phase of children learning to feel at ease in the water that they move on to the next phase and start to learn swimming strokes.

Swimming strokes and further skills

Right from the start of the Zwem­-ABC programme, children are taught four swimming strokes: elementary backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle, and back crawl. The second two are taught in simplified versions and become increasingly difficult with each diploma. In addition to swimming, children also learn to carry out a variety of exercises in deep water, such as different ways of getting into the water, underwater swimming, climbing on to a raft, and getting to the side and touching the bottom of the pool.

Swimming safety

From the outset, the Zwem-ABC swimming programme focuses on water safety. Children practise falling and jumping into the water and climbing out again. Swimming in clothes is an important component of swimming lessons and diplomas. Children are sometimes given exemptions to wear goggles during lessons but these are never allowed for diploma swimming. Children are expected to learn what to do if they find themselves in the water unintentionally. They also have to learn to swim in increasingly heavy clothes and shoes with proper soles, although you will do them a favour if you buy them cheap and light waterschoenen (swim shoes) from somewhere such as Hema, Decathlon or H&M. Much easier to keep afloat than when swimming in waterlogged trainers!

Requirements for the Zwem-ABC swimming diplomas

The skills required for each swimming diploma are acquired in a logical and progressive way, building on what has already been mastered. The Nationaal Platform Zwembaden publishes a list in English of requirements for each diploma. Another helpful source of information is Alles Over Zwemles – although this website is exclusively in Dutch, it contains many informative videos.

Afzwemmen

Once your child has acquired the necessary skills their teacher may suggest they try proefzwemmen, which is a sort of practice exam. They will practise the skills they need for the diploma, including swimming in clothes. This will be followed shortly afterwards by afzwemmen, the “real” diploma swimming. It is theoretically possible to fail, although this is highly unlikely. Teachers don’t put their pupils forward for diploma swimming until they are ready. Afzwemmen is meant to be a fun occasion, celebrating children’s achievements, and families are invited to come and watch.

When to start the Zwem-ABC programme and how long it takes

About half of the municipalities in the Netherlands provide children with swimming lessons at school, starting from around the age of seven. However, most children start swimming lessons earlier, at about five, and children are often happiest and safest learning at roughly the same time as their peers. As waiting lists for lessons are long, it is wise to register them at four. The time it takes to master the skills for each diploma varies from child to child, but most will be ready to take the A Diploma after an average of 48 hours of swimming lessons. Diplomas B and C require rather less time, averaging 12 hours of swimming each.

Ready for your child to embark on the Zwem-ABC programme? We have compiled a list of Amsterdam Mamas’ Favourite Swimming Lessons for Kids.

The post What are the ABC Swimming Diplomas? appeared first on Amsterdam Mamas.