Covenant for European School The Hague

The European school has been given the green light to open in The Hague. The school’s location is not yet entirely clear but classes will start at the primary school level in August 2012.

Minister of Education Marja van Bijsterveldt, Deputy Mayor Ingrid van Engelshoven (Education) of The Hague and Maarten Knoester, Executive Director of the Stichting Het Rijnlands Lyceum, signed a covenant on 2 November to set up the European School of The Hague Rijnlands Lyceum.

In April 2011 the Board of Governors of the European Schools in Brussels granted permission to the Stichting Het Rijnlands Lyceum to set up a new European School for primary and secondary education in The Hague.

Classes in mother tongue

The European School of The Hague is for the children of members and officials of European institutions, bodies and agencies: Europol and Eurojust in The Hague, the European Patent Office in Rijswijk and ESA-ESTEC in Noordwijk. European education gives high priority to teaching in the students’ mother tongue. The school in The Hague will initially work with three language sections: Dutch, English and Spanish and Italian may be introduced if there is enough interest.

The European School of The Hague will start up operations in August 2012 with the first two years of nursery education (age 4 and 5) and one first grade class (age 6). Other primary school grades will be added in subsequent years. The school’s secondary school programme will start in 2014.

The presence of a European School increases the attractiveness of The Hague as a location for European organisations.

The Stichting Het Rijnlands Lyceum operates four Dutch secondary schools and two primary schools in the region of The Hague and Leiden, including the International School of The Hague.