The Dutch school system: how basisschool and the secondary tracks work, and how newcomer children start in a taalklas or ISK

In the Netherlands, children may go to school from age 4, and school is compulsory from age 5. That duty is called leerplicht (compulsory education). Government-funded schools charge no tuition. Your child spends eight years at the basisschool (primary school). In the final year, the school's advice decides which secondary track comes next. Children who arrive without Dutch start differently: primary-age children in a taalklas (language class) where one exists, children of 12 to 18 in an ISK (internationale schakelklas, an international transition class). This guide covers each stage, how to enrol, what school really costs, and the common problems: no place at the school you want, an advice that underestimates your child, and arriving in the middle of the school year.

The leerplicht starts on the first day of the month after your child turns 5. If your child turns 5 on 10 October, school is compulsory from 1 November. The duty applies to every child living in the Netherlands, whatever the child's nationality or residence status. Children of asylum seekers must be able to attend school within 3 months of arriving in the Netherlands; the gemeente (municipality) arranges this. Parents must enrol their child at a school, and the child must actually attend. Keeping a child at home is a punishable offence, and the gemeente's leerplichtambtenaar (school attendance officer) enforces the rules.

The leerplicht runs until the end of the school year in which your child turns 16. A school year runs from 1 August to 31 July. After that, the kwalificatieplicht applies until the 18th birthday: your child must stay in education until they hold a startkwalificatie. That is a havo diploma, a vwo diploma or an mbo diploma at level 2 or higher. Young people who completed praktijkonderwijs are exempt from the kwalificatieplicht.

Children may go to the basisschool from age 4, and most start then. The eight years are called groep 1 to groep 8; a child who starts at 4 leaves at about 12. You can enrol your child from age 3. From 3 years and 10 months, most schools let a child come and get used to the class first, for a maximum of 5 settling-in days (wendagen).

There are two kinds of government-funded school, and both are free. An openbare (public) school does not teach from a religion and is open to every child. A bijzondere school teaches from a religion or conviction: Catholic, Protestant, Islamic, Jewish and Hindu schools all exist. A bijzondere school is not a private school. The government pays for it, just as for an openbare school, and it may not discriminate. Schools that follow a teaching method, such as montessori, dalton, jenaplan or vrijeschool, can be either kind.

Start on Scholen op de kaart, the national school finder that rijksoverheid points parents to. It shows the schools near your address and lets you compare them. Then visit the schools you are considering; call and ask for a tour or an open day.

How you enrol differs per gemeente. In many places you register directly with the school you choose; in some municipalities the schools have joint rules for dividing pupils. Check your gemeente's website before your child turns 3, because central systems start early. Amsterdam is the clearest example: a form arrives by post around your child's 3rd birthday, you list schools in order of preference (the city advises at least 5), your child has priority at the 8 schools closest to your registered address, and one central round places all children, with a lottery where a school has more applicants than places. More than 90% of Amsterdam children get their first choice. The details are on Schoolwijzer Amsterdam, in English.

In groep 8 the school gives a schooladvies: the secondary track it thinks fits your child. Every groep-8 pupil also takes the doorstroomtoets, a national test of language and arithmetic. The secondary school must place your child based on the final advice. For school year 2026–2027 the steps are:

If the doorstroomtoets result is higher than the provisional advice, the school must raise the advice to the level of the test. The school may keep the lower advice only when it judges that better for your child, and it must explain that decision to you. Enrol during the aanmeldweek at the end of March: every application in that week counts as arriving at the same moment, so applying on Monday gives no head start.

The advice decides where your child starts in voortgezet onderwijs (secondary school). There are three diploma tracks plus practical education:

Praktijkonderwijs is for pupils who learn better in practice than from theory and who are not expected to finish a vmbo diploma. Pupils follow their own mix of practical and theory subjects. Most go into work afterwards, and a part continues to mbo. Within vmbo there are four leerwegen (learning pathways), from mostly practical to fully theoretical.

Your child is not locked into the first track. Moving up by stacking diplomas (stapelen) is a recognised route. A pupil who passes the vmbo exam with one extra subject can continue to havo; without the extra subject, the havo school's own admission rules apply. A pupil with a havo diploma can continue to vwo without extra conditions. Each step costs extra years, but it keeps hbo and university open for a child who starts lower.

A child who arrives without Dutch does not start in a regular class. Primary-age children go to a nieuwkomersschool or taalklas (newcomer school or language class) where one exists. There they get concentrated Dutch-language teaching before they move to a regular class. Children aged 12 to 18 start at an ISK: a separate secondary programme where newcomers learn Dutch and work toward a place in regular education. The country has more than 130 ISK schools.

An ISK placement is temporary. Schools receive extra newcomer funding for a pupil's first two years, and your child follows a leerroute (learning route) that aims at a concrete destination: a regular secondary class, praktijkonderwijs, or mbo for older pupils. LOWAN, the national support organisation for newcomer education, supports these schools in both primary and secondary education. Its school database lists the ISK schools with contact details, so you can approach one directly. For a primary-age child, ask your gemeente or the schools near you which taalklas serves your area.

Every child living in the Netherlands has the right to education, whatever their residence status. Once your child is registered at the gemeente, the youth health service also invites them for checkups and catch-up vaccinations; the GGD and consultatiebureau guide explains that system. And while your child learns Dutch at school, many parents work on their own integration duty at the same time; what that involves is covered in what inburgering is.

You pay no tuition for primary or secondary school at government-funded schools. In secondary school, most schoolbooks are free as well: textbooks, workbooks, project books and the licences for digital learning material. You buy some items yourself, such as an atlas, dictionaries, a calculator and gym clothes. A school can ask you to buy a laptop or tablet but may not require it, and it must make sure your child can follow the full programme without one.

Schools do ask for a vrijwillige ouderbijdrage (voluntary parental contribution) for extras such as school trips, sports days and celebrations. The amount differs per school, and paying is genuinely voluntary. You do not have to pay, and you do not have to explain why. Your child always takes part in every activity: the school may not exclude your child and may not offer a replacement activity. The schoolgids (school guide) must state all of this.

Two related costs sit next to school itself. If your child stays at school over lunch (overblijven), the primary school asks a contribution for the supervision. Care before and after school (BSO) is separate, paid childcare; kinderopvangtoeslag can cover part of it, and the childcare guide works out those costs and the benefit. The kinderbijslag (child benefit) from the SVB is separate from school; the kinderbijslag guide covers it.

With a low income you do not have to carry the extras alone. Gemeenten support low-income households with children, often as a kindpakket (child package) with vouchers for things like clothing and swimming lessons; the offer differs per gemeente, so ask yours. Stichting Leergeld pays for school supplies, a laptop, a bike, swimming lessons, sport or music lessons when the family budget cannot; you apply through your local Leergeld foundation, which you find by postcode on its site. Sam& voor alle kinderen is the joint application site of Leergeld and four other national children's funds.

School holiday dates are set per region. The Netherlands has three school-holiday regions, Noord, Midden and Zuid, and your school's dates follow its region. Look up the current dates in the official school holidays overview. Plan trips to family abroad inside those weeks: taking a school-age child on holiday outside the school holidays is not allowed and can lead to a fine. There is one exception, for parents whose work makes a holiday impossible in every school holiday, for example seasonal work. That leave is at most 10 school days, once per school year, never in the first 2 weeks after the summer holiday, and you request it from the school director at least 8 weeks in advance.

Passend onderwijs (suitable education) means every child must get the support it needs. Schools must offer a suitable education place, and they cooperate for this in regional partnerships (samenwerkingsverbanden). Support can be extra help in a regular class or a place in speciaal onderwijs (special education) for children who need specialist support. Separate from this, leerlingenvervoer (pupil transport) exists for children who cannot travel to school independently because of illness, a disability or behavioural problems, and sometimes because the school is far away. Your gemeente decides on it, and you apply again for every school year.

Popular schools fill up, and in cities with central enrolment a lottery decides oversubscribed schools. Improve your chances early. Enrol on time: registration is possible from age 3, and in Amsterdam an application after the deadline only goes to schools with places left over. Where the system asks for preferences, list more schools: Amsterdam advises at least 5, and more preferences raise the chance of landing high on your list. Use Scholen op de kaart to see all schools in the area instead of only the nearest one. If no school has a place for your child, contact your gemeente and ask for the leerplicht department.

A schooladvies is built on years of schoolwork in Dutch, and the doorstroomtoets is in Dutch too. A child who arrived recently can score below their real ability simply because the language is new. If your child is 12 to 18 and new to Dutch, the ISK route handles this: your child learns Dutch first and the track choice comes afterwards. For a newcomer child in a regular groep 8, do three things. Talk to the teacher in January, when the provisional advice comes, and bring your child's school results from your own country. Point to the adjustment rule: when the doorstroomtoets comes out higher than the provisional advice, the school must raise the advice unless it explains why that would not be good for your child. And keep the stacking routes in mind: a child who starts at vmbo can still reach havo, and after havo the vwo.

The school year runs from 1 August to 31 July. Your duty to enrol does not wait for it: the leerplicht applies as soon as your child lives in the Netherlands, so start straight away. For a primary-age child, contact schools near you directly, or ask the gemeente which school has a taalklas. For a 12-to-18-year-old, contact the nearest ISK from the LOWAN database. For the rest of your arrival admin, such as BSN, DigiD and health insurance, the first 90 days checklist puts the steps in order.

A move to another gemeente means a new school search under different rules: one gemeente lets you apply directly to a school, another runs a central system with deadlines. Check the new gemeente's website before you move, and start early, because in the middle of the year only schools with room can take your child. Two details are easy to miss. Your school-holiday dates can change, because the new address can lie in a different holiday region. And leerlingenvervoer is decided per gemeente, so you apply for it again at the new one.

School is one part of settling in with children. The childcare guide covers daycare for ages 0 to 4, after-school care and the childcare benefit. The kinderbijslag guide covers the SVB child benefit for newcomer families. And the first 90 days checklist puts all the arrival steps, from BSN to health insurance, in one order.