School Enrolment

Procedure

School Enrollment

When people register at a municipality, they receive an application form automatically when their child is 3 years old. Sometimes this form comes earlier, but mostly it will be send around the age 3 mark. It is important to fill out the form completely, putting the chosen schools in order of preference. It is recommended to list at least five schools (in order of your preference). The form then needs to be signed and handed in personally at the first school of their preference, where the details will be entered into a central system. Then they will receive a confirmation of the enrolment within a week. 

Placement

If the school has enough places for the number of enrolments, your child will automatically be granted a place. This happens at more than 75% of schools in Amsterdam. If there are more enrolments than there are places available, then children with priority receive a place first. Remaining places are assigned to children without priority.

Registration

Once the places have been allocated, parents receive a letter from the school at which their child has been placed. This letter contains a registration deadline. Make sure you formally register your child at the school in time. Once you have confirmed this place at the school, your child is formally registered.

Priority

Siblings have priority at the school of your first choice. If you have an older child in school already, you still have to hand in the application form but you only need to list the name of the school your older child already attends. Children with a VVE indication (a recommendation to visit preschool) that have attended preschool for at least eight months, or children attending an Integraal Kind Centrum (IKC) to which the school belongs, get priority for the primary school that is connected with this preschool – if you live in the school’s catchment area. At some schools, a specific religious background counts instead of distance to the child's home.

Newcomer’s classes for primary school children

Children that are between 6 and 12 years old, new to the Netherlands and do not speak Dutch join so-called newcomer’s classes. These classes focus on learning Dutch and acquaint the children with Dutch culture, with the aim of them continuing in regular Dutch or bilingual education after one year.

Source: https://www.iamsterdam.com/en/living/everyday-essentials/dutch-education-system/applying-for-a-primary-school 

The Application Form

The application form needs to contain this information:

• Child: Citizen Service number, gender, name(s), last name, address, date of birth.
• Legal Representative Information: name(s), last name, phone number, email, when applicable, other address.
• Options (tick boxes): does the child has a sibling, if so, who?
• School preference (recommended at least five)
• Date and signature

Here is an example of a form, which has been correctly filled in. 

Most of the information given for the application forms are on the municipality websites in English or Dutch. No additional information or services were found on this matter.