Chances are we are moving to Eindhoven in couple of months time. But I am already worried about my daughter's education.
If we move in middle of education year, will she get admission?
Will she need to learn dutch even if she goes to international school?
Does school provides transportation? Like school bus ?
Thanks in advance!
If there is no waiting list, she will get admission, yes. The older the child, the less likely there will be a waiting list.
Yes, she will learn Dutch. This is part of the critieria for being a state-sponsored international school. But lessons are taught in English: if she isn't fluent in English, she will probably also need extra tuition in this.
I don't know if this school provides transport but I know the Amsterdam area ones do - you need to check the website of the school to find out. But it will be an extra cost, it's not included in the cost of the school.
On looking at the school website, it seems they don't offer this service: http://www.sio.nl/?page_id=363
I have to disagree with Osita in one minor thing. Yes they will have Dutch lessons at the international school but learning it will be another story. We were 3 years at one of the subsidized Dutch Intl School and many kids there (some who had been in NL for years) barely knew a few words of Dutch. Those kids who did learn Dutch participated in extracurricular activities outside of school were they mingled with Dutch kids. If your kids will be at international school then English will be the day to day language and no knowledge of Dutch will be required to enter. Do call your school well in advance and get in the wait list ASAP. If is one of the Dutch subsidized international schools, it will likely cost nothing to get on the list. There's no problem entering mid year and it happens all the time. Kids come and go all the time in international schools. Mid year is huge for kids coming and going from or to Australia, NZ, Argentina, etc. It is no big deal but GET ON THE LIST ASAP!
Re: transport it is not offered by the Dutch subsidized international schools. In some of these schools a few parents living far away have gotten together to arrange a transport company (mainly taxies) but they done so independently of the school and is not cheap. Most families have at least one stay at home parent that does the driving back and worth between home and school; if you're lucky you can find someone who lives nearby and arrange car pooling. In my experience it is a good thing to drive your kids if you will be stay at home as you will likely have more friends coming from the pool of parents at the school than you will get from your Dutch neighboors. Trust me; it will make your life in NL much better. The mom's and househusbands did many activities together while the kids were at school (coffee mornings, museum visits, workout together at gyms, travel around Europe -ski trips etc. etc). And if you don't have a vehicle get a home within walking or bike distance and do it the Dutch way by bike. Then you can still join parents activities as carpolling is common. Kids also use public transport all the time. At age 11 my daughter took her 9 and 7 year old brothers home a few times by public bus when we did not have other alternatives. In NL is quite common to see kids ride public buses by themselves. They are reliable and quite safe.
Thanks osita and chamo! I think English will not be a problem for my daughter. As suggested by Osita I checked school website and i dont think they provide transport. So i think second car will be must if we move to NL. And because of weather motorbike is also out of question?
It depends on if you are long term expat or will come and go short term. Most short term parents pick a place closed to school/centrum and walk/bike or take bus (in bad weather) to school. We as long term expat needed more flexibility to where we want to live, so had to go for two cars. I drop my kids to school in the morning and my better half picks them up in the afternoon. Please keep in mind that school has plans to move to a new location (close to the airport, out of city) next year, although it may delay as all projects do. At new location, it will be difficult to walk/bike and inconvenient to take bus to school from most of eindhoven popular communities. But then, I believe more tranposrt services will spring up since lot of parents will need them. Incidentally, I have a need for temporary help on school transportation and will start a new thread on it, so also watch replies there.
