My child's education in the Netherlands

Hi and welcome to the Forum.

To be honest, I have no experience of this; I just asked my wife (she's Dutch born and raised); she says that she's heard of it, but it's extremely rare and from her memory, it looks to be for specific religious reasons.  I've found on the Internet that "Homeschooling is not technically recognized by Dutch law.  The Compulsory Education Act, Article 2, paragraph 1, states that school attendance is mandatory" and where exemptions have been granted, there is no uniform structure/guidance across the country, so one region may be more (or less) relaxed about it than others.  Where it is not recognised, it seems to be treated as truancy and the Police get involved!

It's not something you can hide in Holland; personal registration with the Gemeente for you and your family is a legal requirement for all residents in the country and they conduct comparisons with the national register and school registers; when they find non-attendance, they will enforce the law unless an exemption is granted.

You'll need to contact the "Compulsory Education Officer, (leerplichtambtenaar)"; he/ she is employed by the municipality (Gemeente) for the region where you live and speak to him/her.  I've found the website for the official responsible for Rotterdam; this link will take you there.  Unfortunately, the entire website is (unsurprisingly) all in Dutch, but I've found the phone number (+31 10 267 16 25); I suggest you phone it and see how you get on.

Our kids all went to the local Dutch school; it's where they learnt Dutch and made friends; our experience was all good.

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team