Admissions requirements & Student Support Offer

Admissions requirements

Harbour International provides education for families with children between the ages of 4 and 11 who are living for a limited time in the Netherlands. Children can only start our school on their 4th birthday or afterwards. 

Our school can only accept:

• Children with a non- Dutch nationality who have a parent working or studying in the Netherlands for a limited time.  

• Dutch children who have had at least two years of international education while their parents were employed or lived overseas.

• Children of Dutch nationals who will be moving overseas within two years (proof of future posting overseas will be required in this case).

If you are unsure if your child(ren) fit our admissions requirement, please contact our admissions officer.

 

Student Support Offer (Ondersteuningsaanbod).  

Duty of care (Zorgplicht) 

As a school we are obliged to ensure that the child’s needs are being met. This applies to children who are already enrolled at our school and children who register.  This is called basic support (basisondersteuning). If a student needs more help, this will initially be from the basic support of the school:  

The school provides basic support for students in all areas of the curriculum. (differentiation). 

In case of extra needs the school can provide support for the students, for example students with dyslexia 

The school liaises with outside agencies to support students with more complex needs if the child’s needs can be met in the regular classroom situation.   

Our school is affiliated with the PPO Rotterdam partnership. Within the partnership, agreements have been made about basic support at all primary schools in Rotterdam. Basic support consists of the following components for all schools:  

-  all schools meet at least the quality requirements of the education inspectorate. 

 - all schools work according to the principles of needs-based education. (HGW handelingsgericht werken.)  

- educational support is well organised at all schools.  

- all schools offer preventive and slightly curative interventions.  

The full explanation of the basic support can be read here: https://pporotterdam.nl/wpcontent/uploads/2024/09/Uitwerking-Basisondersteuning-maart-2024.pdf I 

 

Language and mathematics 

Specialists available to the school: 

Learning Support Coordinator and EAL specialist teachers.  

Speech Therapist at school 

Mathematics specialist - introduction and teacher training Maths No Problem 

By using teacher observations and the standardised scores from our pupil monitoring system, the school tracks the progress of the children in language and maths.  Support is offered in 3 forms: 

- Wave 1 - extra attention from the classroom teacher 

- Wave 2 - extra support in the class from the learning support department 

- Wave 3 - documented plan made by the learning support department.  This plan can take two forms: 

A Learning Support Plan - where the child's progress is monitored and evaluated by the learning support department - but the child follows the goals of the classroom. 

An Individual Education Plan - where the child's progress is monitored and evaluated by the learning support departments - but the child's learning goals are separate to the goals of the classroom 

 

English as Another Language (EAL): 

All teachers are EAL teachers.  However, children who enter and do not speak English are withdrawn in small groups by qualified English language teachers.  As the child's proficiency increases, this support is phased out and is replaced by extra support in the classroom. (push-in EAL lessons) 

 

Speech Therapist: 

A speech therapist from the organisation "Speak and Listen" is present at school one day a week to support children with speech and language difficulties.  Speech therapy for children is usually covered by Dutch Health Insurance. 

 

Maths Specialist: 

The maths specialist works closely with the teachers in order to imbed practises required for our new maths programme Maths No Problem.  This involves: 

Teacher training in delivering the programme 

Lesson observations and collegial coaching sessions 

 

Social Emotional Development:  

Specialists available in the school: 

Pastoral Care Lead 

School Social Worker 

The children's feelings about school and themselves is monitored using the yearly PASS survey.  (Pupils Attitudes to School and Self). 

It is the duty of the Pastoral Care Lead to monitor the emotional needs of the school population and seek extra support where necessary.  The Pastoral Care Lead also monitors issues such as lateness and absenteeism.   

Furthermore, the Pastoral Care Lead works closely with our school social worker referring children and / or families to her when necessary.   

 

Behaviour, Attention and Attitude to work:  

The Pastoral Care Lead supports children with social / emotional behavioural difficulties.  

It is the responsibility of the  Learning Support Coordinator to support (with  the help of outside agencies) children with behaviours as the result of attention difficulties or mild autistic spectrum disorders. 

 

Motor skills and physical development.  

The school has a qualified gym teacher who provides lessons for children from group 1 - group 7/8. 

In some circumstances the gym teacher can provide advice to the parents. 

Children with suspected motor skills developmental issues are referred either to the CJG (school doctor) or parents are advised to find a physiotherapist / occupational therapist in their local area.   

No specialist in this area is present at school. 

Medical support and personal care 

No specialists are present. All teachers have basic first aid training. 

In case of a child needing support due to health or personal circumstances a care plan is written by either the learning support coordinator / the Pastoral Care Lead, the parents and the (medical) organisation who works with the child and his/her family. 

Limits to support the school can offer 

The school cannot support children: 

Who do not meet our entry criteria 

Who need specialised medical care / toileting facilities 

Who use a wheelchair 

Whose academic or behavioural needs cannot be met in a regular classroom environment 

Who are blind or deaf.  

Whose progress (academically or socially emotionally) cannot be met in a regular classroom environment 

Whose parents do not support the values of the school 

Parents must be aware that secondary school options are limited in English for children with special educational needs. 

 

Hoorecht (right to be heard) 

We have given all the children the opportunity to let us know how they feel about the support available to them at school.  We did this by asking two of our student council members to ask questions to groups 3 - 8.  The children in group 1 and 2 were questioned by the classroom teacher.   

Of the children who answered in groups 1 - 2,  90% of them were happy with the support they received from their teacher.   

Of the children who answered in groups 3 - 8, 87% of them were happy with the support available to them at school.  Only two children had suggestions for improvement. 

We will use these results to continue to strive to make learning accessible and fun for our students.