Welcoming Students, Parents and Staff for the Start of the New School Year

The British School in the Netherlands (BSN) welcomed current and new students, parents and staff back to school last week.

Welcome to the BSN!

On Tuesday 3 September, the BSN hosted its annual Welcome Day, which brought together new families for a full programme of activities that introduced them to the whole school community. The day began at each of the BSN’s campuses where new students were invited to visit their classrooms for the first time, meet their teachers and take a tour of their respective school sites. The programme continued at Senior School Voorschoten (SSV) where students and parents could speak with school staff, connect with other new families and find out more about the wide range of support services the BSN community has to offer. The Admissions Team, teachers, support staff, Family Association and student leaders all came together to help over 740 new parents, students and family members to feel welcome and informed ready for the start of the new school year.

2019/20 Strategic Priorities

For staff, the start of term saw the BSN’s Senior Leadership Team tour the five campuses to share their 2019/20 strategic priorities. During these meetings the five Headteachers, Sue Aspinall, James Oxlade, Paul Topping, Chris Wathern and Karren van Zoest, plus Chief Financial Officer Stuart de Booij, set out development plans for the new school year. It was a valuable opportunity to highlight the BSN’s four priority areas: student outcomes, professional capacity, premises and growth and finance.

The Leadership Team said:  “It was a wonderful occasion to welcome returning staff for the beginning of the new academic year and to meet new staff joining the BSN this year.”

Cradle-to-Cradle Design at New Campus Senior School Leidschenveen

The return to school was especially exciting this year for students and staff at Senior School Leidschenveen (SSL), whose brand new building was officially opened last week. Headteacher James Oxlade along with SSL staff welcomed students and parents to visit the campus during an informal unveiling event. Students were particularly eager to explore their new state-of-the art learning and social spaces whilst parents took the time to learn more about the building’s innovative cradle-to-cradle design.

Learn Dutch and English with the BSN Language Centre

On Saturday 7 September, the BSN Language Centre  held its annual Open Day. Over 90 visitors were welcomed by the BSN’s experienced language staff in the centre of The Hague to discuss their personal language-learning needs, join a trial lesson, take a free level test and find out more about the wide range of course offerings, which includes Dutch and English language courses as well as accredited teacher-training CELTA courses. It was a very special occasion for the Language Centre with this year’s Open Day celebrating 35 years of teaching excellence!

Did you know that around half of the BSN Language Centre students are from the BSN community? 

It was a busy week for the BSN but the whole school community is ready and looking forward to another productive, creative and inspiring year!

For more information

Contact Stacey Vickers, Head of Communications, on 0610915791 or [email protected]

To book a tour, please contact The Admissions Team on +31 (0)70 315 4077 or [email protected]