← Back to the rankingALASCA - Amsterdam Liberal Arts & Sciences Academie
Amsterdam, Netherlands · est. 2016 · State
Illustration · Amsterdam
ALASCA (Amsterdam Liberal Arts & Sciences Academie) is a Dutch publicly funded secondary school on Zeeburgereiland in Amsterdam, opened in August 2016 with 90 students. It offers havo and vwo+ (vwo with additional academic challenge) and is inspired by the liberal arts and sciences tradition: instead of separate subjects, interdisciplinary modules and projects, with a strong emphasis on philosophy and ethics, design, art, programming, research skills and English. ALASCA is also an IB World School with the Diploma Programme: in year 4 (ages 15-16) students can choose the International Profile - an International Preparatory Year (IPY) in English, followed by the two-year IB Diploma Programme in years 5-6. The main Dutch programme is taught in Dutch, with some modules in English from year 2; the IPY and IB DP are taught in English. DP1 now has two groups. The school admits 112 first-year students each year.
Key facts
Programmes
IB · DP · National programme
Languages of instruction
Dutch, English
Languages taught
Spanish, German
About the fees The Dutch programme is free: havo and vwo students pay a voluntary parental contribution for 2026-2027 of 180 EUR (trips 100 EUR, excursions 50 EUR, other 10 EUR, solidarity fund 20 EUR); non-payment does not exclude a child from activities. International study trips are paid separately: year 1 Austerlitz about 150 EUR, year 2 England about 395 EUR, year 3 the Ardennes about 350 EUR, year 4 a profile trip about 500 EUR. For IB Diploma Programme students the annual parental fee is 1250 EUR (per the 2025-2026 brochure): materials and activities 650 EUR, exams 350 EUR, IB authorisation 200 EUR, solidarity fund 50 EUR; international travel and resits are not included.
Admissions First-year students in the Dutch programme are admitted with a vwo, havo/vwo or havo recommendation after groep 8 through Amsterdam's central placement system, Centrale Amsterdamse Loting en Matching; there are 112 places a year, and information on later entry is published separately. The IPY (year 4) is open to ALASCA students after year 3, students with a 3 vwo report admitting them to 4 vwo, havo students in special circumstances (for example English spoken at home) and other students proficient in English with a record sufficient for year 4 of vwo. The IB Diploma Programme (year 5) admits students after the IPY, students admitted to 5 vwo, students with a havo diploma, and Dutch or expatriate students from schools abroad, including international schools, who are proficient in English and have a record sufficient for year 5 of vwo. The IPY and DP require an interview with the DP Coordinator or career counsellor and a motivation letter, and the DP also transcripts for two years; DP admission is selective with limited places.
Stages and year groups Years 1-3 (ages 11-15) follow a Dutch core curriculum covering the national learning outcomes through interdisciplinary modules and projects, plus elective modules. From year 4 there are three tracks: havo (years 4-5, eindexamen havo), vwo (years 4-6, eindexamen vwo) or the International Profile: year 4 is the International Preparatory Year in English (Dutch, English, Spanish or independent German study, history with philosophy, economics, social studies, mathematics, biology with psychology, arts with technology, PE), years 5-6 the IB Diploma Programme (Dutch A HL, English A, Dutch ab initio, Psychology HL, Design Technology SL, Mathematics Applications and Interpretation, Visual Arts, plus TOK, CAS and the Extended Essay). The school calls the outcome of the International Profile a bilingual internationally recognised diploma.
Address Geertje Wielemaplein 1, 1095 MM Amsterdam (Zeeburgereiland)
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
IB · DP · authorised programmeThe school is listed in the IB register and runs the Diploma Programme. It is a Dutch havo and vwo school; the IB track is a preparatory year in English followed by the Diploma in Years 5-6.
school is in an official registryconfirmed by a school document, by membership or by taking part in a networkclaimed by the school, no confirmation, not counted in the scoreGuide to all organisations → What stands behind each entry
IBInternational Baccalaureate
A Swiss non-profit, working since 1968. Its programmes are among the most widely recognised school programmes in the world. Authorisation is granted stage by stage, so a school with the final stage does not necessarily run the younger ones; which stages this school holds is set out in the line below.
What the badge means for this school. The school is allowed to run this programme and to award its certificate. This is a confirmation of the programme, not a judgement on the school as a whole. The entry stands in the organisation's public register - anyone can check it. At this school: DP (ages 16-19). DP is the final stage, ages 16 to 19: six subjects plus a compulsory core of theory of knowledge, an extended essay and CAS. The diploma is accepted by universities all over the world, and in a number of countries it counts for admission on the same footing as the local leaving certificate.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →National programme
The state school programme of the country the school stands in: it is set by that country's ministry of education, which also licenses the school and awards the leaving certificate. That certificate is used for entry to local universities, and abroad it is matched to the local one.
What this means for this school. This entry does not count towards the score, and that is deliberate. Every lawful school in a country works to the national programme, so on its own it tells one school apart from no other - unlike the French, German or Russian programmes, which are carried abroad and confirmed by the register of their organisation. We show it because a parent needs to know what programme their child is taught and what certificate the child will get. Counting it would lift the whole ranking at once and still tell nobody apart.
Exams and destinations from the school's official website
Exam results Dutch final exams: the average central exam grade has been around 5,9 for havo in recent years, while vwo rose to 6,14 in 2025-2026, against an Inspectorate norm of about 6,15. Just over 84% of upper-school havo and vwo students progress successfully or pass the final exam, against Inspectorate norms of about 77% for havo and 79,5% for vwo. The school does not publish IB Diploma results.
Facilities from the school's official website
·Swimming poolnot stated on the website
·Sports hallnot stated on the website
✓Laboratories
·Theatre or assembly hallnot stated on the website
·Librarynot stated on the website
·Cateringnot stated on the website
·School transportnot stated on the website
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Also on site: Art studio · Makerspace
Clubs and activities: De IJsberen (student party committee) · Jongerenrechtbank (youth court) · Service learning
Teaching staff from the school's official website
·Teachers listed by namenot published
·Teacher qualificationsnot stated
·Number of teachersthe school does not say
·Students per teacher or class sizenot stated
Every student has a mentor, and each year group has a mentor team that discusses students weekly; the school has an orthopedagogue, student coaches and a support coordinator. The school takes part in the Esprit teacher training programme, and all its teachers mentor trainee teachers. The school does not publish staff numbers, qualifications or class sizes.
Safety and wellbeing from the school's official website
·CCTVnot stated on the website
·Security staffnot stated on the website
·Access controlnot stated on the website
·Nurse or medical roomnot stated on the website
✓Counsellor
✓Child protection policy
✓Staff training
✓Anti-bullying policy
The school follows the Dutch meldcode protocol on domestic violence and abuse, has an anti-bullying protocol and an anti-bullying coordinator. The first contact for bullying is the mentor, and there is also an internal confidential advisor trained by Stichting School en Veiligheid. Support for learning difficulties, dyslexia and emotional problems is provided by the orthopedagogue and student coaches, including in a separate support class.
Reviews
No reviews yet. The community rating counts towards the score once a school has five verified reviews - until then we do not show a zero, so as not to mislead.
Criteria breakdown criterion weight in brackets
Academics and programmes (16%)82 Community rating (16%)no dataparent reviews are needed: the criterion switches on at the fifth verified one Exams and destinations (12%) scored on disclosed data80 Safety and wellbeing (12%) scored on disclosed data75 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)85 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data60 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data67 "Scored on disclosed data" stands where we count only what the school has written about itself on its own site: exams and destinations, safety and wellbeing, teaching staff, facilities, clubs and activities. A low score here means the school does not write about this, not that the school does not have it: a school with good security and a sparse site will score low. A school can fill in its profile, and the score will be counted again.
The score is counted from 8 of the 9 criteria.Only those with checkable data count: programmes and accreditations from official registers, the fee from a published price list. Where it says "scored on the median", the school has no data and the middle of the list is put in its place, so that a gap gives no advantage. Admissions, teaching staff and reviews come in as their data arrives.
The full methodology → Similar schools in the country