Carmelcollege Emmen is a Dutch secondary school in Emmen (Drenthe) offering all levels of voortgezet onderwijs: vmbo basis and kader, mavo (vmbo-tl), havo and atheneum (vwo); about 1250 students attend. For more than 25 years it has been the only school in the region to offer tweetalig onderwijs (TTO) for havo and atheneum: in the first three years at least 60% of subjects are taught in English, while in the upper years most subjects return to Dutch because the final exams are in Dutch. TTO students take the Cambridge C1 or C2 exam in year 5, and TTO atheneum students follow the Cambridge Global Perspectives and Research course with an AS Level exam. Besides TTO, the lower years offer Sport & Lifestyle, Research & Design, Art & Community, the Waldorf-inspired Vrijeschoolroute Vasalis, lASSo classes for students with autism and a programme for gifted students; the school is a Topsport Talentschool, the only one in Drenthe. The school is state-funded.
Key facts
Programmes
Cambridge · A-Level · National programme
Languages of instruction
Dutch, English
Languages taught
French, German
About the fees Education is free; the school is state-funded and textbooks are free. The voluntary parental contribution for 2026-2027 depends on level and year: for example 67,50 EUR in year 1 of vmbo and 107,50 EUR in year 1 of havo and atheneum (introduction week, school day, sports day, party). TTO and Sport & Lifestyle carry an extra contribution; Cambridge exams and trips are paid separately. Not paying does not exclude a child.
Admissions Groep 8 pupils register online from the end of March; parents need the child's BSN and a bank account number. Transfer from another secondary school is possible during the year by arrangement by phone; the previous school must share the student's results. TTO is open to children with a positive primary school recommendation for havo or atheneum; English is not required. For Sport & Lifestyle the school may check suitability with the primary school teacher. If a child needs extra support, the school checks whether it can provide it, otherwise it helps find another school. For 2026-2027, year 3 of vmbo basis and year 4 of havo are full. The website does not directly address admission of children from abroad, though the school guide mentions language policy and the reception of migrant children.
Stages and year groups Grades vmbo 1-4, mavo 1-4, havo 1-5, atheneum 1-6. Dutch secondary curriculum with national exams (eindexamen): vmbo basis and kader (from year 3 the cross-sector programme Dienstverlening en Producten with specialisations), mavo (vmbo-tl, 4 years), havo (5 years), atheneum (vwo, 6 years). Tweetalig onderwijs for havo and atheneum: in the first three years at least 60% of subjects in English, the TTO Junior certificate from Nuffic, the Cambridge C1 or C2 exam in year 5; TTO atheneum students follow the Cambridge International Global Perspectives and Research course and sit the AS Level exam in year 5. The school does not name other Cambridge International or Pearson subjects.
Address Wendeling 59, 7824 TB Emmen
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
Cambridge · A-Level · authorised programmeThe Cambridge register names the school as its centre: on the bilingual atheneum track students take the Cambridge Global Perspectives and Research course and sit the AS-level exam in Year 5. The main curriculum is Dutch.
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
CambridgeCambridge International Education
Part of the University of Cambridge. It allows a school to teach the Cambridge programmes and to enter pupils for the exams. There are four stages and they are authorised separately: primary, lower secondary, IGCSE and A Level. If the stages are known they are named in the line below; if that line is missing, the school does not publish them, and the Cambridge registry does not show stages either - it gives only the name of the centre, the country and whether private candidates are accepted. Cambridge calls what it does registration rather than accreditation, and the network holds about ten thousand schools.
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: A-Level (ages 16-18). A-Level is the senior years, and their results are what British and many other universities admit on.
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
The school publishes nothing about where its leavers go: no share going on to university, no exam results, no list of universities.
Facilities from the school's official website
·Swimming poolnot stated on the website
✓Sports hall
·Laboratoriesnot stated on the website
·Theatre or assembly hallnot stated on the website
·Librarynot stated on the website
✓Catering
·School transportnot stated on the website
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Clubs and activities: Debatclub (debating club) · Boekenclub (book club) · Bridge · Robotica (robotics) · Heel Carmel bakt (baking project) · Gamedesign (game design) · Raketbouw (rocket building)
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
Lessons are taught by subject teachers organised in subject sections and level teams; new teachers are supported by in-house mentors. The school employs an ECHA specialist in giftedness, a psychologist and an orthopedagogue.
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 room
✓Counsellor
✓Child protection policy
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
✓Anti-bullying policy
Every student has a mentor, and twice a year mentor, parents and student meet. The school has two confidential advisers who also lead the anti-bullying policy, a social safety plan and protocols on domestic violence and sexual harassment. There is a psychologist, an orthopedagogue, a school social worker and a GGD nurse; the school regularly discusses signals with the municipality, GGD and police.
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 data55 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 data65 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data78 "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
Emmen, Netherlands · State