College Den Hulster is a large secondary school (scholengemeenschap) in the Hagerhof district in the south of Venlo, offering vmbo, havo and vwo together. The school traces its history to a school founded in Venlo in 1621 by the humanist Puteanus; in 1995 it merged with the Maartenscollege in Tegelen, and the schools were physically combined in 2006. The school is neutral, without a religious foundation. In the 2025-2026 school year it has about 1315 students. Its special tracks are bilingual vwo (tto), where 70% of subjects in the first year are taught in English, the Da Vinci Class for gifted students, a programme for high-level athletes, the Technasium and the technical vmbo profiles in the Technodôme. Since the 2025-2026 school year, bilingual vwo students from year 4 follow a Cambridge International course: two AS Level subjects, English Language and Global Perspectives. The vwo department has been awarded Excellent status by the Dutch Inspectorate of Education. The language of instruction is Dutch, and also English in the bilingual stream.
Key facts
Programmes
Cambridge · A-Level · National programme
Languages of instruction
Dutch, English
Languages taught
German, French
About the fees The school charges no tuition: textbooks, workbooks and digital materials are free and provided through the school's own learning materials fund, and for activities not funded by the government the school asks for a voluntary parental contribution.
Admissions Registration for the first year (brugklas) is in person on set days, for 2027 on 22 and 23 March from 17:00 to 19:30; the registration form with the primary school's recommendation (schooladvies) from the digital transfer file is required; those who cannot come register through the school by phone. A committee decides on admission based on the primary school's recommendation and documents from the family; vwo and the Da Vinci Class have a separate admission procedure, and top athlete status has strict requirements. The bilingual stream requires at least a havo-vwo recommendation; fluent English is not required, but good reading comprehension is important. The admission letter arrives before the May holiday. Students are also admitted to other years later, for example after moving; the level is determined mainly by the previous school's recommendation.
Stages and year groups Grades 1-6. vmbo (4 years: basic, vocational, mixed and theoretical tracks; technical profiles PIE, BWI and M&T in the Technodôme together with Gilde Opleidingen, plus Economie & Ondernemen and Zorg & Welzijn), havo (5 years) and vwo (6 years); two-year lower school classes, and havo and vwo students choose a profile in year 3. Bilingual vwo (tto): 70% of subjects in the first year are in English, and from year 4 there are fewer lessons in English to prepare for the vwo final exam. The Da Vinci Class completes bilingual vwo in four days a week, with the fifth day a Da Vinci Day of extra subjects. Cambridge International course: according to the school plan 2025-2029, from the 2025-2026 school year the school offers Cambridge International as part of the vwo programme, with students taking two AS Level subjects: English Language and Global Perspectives. The upper school handbook 2026-2027 states that in the tvwo stream students prepare for the vwo diploma and in addition for two Cambridge International AS Level certificates, with the material taught at B2/C1 English. In the 2026-2027 timetable English Global Perspective has 1 hour a week in year 4 and 2 hours in years 5 and 6 of vwo, and English language 3 hours in each of these years. The bilingual vwo page still names the IB English exam as the goal of the upper years.
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
Cambridge · A-Level · authorised programmeThe Cambridge register names the school as its centre; it teaches AS and A Level.
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 hallnot stated on the website
·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
Also on site: Makerspace
Campus: Two large buildings, one for vmbo and one for havo and vwo, are connected by a shared aula. In the Technodôme, technical workshops for the vmbo profiles run together with Gilde Opleidingen and local businesses; the Experiencenter has drones, robots, VR headsets, a laser cutter and 3D printers. There is a Technasium for havo and vwo. During breaks the caterer offers hot and cold dishes; every student has a locker. The school works with the public library, which delivers ordered books to the school. Students work on Chromebooks. It is a day school with no boarding.
Clubs and activities: School On Stage (theatre, music, dance, musical) · Beamteam (school events tech crew) · Debating club (Da Vinci Day) · H2GP (hydrogen model car racing)
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
In the 2025-2026 school year the school has about 94 FTE of teaching staff and about 25 FTE of support staff. Every student has a personal coach: group coaching lessons and regular individual talks, and several times a year a student-parent-coach meeting. Native English speakers also teach in the bilingual stream. The school is a training school for teachers in the region.
Safety and wellbeing from the school's official website
✓CCTV
·Security staffnot stated on the website
·Access controlnot stated on the website
·Nurse or medical roomnot stated on the website
✓Counsellor
·Child protection policynot stated on the website
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
✓Anti-bullying policy
There is camera surveillance throughout the school. The student support team includes a coordinator, a psychologist and orthopedagogue, a dyslexia coordinator and internal student counsellors. There is a school confidential adviser for students, parents and staff, as well as an external confidential adviser. There is an anti-bullying coordinator and a protocol against bullying and cyberbullying. Frequent absence due to illness is reported to the GGD youth health service.
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 data70 "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
Venlo, Netherlands · est. 1621 · State