Het Schoonhovens College is a medium-sized public (openbare) secondary school in Schoonhoven with about 1150 students and a full range of tracks from vmbo-bb to bilingual vwo on two sites. Teaching is in Dutch under the national curriculum with the national exams. On vwo students can choose tweetalig onderwijs: in years 1-3 half of lessons are in English, in years 4-6 a quarter; TTO students take Cambridge Advanced at the end of year 3 (at least two thirds reach C1, the school says), and in the upper years study Global Perspectives and international English from Cambridge. Annual trips and exchanges are a compulsory part of TTO (Canterbury, Brussels, England, Italy, Poland, an international internship). Strong language learners can join Cambridge Advanced English, DELF and Goethe-Zertifikat classes, and science enthusiasts the Bèta excellent programme. All upper vwo students take Academische vaardigheden, a subject designed by the school's teachers and recognised by the ministry as an exam subject. The vocational vmbo track works closely with local companies: the school's support foundation unites more than 100 businesses.
Key facts
Programmes
Cambridge · A-Level · National programme
Languages of instruction
Dutch
Languages taught
English, French, German
About the fees Education is free, and the school is government-funded. The voluntary parental contribution for 2025-2026 (no 2026-2027 figures on the website): at the Albert Plesmanstraat site roughly 71.50 to 277.50 EUR per year in regular classes depending on the year, including a general part of 37.50-52.50 EUR, excursions and the first-year camp; bilingual vwo adds 375 EUR per year, a total of 446.50 to 652.50 EUR. Non-payment does not exclude a student from activities. Multi-day trips abroad (except for bilingual vwo) are charged separately.
Admissions The school is public and open to all regardless of social, cultural or religious background. Year 1 admission is based on the primary school recommendation and final test, with a handover from teachers; there are combined vmbo-tl/havo and havo/vwo classes and a separate bilingual vwo class. Bilingual vwo requires a final vwo recommendation and good motivation; the starting level of English does not matter, but the student must be willing to join the compulsory trips abroad. Registration for year 1 and higher years takes place in the national registration week from 25 to 31 March 2026, online or with a paper form. Admission after year 1 is considered case by case. The school's pages say nothing about international students or children without Dutch.
Stages and year groups Grades 1-6 (vmbo 1-4, havo 1-5, vwo 1-6). Dutch secondary school: vmbo (basis, kader, gemengde and theoretische leerweg, lwoo), havo and vwo (atheneum) with the national eindexamen; combined classes in the lower years. Bilingual vwo (tweetalig onderwijs) from year 1 to year 6: half of lessons in English in years 1-3, a quarter in years 4-6. Cambridge International courses within TTO: in upper vwo the subject Global Perspectives and Cambridge International English (2 hours in year 4 and 3 hours in years 5-6); in the school guide timetable the English line for TTO years 4-6 is labelled IB / English. Language exams: Cambridge Advanced at the end of TTO year 3, a Cambridge Advanced English class for upper havo and vwo, DELF Scolaire in French and the Goethe-Zertifikat in German. The subject Academische vaardigheden in upper vwo.
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
Cambridge · A-Level · authorised programmeThe Cambridge register names the school as its centre: on the bilingual vwo track Years 4-6 take Cambridge Global Perspectives and Cambridge International English, with the exam in Year 6. 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
Exam results According to the school, in recent years all bilingual vwo students reached English level B2 by the end of year 3, and at least two thirds over the last four years reached C1 in the Cambridge Advanced exam. The school does not present national exam results on its pages.
Facilities from the school's official website
·Swimming poolnot stated on the website
·Sports hallnot stated on the website
✓Laboratories
✓Theatre or assembly hall
✓Library
·Cateringnot stated on the website
·School transportnot stated on the website
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Clubs and activities: Theaterklas (drama class) · Schoolband (school band) · Shownight · Bèta excellent (science excellence programme) · Cambridge Certificate Class · DELF Scolaire (French exam preparation) · Goethe-Zertifikat (German exam preparation) · Olympic Moves
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 class has a mentor who holds goal-setting conversations with students and parents; three to five times a week there is time for individual work with subject teachers. The school does not publish teacher 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
·Counsellornot stated on the website
✓Child protection policy
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
✓Anti-bullying policy
Safety is the first of the school's core values. There is an anti-bullying protocol with a coordinator, a team of confidential advisers whom students can contact directly, a reporting procedure and data protection. The GGD youth nurse examines every year 2 student; there is a youth support programme in school and help with dyslexia.
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 data65 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)85 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data70 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
Schoonhoven, Netherlands · State