← Back to the rankingInternational School Haarlem
Haarlem, Netherlands · est. 2017 · State
Illustration · Haarlem
International School Haarlem (ISH) is a government-funded Dutch International School for ages 4 to 18. The primary department opened in September 2017, and the first secondary cohort started in 2018. Primary does not follow an IB programme: Early Years (ages 4-5) uses the British EYFS, then English and Mathematics follow the English National Curriculum and other subjects the International Primary Curriculum (IPC). Secondary follows IB programmes: the Middle Years Programme (ages 11-16), then the Diploma Programme or the Career-related Programme with a BTEC business course. Teaching is in English; all students learn Dutch, and secondary adds French or Spanish. Classes have at most 22 students. The school runs on three sites in Haarlem.
Key facts
Tuition
≈ $6 242–7 886 a year
5 525–6 980 EUR
Programmes
IB · MYP, DP, CP · BTEC · IPC
Languages of instruction
English
Languages taught
Dutch, French, Spanish
Class size
at most 22 students per class
Registration fee
≈ $226
200 EUR
About the fees Fees for 2026-2027: primary (groups 1-7) 5525 EUR per year; MYP1-5 6900 EUR; DP1-2 and CP1-2 6980 EUR. A 20 EUR yearbook is included. Mid-year starters pay less. Payment in one sum or in two instalments (with a 25 EUR fee); company invoices cost 25 EUR each. The school is government-funded; fees are voluntary by law, but by signing the agreement the family commits to pay.
Admissions The school is government-funded and admits under Dutch law for international departments. A child is admitted if the child has a non-Dutch (or also a non-Dutch) nationality and a parent works in the Netherlands or a Dutch border region for a limited time; if the child is Dutch and has attended an international school abroad for at least two years because a parent was stationed abroad; if the child is Dutch and the parent the child lives with will be stationed abroad within two years for at least two years (an employer statement is required). Applications go through the portal, with a reply on eligibility within 10 working days; visits are by appointment after a pre-application and school reports. Children with special needs are admitted if a mainstream setting suits them. For 2026-2027 primary has limited places and MYP1 and MYP3 have a few spaces.
Stages and year groups Primary (ages 4-11): Early Years under the British Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) in group 1, then Primary: English and Mathematics under the English National Curriculum, history, geography, science, ICT, technology, art, music, PE under the International Primary Curriculum (IPC); Dutch as an acquired language or for native speakers. Secondary: the IB Middle Years Programme (MYP1-5) with English, Dutch, French or Spanish, standard or extended mathematics, sciences, individuals and societies, visual arts, design, music or drama, PHE; then the IB Diploma Programme (English, Dutch, self-taught best language, Spanish, French and Dutch acquisition, history, business management, economics, psychology, geography, physics, chemistry, biology, ESS, visual arts, mathematics) or the IB Career-related Programme with a BTEC business course (Pearson) and three DP subjects.
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
IB · MYP, DP, CP · authorised programmeThe school is listed in the IB register and runs the Middle Years, Diploma and Career-related programmes. The primary school follows the English curriculum and the IPC.
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: MYP (ages 11-16), DP (ages 16-19), CP (ages 16-19, with a vocational slant). MYP is the middle stage, ages 11 to 16. There are no exams here either; at the end an optional electronic assessment of pupils' work is possible. 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. CP is the final stage with a vocational slant, ages 16 to 19: some of the DP subjects plus an applied qualification. It is meant for those heading into a trade or an applied degree rather than an academic one.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →BTEC
A British vocational qualification from Pearson: not an academic course with an exam at the end, but a programme of practical assignments in a particular trade, from engineering and business to art and sport.
What this means for this school. Teaching and assessment work differently from A-level: instead of written exams there is a run of practical assignments marked by the school, while Pearson checks the school itself and samples the work. British universities do accept BTEC, but not all of them and not for every course: level 3 carries the same UCAS points as A-level, and that is what a family aiming at a particular university should look at. For a child who needs the classic academic route, BTEC is not a replacement for A-level but a different path.
IPC
International Primary Curriculum: a British primary school programme for children aged 5 to 11. It teaches through themes that draw subjects together rather than through separate subjects; it is published by the International Curriculum Association, formerly Fieldwork Education.
What this means for this school. This is a programme for the primary stage, not an accreditation of the school: the organisation sells it to schools and trains their teachers, but it does not check the quality of teaching at a particular school and keeps no public register of the schools working to it. There is no outside register to check it against, so the entry comes from the school's own words or from the record of its accrediting organisation. The programme has no leaving certificate: at the end of primary school a child moves on to the middle stage, and it is that stage which decides what they finish with.
Exams and destinations from the school's official website
Average IB score
31.2 (world average 30.88)
Exam results IB Diploma 2026: 32 candidates, 30 diplomas (93.8%), average score 31.2. 2025: 35 candidates, 34 diplomas (97.1%), average 31.5; 2024: 14 candidates, 11 diplomas (78.6%), average 29.1; 2023: 11 of 11 (100%), average 34.1. The school also publishes MYP eAssessment subject averages compared with world averages.
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
✓Library
·Cateringnot stated on the website
·School transportnot stated on the website
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Campus: The school operates on three sites in Haarlem: lower primary on Buitenrustlaan, upper primary on Schreveliusstraat, secondary on Junoplantsoen; the school aims to move to one permanent site. All sites have libraries with books in students' languages; the secondary library lends iPads, cameras and Chromebooks; there are laboratories with lab assistants and a music hall. There is no canteen: students bring lunch from home, and in primary a paid warm lunch can be ordered from an external provider. After school care, the Sunrise Club and holiday care are run by a separate organisation, Op Stoom. It is a day school with no boarding.
Clubs and activities: Model United Nations · Olympic Moves · Study/Homework Club
Teaching staff from the school's official website
·Teachers listed by namenot published
✓Teacher qualifications
·Number of teachersthe school does not say
✓Students per teacher or class sizein the key facts above
What the listings show: secondary teachers are trained in their subject and in IB programmes; psychologists doing assessments are members of Dutch professional registers
Each primary class has a class teacher, supported by teaching assistants and an EAL teacher. In secondary, teachers teach their subject across year groups; there are form tutors, student support coordinators, academic and pastoral counsellors, teaching assistants and lab assistants.
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
The school has a Wellbeing and Safeguarding Protocol with an anti-bullying policy and a digital safeguarding section; anti-bullying coordinators are appointed within the inclusion team. Secondary students can drop in to the school counsellor at clinic times. Health checks are run by youth nurses of the JGZ youth health service of the GGD. Phones stay in lockers all day.
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%)91 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 data70 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