Laar & Berg is a havo and vwo secondary school in Laren where in the lower years all students follow a bilingual stream based on the principles of the IB Middle Years Programme: some subjects, such as Design and Science, are taught in English, the rest in Dutch. The MYP has been authorised since 2003, lasts three years for havo and four for vwo, and ends with the MYP certificate. In the upper years students take the Dutch havo or vwo eindexamen in Dutch; after year 4 vwo they can switch to the English-language IB Diploma Programme, run by International School Laren on the same campus. The school has about 900 students; many teachers come from abroad. The school grew out of a branch of the Catholic lyceum of Hilversum opened in 1963, became independent in 1968-1971, and has offered bilingual education since 1996.
Key facts
Programmes
IB · MYP · National programme
Languages of instruction
Dutch, English
Languages taught
French, German, Spanish
About the fees Education is free. Parental contributions for 2026-2027 are voluntary and non-payment does not exclude a student from activities: 299 euros a year for activities outside the core programme (excursions, bootcamp, sports days, workshops); for the bilingual MYP 380 euros in years 1-3 and 575 euros in year 4 (IB membership, staff training, MYP exams). Discount for two children at the board's schools 60 euros, for three or more 90 euros per child. Trips, exchanges and study weeks are charged separately depending on the year.
Admissions Registration for year 1 (Year 1) is by online form in the national registration period in the last week of March. The school follows the primary school recommendation: a havo, havo/vwo or vwo recommendation is required, at least havo. If a child went to school abroad, the school asks, by arrangement, for information on their academic abilities and any support needed. Entry into other years follows an intake interview with the department manager; when there are many applications, students from schools of the same board have priority. Students moving from mavo to havo year 4 or from havo to vwo year 5 are assessed on motivation, the previous school's recommendation and grades, without a hard minimum average; havo 4 admits about 30 such students each year.
Stages and year groups Grades 1-6. A two-year combined havo/vwo class, then Year 3 havo or Year 3 vwo; the bilingual IB Middle Years Programme (MYP) - 3 years for havo and 4 years for vwo, with the MYP certificate. In years 1-2 interdisciplinary Humanities and Science, an introduction to French, German and Spanish, and a Learn to Learn lesson. Upper years: havo (to year 5) and vwo (to year 6) in Dutch, profiles Cultuur & Maatschappij, Economie & Maatschappij, Natuur & Gezondheid, Natuur & Techniek, ending in the eindexamen. Instead of upper vwo students can choose the English-language IB Diploma Programme; according to the school guide it is run by International School Laren and is also open to havo graduates.
Address Langsakker 4, 1251 GB Laren
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
IB · MYP · authorised programmeThe school is listed in the IB register and runs the Middle Years Programme.
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). 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.
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
Where leavers go: University of Oxford · University of Cambridge · Harvard University
The school says the IB diploma has given some of its students access to Oxford, Cambridge and Harvard; there is no full 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
✓Library
·Cateringnot stated on the website
·School transportnot stated on the website
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Also on site: Sports ground or field · Art studio
Clubs and activities: Battle of the Schoolbands · Klassiek Unplugged (classical concert) · World Scholar's Cup · Kangaroo · Hockeytoernooien (hockey tournaments) · Community Projects
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
Many teachers come from abroad, which the school describes as part of its international community. MYP teachers attend international IB workshops. Every student has a mentor; in the lower years mentors are assisted by senior students, and in years 4-6 a student usually keeps the same mentor for the last two years.
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 policynot stated on the website
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
✓Anti-bullying policy
Basic support for all: mentoring, department managers, careers guidance, anti-bullying mediation, tutoring by senior students, and the GGD Gooi & Vechtstreek health service. For groups: remedial teaching, fear-of-failure training and support for gifted students; individually: a student coach, a confidential adviser and a care coordinator. The school has inclusion, academic honesty and language policies and a student charter.
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%)72 Community rating (16%)no dataparent reviews are needed: the criterion switches on at the fifth verified one Exams and destinations (12%) scored on disclosed data70 Safety and wellbeing (12%) scored on disclosed data60 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 data76 "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
Laren, Netherlands · est. 1963 · State