Starting Primary School

These new shared rules for the enrolment and registration (het Toelatingsbeleid) apply to all children born from the 1^st of September 2020 attending primary school in Amstelveen and Ouderkerk aan de Amstel.

This new policy will ensure placements will no longer operate on a ‘first come, first serve’ basis. All participating primary schools will uphold the same method for enrolling and placing future four-year-olds. This guarantees that every child has an equal opportunity at a preferred school. Children will have priority at their four nearest primary schools so they will be able to attend a school in the vicinity of their home address. Enrolment and placement is thereby transparent and fair.

These rules for application and registration do not apply to children born before the 1^st of September 2020. For them, enrolment, placement and registration will remain unchanged; please contact the school to ask for details.

The admission policy of Amstelveen and Ouderkerk aan de Amstel results from a collaboration between the school boards Amstelwijs, Onderwijsgroep Amstelland, School of Understanding Nederland, Geert Groote and Elif N-H. The municipalities of Amstelveen and Ouder-Amstel are supporting this implementation.

All 23 primary schools of the five school boards are participating in the admission policy (list of schools: documents).

Three schools do not participate in this admission policy, namely: De Akker, Florencius and Amstelland International School.

Parents who are interested in one of these schools need to contact the school directly. The admission policy doesn’t apply to special primary education and special education.

All children living in Amstelveen or Ouderkerk aan de Amstel have priority at the four nearest schools. These are determined based on the walking distance between the home address and the school. Parents can choose any school, either a school with or without priority.

The home address is not relevant for the three schools with an ‘urban priority’. This applies to: Vrije School Parcival, School of Understanding and IBS Elif.

Every child that lives in Amstelveen or Ouderkerk aan de Amstel has priority at these three schools (in addition to the four priority schools in their residential area). IBS Elif also gives priority to children from Aalsmeer (including Kudelstaart) and Uithoorn (including De Kwakel).

A child is always registered at a main residence (with one of the parents/ the address mentioned in the Basis Registratie Personen [BRP]). To guarantee equality this address is used to determine the schools with priority.

Yes. Parents can register their preference for any of the schools in Amstelveen or Ouderkerk aan de Amstel.See www.amstelveen.nl/basisscholen for a list of all the primary schools. Fill out your child’s home address (left upper corner) and find all schools on the map. The priority schools and non-priority schools are shown on the map and are recalculated every year. The ones shown right now only apply to children born between 1^st of September 2020 and 31^st of August 2021.

No. You can chose any school in Amstelveen or Ouderkerk aan de Amstel; these can be priority schools as well as non-priority schools.
It is important to list at least four schools in order of preference on the application form.

To increase the opportunity of attending a school in the immediate vicinity, every child is given priority at the four nearest schools relative to the home address; these are the priority schools. Schools whereby the parents indicate their preference during enrolment are the schools of preference. 

Children who attend day-care for a minimum of one year for at least two half-days a week at an Integraal Kind Centrum (IKC) or Montessori Kind Centrum (MKC) ánd have the school as a priority school, are given extra priority. This applies only to the day-care of MKC Mio Mondo, Kindercampus Kind and De Horizon.

A special arrangement applies to the three schools in Ouderkerk aan de Amstel.

It concerns:

• Jan Hekman School;
• Amstel School;
• Het Kofship.

Children living in Ouderkerk aan de Amstel are given priority at the four nearest primary schools, just like children in Amstelveen. For these children three of the schools with priority are located in Ouderkerk (one in Amstelveen). To guarantee that children living in Ouderkerk aan de Amstel can attend a school over there, they have a guaranteed placement at one of the three primary schools in Ouderkerk aan de Amstel under the following conditions:

• the child lives in Ouderkerk aan de Amstel (proven with the pre-printed enrolment form or other proof of address);
• the child has been enrolled in time (no later than the closing date);
• The three schools in Ouderkerk aan de Amstel have been specified as the first three preferences. A guaranteed placement does not apply to children who enrol after the official placement has taken place; they need to chose a school that still has a vacancy.

Home addresses in Amstelveen that have the three schools in Ouderkerk aan de Amstel as the three nearest schools, will have the same guarantee as mentioned above.  The guarantee is provided under the same conditions en apply to the same schools.

Children to whom De Zwaluw is the nearest (priority) school are guaranteed a place at this school, provided that:

1. De Zwaluw was chosen as the school of first preference;
2. The enrolment has been completed in time (no later than the closing date);
3. The enrolment is accompanied by a valid proof of address (a proof or the pre-printed enrolment form)

Close to the third birthday of your child the enrolment form and the leaflet ‘Voor het eerst naar de basisschool in Amstelveen en Ouderkerk’ are sent to you. Annually by the end of September parents will receive this information (these children turn four in the following school year).
As of that moment, these children can be enrolled.

If your child was born between 1st September 2020 and 31st August 2021, you will receive the leaflet by the end of September 2023. This leaflet details of how to enrol can be found.
Enrolment can only to be done by delivering the enrolment form to the school of your first preference (before the closing date).

Children born after the 31^st of August 2021 cannot be enrolled yet. In September, in the year before your child turns four, you will receive the leaflet with the enrolment form.

Parents with children born between the 1^st September 2020 and the 31^st August 2021 can enrol their child as of October 2^nd 2023.
Younger children cannot be enrolled right now; wait until you receive the enrolment form.
You enrol your child by submitting the enrolment form to the school of your first preference. Complete the enrolment form. Specify the school you think is most suitable as number 1; the next preferred school, at number 2, and so on in descending order of preference.

Submit the form to the school of your first preference before the closing date (which depends on your child’s date of birth, see dates in the table below).

The school of enrolment form will send a proof of enrolment within 10 working days; please check this carefully and contact the school immediately if it contains any error.

Yes. You can get an enrolment form at any primary school, from the helpdesk or download it from this website (under documents).

After receiving the enrolment form and the leaflet, you have a couple of months to submit the enrolment form. The closing date to enrol your child depends on the date of birth.

The official placement will take place a few days after the closing date. Between the closing date and the placement enrolling is not possible. After the placement has taken place a list of the school with places available can be found on this website.

Upon placement, children are placed at the school of highest possible preference. When a child can’t be placed at the school of first preference, it is eligible to a place at the second school (or, if not possible, at the next preferred school, etc., etc.).

Parents who submit only a limited number of preferred schools run the risk of being offered a place at a priority school which they didn’t choose (in case their preferred school(s) are oversubscribed). Choosing more than one school does not influence the chances of being placed at a school of higher preference.

It is important to mention at least four schools in order of preference. There is no necessity to mention more schools in case of:

• an enrolment of children that have an older brother or sister at the school;
• an enrolment of children that have a written confirmation of a specific school.

Yes. All future four-year-olds born from the 1^st of September 2020 must be enrolled. Children who have an older brother or sister at the school (when they reach the age of four) are guaranteed a place at this school provided they have been enrolled in time.

No. All enrolments will be treated according to the priority rules, as long as the enrolment forms are (by the school of first preference) received no later than the closing date (see the leaflet under documents).

Yes. Parents who have written confirmation that the school has reserved a place for their child from the fourth birthday, can claim this under the following conditions.
A placement is guaranteed for parents who:

• have a written confirmation from the school of their first preference;
• enrol their child according to the new admissions policy by delivering the enrolment form together with a copy of the written confirmation;
• redeem the written confirmation in time.

The final date to redeem a written confirmation depends on the period of birth and is earlier than for enrolments without a confirmation (see table below).

After these closing dates the (written) confirmations will no longer be valid. Subsequently, after each closing date, an inventory will be made of the amount of places still available for children (from this birth period) without a written confirmation.

When the written confirmations result in a school already being full, children with this school as a priority school are compensated with an additional priority school. Equality is maintained so that all children have priority status at four schools.

You will receive an enrolment form for each child and all need to be enrolled. Submit one form per child to the school of your first preference and note that you are enrolling multiples within the comments section. To ensure that multiples are placed at the same school, these children will be registered combined (as long as the preferred schools are the same).

No. Children can be enrolled at only one school in Amstelveen or Ouderkerk aan de Amstel at a time.
Changing the enrolment/the schools of preference can be done until the closing date
Parents are requested to list several preferred schools on the enrolment form.

All children are given priority at the four nearest schools. The priority schools that parents did not select are automatically added to the enrolment in order of distance from the home address (on the Proof of Enrolment in a separate list).

Parents can change the order of these schools on this until the closing date. This can only be done at the school where they have enrolled their child. Only in case a child cannot be placed at one of the specified preferred schools will this separate list be used. The child will then be placed at one of the non-selected priority schools (provided there are still places available).

Yes. Until the closing date, parents can change the enrolment; this can only be done at the school where the child is enrolled:

• The school of first preference remains unchanged, but I want to change the order of the other schools. Contact (preferably written) the school of first preference and ask them to change the enrolment; this school will send a new Proof of Enrolment.
• I want to change the school of enrolment (the first preferred school). Since children can only be enrolled at one school at a time, you will have to cancel the previous enrolment first before the new preference can be registered. Contact the school where your child was registered and ask them to cancel your child’s enrolment. Also request for the original enrolment which you need to deliver at the new school of preference.

After receiving the enrolment form, the school will check:

• confirm that all the necessary information has been provided;
• check whether the pre-printed address or a different one is used (a proof of address must be delivered with the enrolment when the pre-printed address is not used);
• confirm that there is an older brother or sister at school;
• confirm that the child was given a written confirmation for placement. The school will processes all details from the enrolment form in the application
  ScholenringAmstelveen-Ouderkerk. Subsequently the school will send the parents Proof of Enrolment (by e-mail).

Yes. After processing your child’s enrolment in the software programme the school will send you a confirmation by e-mail (Proof of Enrolment) within 10 working days. Check the details in this Proof of Enrolment thoroughly. If it contains any error, or you want to change the order of your preferred schools (or the list of added schools), contact the school as soon as possible, at least before the deadline.

If you have not received a Proof of Enrolment within 10 working days after submitting the enrolment form, please contact the school as soon as possible (no later than the closing date).

When a enrolment form is been registered (at school) a second list of the non-selected priority schools is automatically added to the Proof of Enrolment. These non-selected priority schools are listed in order of distance from the home address. This second list is only used for placement if a child cannot be placed at the specified preferred schools. You can change the order of the added schools until the closing date at the school of enrolment (your first preference).

You will need to provide a proof of address if you do not use the enrolment form with your child’s pre-printed details. When the pre-printed home address is corrected or when you use the blank enrolment form, proof of address must be submitted with the enrolment form. Without a valid proof of address, your child will have no priority schools and during the placement will only be placed after all children residing in Amstelveen and Ouderkerk aan de Amstel have been placed.

A valid proof of address is, for example:

• Rental property agreement or house purchase agreement (important to demonstrate that you are/will be moving);
• Registration PSZ / KDV;
• Letter from the consultatiebureau or GGD;
• Extract BRP (formerly GBA);
• Child benefit papers;
• Childcare allowance papers.

The central placement policy doesn’t apply for your child (only under 4). Please contact the schools in Amstelveen of Ouderkerk directly and ask for an introduction/place.

You can not apply to a school in Amstelveen or Ouderkerk directly. Please contact the Centraal Informatie Loket Amstelveen and procede from there:
Tel. 06 8228 8072 / E-mail: info@poamstelveen.nl

The central placement policy doesn’t apply for children who are 4 years or older. Contact the schools in Amstelveen or Ouderkerk directly and ask for introduction and enrollment.

The five school boards are responsible.
In the presence of representatives of the municipalities of Amstelveen and Ouder-Amstel, the school boards will do the placement of specific birth groups (three times a year). In addition, members of the parent section of the (Gemeenschappelijke) Medezeggenschapsraden and directors of schools may also be present.

The allocation of available places at all schools of enrolled children (the children registered in the application), takes place per birth group (of four months) for all 23 primary schools of the five school boards simultaneously. This is automated according to the pre-established priority criteria and working method. Parents know at least five months before their child turns four at which school they have a place.

Important principals for location of places are:

a. Children under equal circumstances have an equal opportunity of placement;

b. A child who meets one or more priority rules has priority over a child without priority;

c. The order of preferred schools indicated by the parents is strictly followed;

d. Each child gets a place in the school of highest possible preference or, if applicable, the highest possible priority school from the added list.

Your child will be offered a place at the school of highest possible preference.

If there is sufficient space at your first preferred school, your child will be given a place there. Children who have an older brother or sister at that school will always be placed.

Children that cannot be placed at the school of first preference will be placed at the second preference, subject to availability; if this is not possible, then at the third or next preferred school.

Automated placing at non-selected priority schools: If there is no available place at all at the preferred schools (in accordance with the priority rules), your child will be eligible for a place at the priority schools that you did not specify; these priority schools have been added to the Proof of Enrolment.

Available places are allocated to all enrolled children in the following order:

Placement at the school of first preference is as follows:

1. Your child has an older brother or sister at the school when your child turns four; your younger child is guaranteed a place.

2. Your child attends the day-care of an Integraal Kind Centrum (IKC) or Montessori Kind Centrum (MKC) for at least two half-days a week for at least one year and has the school as a priority school.

3. Your child has priority at the school.

4. Your child does not have priority at this school, but lives in Amstelveen or Ouderkerk aan de Amstel.

Children that couldn’t be placed at the school of first preference, are placed in the following order:

5. Your child has a priority school as second to sixth preference.

6. Your child has a non-priority school as second to sixth preference and does live in Amstelveen or Ouderkerk aan de Amstel.

7. Your child lives outside Amstelveen or Ouderkerk aan de Amstel.

Rules 1 to 4 only apply to the school of first preference.

Priority rule 2 applies at MKC Mio Mondo, Kindercampus King and De Horizon; one year means the time before the fourth year. After priority rule 4, at the Montessori schools MKC Mio Mondo and De Linde, enrolments from Aalsmeer (including Kudelstaart), Uithoorn (including De Kwakel), Oude Meer and Aalsmeerderbrug are eligible for placement.

About two weeks after the closing date, the official placement will take place of all enrolled children for the same period of birth.

After the placement, you will receive a letter from the school where your child has been assigned a place. This placement letter states the enrolment deadline before which you must confirm to this school that you will use the place reserved for their child. Only after that the allocation is certain.

Yes. A school that has drawn lots during the official placement is obliged to first offer any (new) available places to the children who were not placed at that school. During the official placement, these children (who were not placed on a higher school of preference) are placed on a waiting list (in order of the placement method) in the application of the school in question. If a vacancy comes up after the placement this place is offered to the first child of the waiting list. By the time a child turns four it is deleted form this list. There will be no benefit in contacting the school to inquire whether any availability for places has arisen after the placement as a free place is always for the first child of the waiting list.

Approximately two weeks after the closing date for submitting the enrolment form, you will receive a letter from the school where your child has been allocated a place during the official placement.

This placement letter states the enrolment deadline to confirm the allocated place. The letter states how you can do this at the school (e.g. telephone number, contact person, times). It is important that this is done, because only after your confirmation and enrolment will you be guaranteed a place at this school.

Only when you have confirmed to the school that you accept the reserved place will you be guaranteed a place.

This confirmation is the pre-enrolment whereby you fill in all the usual forms at school. The formal enrolment will follow as soon as your child starts primary school.

Parents are allowed to refuse the place that has been allocated. In this instance, you will be limited to the schools that still have availability. At the end of each placement period, a list will be published of schools with vacancies for that birth period. You can get the list of schools with vacancies at every school, from the helpdesk (on request) or on this website (See documents).

From the moment that parents have indicated that they want to use the allocated place (after the placement), this school has the obligation of care (zorgplicht) in accordance with the “Wet Passend Onderwijs”. This is the formal moment of enrolment. In exceptional circumstances, and after due consideration, the school may come to the conclusion that they are not able to offer the care needed for a child in special needs. It is the responsibility of this school to arrange, in consultation with the parents, another school that is able to provide the necessary care.

When children are four years old they are eligible to start primary school.

In consultation with the school ‘adjustment days’ (wendagen) as well as the date for the first day of school is arranged. The school will arrange the formal enrolment as soon as your child starts to attend primary school.