Parent's Review of AICS Amsterdam International Community School in Amsterdam
What is the name of your child's school? (Please report on one school per survey.)
AICS Amsterdam International Community School
In what town or city is this school located?
Amsterdam
How would you describe this school? (i.e. American, British, International, Local, etc.)
International
What grade levels are represented at this school?
1-12
How do most children get to school everyday? (bus, train, walk, etc.)
Bus, Train, Metro, car
How would you describe the facilities at this school? What extra-curricular activities are available?
Very limited. The playground is very small and on top of it they close it after the school. Then parents complain so they open it again. This building is designed for office purposes. Corridors are very narrow, staircases are very crowded. There is no parking lot. You have to drop your child from 8:15 till 8:25. Within this narrow window you see cars packed in long lines in front of the school. In UK this school would not get the permission to operate due to facilities not suitable.
What has this school done to help your child transition from the curriculum in your home country into the curriculum in your new country? Are there programs to prepare your child for repatriation?
They have not done anything. On the contrary they made it very difficult to get in. First they put us on the list saying that there is no chance to get in. Then in May they called that they can get us in, but the child needs to go through intake interview. Then they said that the interview did not go well and they will not enroll our child. Then a month later they called and said that they will accept us.
How would you describe the social activities available for parents through this school? Are there parent-teacher organizations?
This is non existing. Half of the school are kids of immigrants "just off the boat", their parents often do not speak English at all. Close to impossible to arrange a play date if you do not have a car or other parents will not drop your kid. Of course because the playground does not exist after school you can not stay there. They have a cafeteria but to get there you need to get a pass (!) so it is like having a permission to enter. Before 8:15 they will not open the doors for parents, and parents are crowding every morning outside on very narrow pavement. this basically stinks very often.
What advice would you give to someone considering enrolling their child in this school?
Avoid this school by all means. This is the worse international school we have experienced by far, and we have been in Italy, Dubai, US. Staff is not qualified, they change very frequently and leader for learning is a dictator that probably contributes to the fact that teachers, especially good ones leave very quickly. For example in my daughter's class they did not have primary teacher for 2 and a half of months and often kids were in the class just by themselves supervised by someone who was simply watching for them not to hit each other. There was no teaching. Because they have staff shortages they often ask parents to pay for extra educational needs of children. They will tell you that the child needs special education and if you pay they will find special teacher for your child. There is also a lot of violence in the school boys are fighting a lot, and within 2 years that we were there almost 50% of kids left in the school. Half of these who left, left because they had no confidence in the school, not because their contract expired or they had to go back to their countries.
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Comments about this Report
DutchKiwiNZWow. Where to begin? For one thing 50% of the children at this school are not 'just off the boat'. How insulting. MOST of the children at AICS are english speaking and, in fact, may of them are multi-lingual! There are many talented kids here. We have found it to be one of the nicest schools we have experienced because the families are all very friendly. The parents social group "Melting Pot' is very active - but it's your choice to participate or not. Yes, the school building is a converted office building - so what? The school is expanding rapidly (due to its low fees and popularity) and there are plans to move to a larger, purpose built facility with outside play areas. FYI Very few schools in the Netherlands have large outside play areas (except maybe schools outside the cities). This is not a problem exclusive to AICS! There are long waitlists and there are intake interviews for every child - this is standard. We have found AICS to be a fantastic primary school with a wonderful teaching faculty and a warm, welcoming environment for the kids. Additionally the high school IB programme is very challenging and we are happy with the standard of the teaching faculty at this level. If you are lucky enough to get a space for your child we can highly recommend AICS!
