Good to know
Good to Know
- Amsterdam's subsidised 'Dutch International School' places (AICS, DENISE) are dramatically cheaper than private international schools, but eligibility usually requires that at least one parent is on a temporary/international work assignment in the Netherlands — check eligibility before assuming you qualify.
- Many multinational employers in Amsterdam include international-school-fee reimbursement in relocation packages; negotiate this explicitly before signing an offer, since it's rarely offered automatically after the fact.
- Beyond headline tuition, budget for extras: a one-off registration/application fee, an enrolment deposit, sometimes a capital/building levy, plus optional lunch and transport programmes — these commonly add a meaningful amount on top of the base tuition figure in year one.
- Waiting lists for the most in-demand year groups (early primary, Year 7 entry, and IB Diploma years) can run six months or longer at subsidised schools — register as soon as a move is confirmed rather than waiting for a signed lease.
- Most of the well-known international/IB schools (ISA, Amity, several AICS campuses) are actually located in Amstelveen just south of Amsterdam rather than in the city centre itself, which affects commute planning for families choosing housing.
- Start contacting schools as soon as a relocation to Amsterdam is confirmed — ideally many months to over a year ahead — since popular schools and the subsidised DIPS stream commonly carry six-month-plus waitlists, especially for Early Years, ages 11–14, and IB Diploma years.
- Check DIPS eligibility (broadly: having lived abroad for 2 of the last 4 years, or a documented plan to leave the Netherlands again) before applying — it's a much cheaper route but has strict document requirements, and misalignment usually means being redirected to a private international school instead.
- Get the last two years of school reports translated to English (or Dutch) in advance — this is requested almost universally, and vaccination records and a municipal registration/BSN are also typically needed once in the country.
- Homeschooling is essentially not a realistic option for expat families in the Netherlands — only two narrow legal exemptions exist (medical, or religious/philosophical objection to every nearby school's orientation), and a 2026 Dutch Supreme Court ruling has made these exemptions harder to get and easier to revoke, with prosecution of non-compliant parents now being actively discussed.
- We could not find a documented, established homeschooling co-op or support network specific to Amsterdam — treat any claims of one existing with caution and verify directly before relying on it.
Schools And Curricula
- Overview
- Amsterdam has a two-tier international school market: a small number of Dutch government-subsidised 'Dutch International Schools' (DIS) with low, income/eligibility-tested fees, and a larger group of fully private international schools charging Western-European market rates. Most flagship IB and British schools cluster in Amstelveen (a southern suburb bordering Amsterdam, roughly 15-25 minutes from the centre by tram/bus) and in Amsterdam-Zuid/Vondelpark; these are listed here because they are the schools nomad and expat families in Amsterdam actually use, even though Amstelveen sits slightly outside a strict 10-minute radius of the city centre.
Schools
International School of Amsterdam (ISA)
- Status
- Fully private
- Location
- Amstelveen (adjacent to Amsterdam)
- Curricula
- Full International Baccalaureate continuum
- Curriculum Detail
- International School of Amsterdam was the first school in the world to offer all core IB programmes, and its schedule of tuition fees is set each school year based on forecasted enrolment and expected operating costs.
- Notes
- Ages roughly 2/3 to 18; one of the longest-established IB World Schools in Europe.
Tuition Per Year
- Low
- €22,000
- High
- €32,000
The British School of Amsterdam (BSA)
- Status
- Fully private
- Location
- Two campuses near Vondelpark / Amsterdam-Zuid
- Curricula
- English National Curriculum, IGCSE, A-Levels
- Curriculum Detail
- The British School of Amsterdam follows the English National Curriculum from Early Years through Sixth Form, culminating in IGCSEs and A Levels.
- Notes
- Ages 3-18; popular with UK-origin families on corporate assignments.
Tuition Per Year
- Low
- €18,000
- High
- €30,000
Amsterdam International Community School (AICS)
- Status
- Fully legal and regulated
- Location
- Campuses in Amsterdam South and West
- Curricula
- IB Primary Years, Middle Years and Diploma Programmes
- Curriculum Detail
- Amsterdam International Community School is a Dutch International School, meaning families benefit from subsidised tuition of roughly 5,500 euros per year for primary and secondary, and offers the IB PYP, MYP and DP.
- Notes
- Subsidised place requires at least one parent to be an international professional on a temporary/expat-type work contract in the Netherlands; class sizes are larger (around 28-30) than at premium private schools.
Tuition Per Year
- Low
- €5,500
- High
- €7,500
International French School of Amsterdam (Lycée Français Vincent Van Gogh)
- Status
- Partially subsidised by the French government (AEFE)
- Location
- Two sites in central Amsterdam
- Curricula
- French Éducation Nationale curriculum, AEFE-accredited
- Curriculum Detail
- The International French School of Amsterdam delivers the French Education Nationale curriculum fully accredited by the AEFE, and the Lycée Vincent van Gogh follows the French national curriculum from Maternelle to Terminale, ending in the French Baccalauréat.
- Notes
- Ages 2-18; sources disagree substantially on the exact band (some cite ~€4,000-8,000, others ~€8,000-17,000) — treat as a wide estimate and confirm directly with the school.
Tuition Per Year
- Low
- €4,000
- High
- €17,000
De Nieuwe Internationale School Esprit (DENISE)
- Status
- State-funded Dutch bilingual/international school
- Location
- Piet Mondriaanstraat, Amsterdam
- Curricula
- IPC (bilingual Dutch-English) primary, IMYC secondary, IB Diploma Programme in upper years
- Curriculum Detail
- DENISE has been an IB-World School since 2018 and is part of Esprit Scholen, offering IPC primary (Dutch-English bilingual) and IMYC secondary, with the English-language IB Diploma Programme in the upper years.
- Notes
- Ages 4-18. Reported fee figures vary widely across sources (some as low as ~€1,500-3,000 for eligible EU residents, others ~€5,000-9,000) — this is a genuine source discrepancy, not a typo; confirm the current parental contribution directly with the school.
Tuition Per Year
- Low
- €1,500
- High
- €9,000
Amity International School Amsterdam
- Status
- Fully private
- Location
- Amstelveen
- Curricula
- Full IB continuum (PYP, MYP, DP)
- Curriculum Detail
- Amity is an IB World School offering the full IB Continuum — Primary Years, Middle Years and Diploma Programme — for students aged 3 to 18, and opened in 2017 with a modern campus and strong STEAM facilities.
- Notes
- Newer school (opened 2017); accepts students throughout the year, useful for mid-cycle relocations.
Tuition Per Year
- Low
- €17,000
- High
- €29,000
Winford Bilingual Primary School
- Status
- Private, primary only
- Location
- Amsterdam
- Curricula
- Dutch, UK and IPC (International Primary Curriculum), delivered bilingually
- Curriculum Detail
- Winford Bilingual Primary School follows the Dutch, UK, and IPC curriculum, integrating Montessori ideals of independence, curiosity and love of learning, with roughly half the week taught in Dutch and half in English.
- Notes
- Genuine two-way (50/50) Dutch-English immersion model, aimed at families planning a longer stay in the Netherlands.
Tuition Per Year
- Estimated Low
- €5,500
- Estimated High
- €9,500
- Note
- This school does not publish its fees publicly; secondary sources estimate roughly €5,500–€9,500 per year for primary, but this figure is unconfirmed by the school itself.
Amsterdam Liberal Arts & Sciences Academy
- Status
- Not specified in available sources
- Location
- Amsterdam
- Curricula
- Dutch pre-academic (VWO) track plus an international pre-academic track leading to the IB Diploma
- Curriculum Detail
- The Amsterdam Liberal Arts & Sciences Academy offers both a full Dutch pre-academic programme and an international pre-academic programme for students aged 15 and above, leading to the attainment of an International Baccalaureate Diploma.
- Notes
- Serves secondary students aged 15+ only, combining Dutch and international pre-university tracks.
Tuition Per Year
- Note
- Tuition figures were not found in available sources; contact the school directly.
Gifted Minds International School
- Status
- Private
- Location
- Amsterdam region
- Curricula
- General international curriculum (specific curriculum framework not confirmed in available sources)
- Curriculum Detail
- Gifted Minds International School describes itself as a premium international school advocating a 'child first' policy and welcoming children regardless of developmental needs, race, religion and nationality.
- Notes
- Marketed as a boutique/premium option; verify curriculum accreditation directly before enrolling.
Tuition Per Year
- Note
- Reliable tuition figures were not found in available sources; contact the school directly.
State Bilingual Option
- Cost
- Low — a voluntary parental contribution in the low hundreds of euros per year rather than private-school-level tuition, since it runs inside the free/low-cost Dutch state system.
- Name
- TTO (Tweetalig Onderwijs) — not a single school, a nationwide programme
- Requires Dutch
- Yes
- Description
- Roughly 30% of Dutch secondary schools nationally run a state-funded bilingual (TTO) stream where at least 50% of subjects are taught in English for the first years, shifting mostly to Dutch later, ending in the Dutch VWO diploma often paired with an IB Middle Years Programme certificate.
Homeschooling
- Local Community Or Coop
- No documented, Amsterdam-specific homeschooling co-op or support community was found in the sources checked for this report. Given how narrow and rarely granted the legal exemptions are, and the current tightening of enforcement, organized local homeschooling communities do not appear to be a documented, established feature of Amsterdam in the way they might be in less restrictive countries.
- Legal Status Netherlands
- Homeschooling is not a viable default option in the Netherlands. The Dutch Compulsory Education Act (Leerplichtwet) requires every child to attend a registered school from age 5 (most start at 4) until age 16 or completion of a secondary diploma, and in principle homeschooling is not recognized as a valid form of education under this law.
- Enforcement And Recent Developments
- There is no formal oversight of homeschooling once a religious/ideological exemption is granted, since authorities do not monitor educational outcomes for exempted children. This gap prompted a Dutch Supreme Court ruling that sharply limits when such exemptions can be granted, restricting them to cases where no public school is reasonably accessible (roughly within 6 km for primary and 20 km for secondary education). Following that ruling, The Hague became the first Dutch municipality to revoke exemptions for a large group of previously-exempted children, and the Dutch Public Prosecution Service has said it is considering resuming criminal prosecution of parents who keep children out of school on these grounds. National officials are also weighing whether to abolish the exemption ground entirely or replace it with a regulated, supervised home-education system.
- Practical Note For Expats
- As a foreign family, homeschooling should not be assumed as a fallback plan for Amsterdam. If a family de-registers from the municipality and no longer resides in the country, Dutch compulsory-education law no longer applies, but while resident, a child (including expat children of any nationality) is legally required to be enrolled in a Dutch-recognized school — public, private, or international.
Exemption Grounds
- Medical grounds (exemption '5 under a'): granted in rare cases where a child's health makes school attendance impossible.
- Religious/ideological ('direction') objections (exemption '5 under b'): available only if parents have serious objections to the religious or philosophical orientation of every reasonably accessible school in the area — this is rarely granted, especially to expat families, partly because the Netherlands already has a very wide range of school orientations (Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, Waldorf, Montessori, international, etc.), making a genuine 'no suitable school nearby' claim hard to substantiate.
International Bilingual Enrollment
- Overview
- Amsterdam offers two distinct enrollment routes for foreign families: the state-subsidized 'DIPS' (Dutch International Primary/Secondary Schools) stream, and fully private international schools. Eligibility and waitlist length differ significantly between the two.
- Realistic Advice
- Families who know they are relocating to Amsterdam should contact schools as soon as the move is confirmed, even if the start date is 12–18 months away, since demand for places at popular schools often exceeds supply, particularly in the pre-teen years and Early Years. Mid-year entry is often possible where places exist because Amsterdam attracts year-round corporate relocations, but it is never guaranteed for the most in-demand year groups, and secondary entry from roughly Year 10 upward is advised to pursue even earlier since places are scarcest there.
- Application Timeline
- Most international schools in Amsterdam follow an August/September intake. For that intake, application windows commonly open in autumn (October–January) with several sources citing that popular schools and the subsidised DIPS streams fill demand-heavy year groups (Early Years, and roughly ages 11–14) by February or March. At least one major school, the International School of Amsterdam, publishes a 15 January priority deadline, with supporting documentation due before 1 May for a same-year September start; applications after that are considered on a rolling, availability-dependent basis.
- Waitlist Expectations Summary
- Once admitted, families are typically given a limited window (in some markets around two weeks) to confirm and pay a deposit before a place is offered to the next waitlisted family. Some families remain on waitlists for extended periods hoping a space opens as other students relocate elsewhere, but if far down a waitlist at a selective school, aiming for the next annual enrollment cycle is generally more realistic than hoping for a rare mid-year opening.
Routes
DIPS - Subsidized Dutch International Schools
- Eligibility
- Eligibility requires the child to have lived abroad for at least two of the past four years, or to expect to leave the Netherlands within a defined time frame; schools verify documentation showing this international background.
- Waitlist Reality
- Register the moment you have a signed rental contract; six-month waitlists are normal for primary places and even longer for IB Diploma-year entry. DIPS allocations often run through a centralised waiting list operated by the school federation, so applying to multiple schools in the preferred area is recommended to improve chances.
- Parental Contribution Per Year Low
- €5,000
- Parental Contribution Per Year High
- €8,500
- Citation Note
- Popular schools and the subsidised streams can have waiting lists, so applying as early as relocation allows is strongly advised.
Fully Private International Schools
- Eligibility
- Open more broadly than DIPS, not restricted to families with a temporary/international-background posting, but typically has entrance assessments (English/maths testing, interviews for older children) rather than eligibility documentation.
- One Off Enrollment Fee Low
- €500
- One Off Enrollment Fee High
- €4,000
- Tuition Per Year Secondary Low
- €18,000
- Tuition Per Year Secondary High
- €28,000
- Tuition Per Year Early Years Primary Low
- €12,000
- Tuition Per Year Early Years Primary High
- €22,000
- Tuition Per Year Sixth Form IB Diploma Low
- €22,000
- Tuition Per Year Sixth Form IB Diploma High
- €32,000
Required Documents Typical
- Completed application form and any application fee
- Last two years of school reports/transcripts, translated into English (or Dutch) where needed
- A school reference/confidential teacher recommendation from the current or previous school
- Child's (and often parents') passport copies
- Proof of Dutch residence, a signed rental contract, or a letter confirming planned relocation; municipal registration (BRP) once in the country
- BSN (Burgerservicenummer) for the child once registered with the municipality
- Immunisation/vaccination records aligned with Dutch requirements
- For DIPS specifically: additional proof of international background (employment contract, utility bills, or other evidence covering at least two of the last four years abroad)
- For private schools: possible age-appropriate entrance testing (English/maths) or interview, especially for students joining at secondary level
AI-generated estimateData refreshed July 2026
This section has no cited sources.
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Data last updated July 2026 · Verify anything important.