We have a special class for kids from abroad who don’t speak our language yet. The official name of this class is LAN, that stands for ‘Leerplichtige Anderstalige Nieuwkomers’. In English this means this class is only for kids who are new in the Netherlands, have the compulsory school age and need to learn our language so they can enroll in our regular school system. In this class we host kids from all over the world. They’ve all different nationalities, which we love to get to know and we love to have all these cultures in our school!

 

Our LAN-group is an extraordinary group in our school. When kids start in LAN, they mostly don’t speak Dutch. This is not a problem at all! After our program from about 40 weeks, the kids are able to understand our language and to communicatie in Dutch. In Rotterdam there’re only a few schools who offer this special program. So in class a lot of ages come together. We’ve two of these LAN-groups in school. One group has a program for kids between 7 and 9. The other group host kids from 10 to 12. The group has a maximum from 16 kids, cause we want to ensure the quality of education. 

 

The kids also get introduced to the regular group every now and then during this program of weeks. They’ll have activities together, like swimming, music and special events. The teachers in the LAN-group have had lots of training to be able to teach the kids. Every year we’re helping the teachers to make the best out of it. We also ask teacher from other schools to observe and give feedback to our teachers to make our education better every year. 

 

Mostly kids stay in our group for about 40 weeks. This means, about 1 year of school. It appears a lot that kids stay in our LAN-group between 1 and 1,5 year. This is because the start of the program is different for every child. We take our education serious and give your child time to get used to the Netherlands, the new culture, the new environment and the new language. Which is not as easy as it sounds for every child. In the program we also offer math, spelling, reading and social education.  

 

To enroll in our program, we always would like have a conversation with you first. We would like to know your background, when you’re planning to move to the Netherlands and the abilities of your child so far. In that case we can offer the best fitting program for your child. To know more or to enroll in the program you can send an email to: directie@obskasteelspangen.nl. In the reply from the principal you’ll get connected to our coordinator who will invite you for a meeting and together you will find the best fitting program. 

 

More information about LAN and education: www.cedgroep.nl/basisonderwijs