Cities / Amsterdam / International School Haarlem
International School Haarlem
A Dutch-subsidised international school in Haarlem, opened in 2017 by the TWijs and IRIS school groups with the Haarlem city council. Now runs IPC in primary and the full IB MYP, CP and DP route at secondary.
In brief
A Dutch-subsidised international school in Haarlem, opened in 2017 by the TWijs and IRIS school groups with the Haarlem city council. Now runs IPC in primary and the full IB MYP, CP and DP route at secondary.
Ages 4 to 18, around 1,000 to 1,200 students. As a DUO-subsidised school, fees are kept low, roughly 5,300 EUR for primary, 6,700 for MYP and 6,700 for the Diploma, plus a small registration fee and refundable deposit. That makes it one of the better-value full-pathway IB schools in the wider Amsterdam region for families willing to live or commute to Haarlem.
Parent feedback skews positive on teachers and overall feel, with one consistent grumble about a heavy assessment load running through into PE, music and visual arts. Sport, music and art ratings are noticeably softer than academics. Best fit for families based around Haarlem, Heemstede and the western edge of the metro who want IB without paying central-Amsterdam private fees.
Reviews
A Dutch-subsidised international school across three Haarlem campuses, with primary on the International Primary Curriculum and secondary on IB MYP, CP and DP. Fees sit at a fraction of the fully private Amsterdam options, which is the dominant draw, and demand reflects that: secondary is full for 2025/26 and primary moves on a short wait for visits. The community is genuinely international, with around forty nationalities and small class caps. Where parents push back, it tends to be on the assessment volume in the IB years and on the thinner edges of the co-curricular offer.
Positives
- Fees and access. Annual tuition lands at EUR 5,330 in primary and EUR 6,660 in MYP, a fraction of fully private international fees in the wider Amsterdam region. The trade-off is a registration fee and a refundable deposit, both modest by sector standards.
- Community and class size. Around forty nationalities on roll, classes capped at twenty-two and an average closer to eighteen. Parents who have moved children in describe the welcome warmly.
- IB pathway. Authorised IB World School running MYP, CP and DP across a single secondary site, with two classes per year group. The CP option is unusual at this fee point and gives a non-DP route through to eighteen.
Considerations
- Assessment load. Some parents describe an unrelenting assessment cadence, with criticism that even physical education, art and music are formally examined. The MYP design accounts for some of this, but the volume is what gets flagged.
- Co-curricular breadth. Sports, music and arts attract softer ratings than academics in the small parent pool that has reviewed publicly. The split-campus model and short school day cap what a single sports programme can look like.
- Waitlists and capacity. Secondary MYP and DP are full for 2025/26 and primary visits run on a two to three week queue. Families arriving mid-year should expect to wait or look elsewhere.
- Governance. Run as a partnership between TWijs (primary) and IRIS (secondary) under the Haarlem City Council, which is what unlocks the subsidy and the low fees. It also means the school sits inside Dutch public-sector structures rather than operating as a stand-alone international institution.
Leadership
Hannah Mansbridge
Academic results
- IB Diploma 2024 average 34.1 points
- MYP Certificate 2024 pass rate 91.7%