International School of Amsterdam

The grand dame of international schooling in the Netherlands, founded 1964 in Amstelveen and the first school in the world to run all four IB programmes from age 2 to 18.

ISA sits on a green Amstelveen campus about 11 km south of central Amsterdam, with around 1,300 students from over 60 nationalities. It is the priciest mainstream option in the city at roughly EUR 22,000 to EUR 31,500, and the natural pick for diplomatic and senior corporate families who want a fully private IB pathway from pre-K through Diploma.

Academic results sit consistently above the IB world average, with strong university outcomes into the US, UK and Netherlands. Teaching, pastoral care and the safety of the campus are recurring strengths. The familiar tension is value: the cost is hard to justify against AICS, the Dutch-subsidised alternative just down the road, especially for academically robust children. Bullying complaints surface occasionally and admissions are competitive at popular entry points.

• ISA in Amstelveen is the city's longest-established international school, founded 1964 and the first in the world to offer the full IB continuum from age 2 to 18. Around 60 nationalities, IB PYP, MYP, DP and the CP, with door-to-door bus service across a 50 km radius.
• Parent voice on the Good Schools Guide and ISchoolAdvisor is positive on pastoral care, integration of new arrivals and university preparation. One parent described the school as "an amazing internationally minded school with great teachers and people who really care about your wellbeing."
• Expat-forum threads are split. Earlier accounts describe a school well-prepared to integrate transient expat children with strong parent community. A 2017 voice flagged inadequate academic challenge for bright students, limited extracurricular options outside sport and "bullying that was not properly dealt with, an uncaring attitude from the powers."
• Glassdoor teacher reviews describe leadership turbulence. Reviewers call the administration toxic with frequent senior departures, very low morale and a sense the school feels "more like a business than a school." Compensation is small.
• Reddit treats ISA as the headline expat school in Amsterdam alongside AICS and ISH Hilversum, with the standout fact being cost. One commenter noted ISA fees "€26k a year for a 6th grader and it just gets more expensive as they get closer to graduation."
• The pattern: a long-running flagship IB continuum with strong pastoral and academic identity from the outside, currently navigating a leadership-turnover and morale phase that staff voices describe more sharply than parent voices.