Lycee Francais Vincent van Gogh Amsterdam, Amsterdam

In brief

The Amsterdam annexe of the Lycée Français Vincent van Gogh of The Hague, an AEFE direct-management school running the French national programme for ages 3 to 11.

Founded in 1947 and renamed for Vincent van Gogh in 1980, the school is split across two sites. The Hague is the main establishment, running maternelle through terminale, while Amsterdam is a primary annexe covering maternelle and élémentaire only. Roughly 200 students attend the Amsterdam site at fees around EUR 7,590.

For French-speaking expat families on a posting in Amsterdam, the appeal is staying inside the AEFE system and the option of continuity into Section Internationale Américaine or Section Européenne Anglais once at The Hague. The headline complication is that complication: from sixième onwards there is no Amsterdam option, so families either move toward The Hague, board, or switch curriculum. Brevet and bac results out of The Hague are strong. Some families weigh the privately-run International French School of Amsterdam as the alternative if continuity through secondary in Amsterdam matters more than the AEFE label.

Year level	Age	Fee
PS to CM2 (all primary year groups)	3	€7,590

Item	Age	Fee
Re-registration Advance		€300
First Registration Fee (non-refundable)		€350

Reviews

The Amsterdam site of the Lycée Vincent van Gogh is the maternelle and elementary annexe of the main Hague school, run directly by AEFE on the French national programme with a bilingual French/Dutch or French/English track. Families largely speak warmly of the early-years atmosphere, the teaching, and a tight parent community sitting around the school. The structural quirk that shapes every conversation is that the collège and lycée sit in The Hague, so a child who starts in Rustenburgerstraat eventually either commutes, boards the school transport, or moves to another secondary in Amsterdam. Day-to-day grumbles cluster around lunchtime arrangements and the front-office.

Positives

Early years and primary teaching. Warm reception in the maternelle, competent teachers, and a programme that tracks the French Education nationale closely. Families coming in from France slot back into the curriculum without losing a year.
Bilingual exposure. The French/Dutch and French/English streams give children working exposure to a second language from the toddler section onwards, which expat families coming through Amsterdam for a few years tend to rate.
AEFE network and continuity. Direct AEFE management means access to French state scholarships for French passport holders and a clean transfer route in or out of the French network elsewhere in the world.
Parent community. An active independent parents' association in Amsterdam runs alongside the school. Newcomer families pick up practical help quickly.

Considerations

Secondary requires The Hague. Collège and lycée only sit at the Hague campus, an hour each way by train. Families who want to stay in the French system past CM2 either accept the commute, use the school bus, or look at the separate French-bilingual secondary that opened in Amsterdam in 2021.
Lunch arrangements. No hot canteen meal on site. Children eat packed lunches in the classroom with their teacher, which comes up regularly as a downside compared to other Amsterdam internationals.
Front-office communication. Complaints about responsiveness from the administrative office, by email and by phone, surface more than once. The teaching side is praised in the same breath.
Fees and scope. Tuition sits in the EUR 7,000 to 10,500 range across maternelle, collège and lycée, well below the Anglo internationals in the city. The trade-off is the French national format and the Hague commute for older children.

Academic results

Baccalauréat 2025 average 100% pass rate, 38% with honors
DNB 2025 average 96% pass rate, 61% with honors

Location

Rustenburgerstraat 246, 1073 GK Amsterdam, Netherlands

School website

Mme Ouardda Roubi-Gonnot