ESH Primary and Early Years

Since opening in 2012, our Early Years and Primary school provides young learners with a dynamic, multicultural and multilingual environment in which to play, grow, learn and develop. In accordance with the European Curriculum, Early Years involves a cycle of 2 – 2.5 years followed by 5 years in the Primary cycle. ESH primary has over 825 children with more than 57 nationalities.

---

Language Sections

ESH primary school has five language sections: Dutch, English, French, German and Spanish. Our SWALS (students without a language section) are placed in the English, French, German or Dutch language section. ESH offers Greek, Italian, Polish, Romanian, Finnish, Slovenian, Czech and Portuguese mother tongue tuition lessons on a daily basis. 

LANGUAGES AND SUBJECTS INFOGRAPHIC

L2 Guide for Parents 

School Support Profile - ESH Primary

Every school has a school support profile (SOP). In the SOP, the school has described how the support for pupils is organised within the school. This support consists of two parts: the basic support of the school and the extra support that a school offers for pupils who require more. The extra support is offered in cooperation with the partnership. Our school is part of the partnership Passend Primair Onderwijs Haaglanden (SPPOH). SPPOH supports schools in the development of appropriate education in the Haaglanden region. For more information about appropriate education at our school or in the region, please read our SOP or visit the website of SPPOH www.sppoh.nl. There are also videos available in a variety of languages that explain to parents what "Passend Onderwijs" is : Uitleg passend onderwijs voor ouders in andere talen | Brochure | Rijksoverheid.nl

SOP - 2023-2024

Cultural Trips and After School Activities

One of our goals is to provide children with opportunities to learn and develop beyond the classroom. ESH teachers organise many excursions to museums, art studios, outdoor learning centers etc. which correspond with learning the "8 Key Competences" identified in our curriculum. 
We also we invite external tutors to offer a variety of enrichment activities after school. Children may participate in a selection of 36 different activities. 

ESH AFTER SCHOOL ACTIVITIES WEBSITE 

Dutch Culture / Celebrations

Our school is partly administered and financed by the Dutch government – and as such, we have a positive Dutch influence in our education and school culture. Many of our colleagues are Dutch and bring the “touch of Dutch” to our school culture and spirit. A few examples to demonstrate our embracing of the host country’s culture includes:

We celebrate Koningsdag with fun and games, clothed in orange - with lots of fun and festivity. We also celebrate Sinterklaas, and our multilingual children all sing along loudly (in Dutch!) when Sinterklaas visits our school, with his boisterous Pieten, doing acrobatics and spreading the ‘pepernoten’, ‘kruidnoten’ and ‘snoep’ to ecstatic primary children.  At ESH, we encourage parents and pupils to watch the pomp and ceremony as the King Willem Alexander and Queen Maxima proceed with the Golden Coach through the streets of The Hague, on “Prinsjesdag”.

All ESH pupils learn to read, write and speak Dutch, from Early years to P5. These daily Dutch language lessons, we call “Dutch as an Additional Language”. 

---

Facilities

We are proud of our school's facilities and how these contribute to a safe, fun, enriching environment for our children.

• New children's Kitchen and Science Room "Kids Food Lab"
• New stylish Parent Cafe with free coffee and tea, a comfortable place to mix with and meet other parents.
• New kids basketball/volleyball court
• New outdoor mini amphitheatre 
• We have a separate, well equipped Early Years playground
• Two sunny libraries with over 30 000 books, audio books and magazines in 15+ European languages
• Two well equipped sports halls / gymnasiums and a "speel lokaal". 
• Extensive grass playing field (under construction)
• Learning Garden 
• Artificial turf soccer field
• ICT suite
• Music room
• Large Atrium 
• Canteen serving fresh hot nutritious lunches (JSK Catering) 

---