Going to primary school

Ja, alle kinderen tussen de 5 en 17 jaar hebben recht op onderwijs. Heeft u kinderen tussen de 5 en 17 jaar die nog geen of een beetje Nederlands spreken? U kunt uw kind(eren) inschrijven voor de nieuwkomersklas in het basisonderwijs of voor de internationale schakelklas in het voortgezet onderwijs. Kijk hier voor meer informatie: https://www.amsterdam.nl/onderwijs-jeugd/onderwijs-nieuwkomers/

If you enter your child's birth date in the yellow field above, you can read about what you have to apply on behalf of your child.​

​To ensure that children are placed at schools in a clearer, fairer manner that is the same for everyone. The school administration boards in Amsterdam jointly decided that the new procedure is not only fairer, but also enables schools to plan better. The City of Amsterdam supports the new procedure.

You can download the application form from the schoolboards (BBO) (on the right side of the screen under 'Downloads', click here) and print the form out, or you can pick one up from a primary school. When submitting your application form, you must also submit valid proof of your address. Valid proof of your address can be an extract from the Municipal Personal Records Database (Gemeentelijke Basis Administratie, GBA), a purchase agreement or a lease.  

​Children have priority at eight schools in the vicinity of the home address at which they are officially registered. If you enter your postal code and house number, you will be able to view the eight nearest schools.

In addition, some schools have specific conditions regarding admitting pupils. These schools select pupils on the basis of their religion or beliefs. They do participate in the admission policy, but clearly state that additional conditions need to be met. These schools are GBS Veerkracht (Reformed), Rosj Pina (Jewish), Crescendo and De Morgenster (evangelical).

These distances are calculated once a year (between July to september) on the basis of the established schools file and remain valid for a whole school year. Changes during the year will not cause adjustment of the calculations (unless a school stops to exist) and distances shown are binding, unless when doing the remote calculations mistakenly is departed from the agreed calculation method (see calculation method). 

Calculation method

We calculate the exact walking distance (in metres) from the child's home address to the entrance to the school grounds via the Google Maps API. BAG coordinates (Basic registration Addresses and Buildings, the official system for this registration) are used for the home address. For each school, we use the coordinates of the entrance to the school grounds as determined on site.

The distance shown on School Finder may deviate from the distance that you have calculated using Google Maps, because Google determines the location of the address entered in Google Maps itself.

The City of Amsterdam's Research and Statistics Office was involved in developing this new policy and used Google Maps to calculate the walking distances between home addresses and schools at the request of the school administration boards. Based on these calculations, the 15 closest schools to each home address were determined on the basis of walking distance. Nearly 7.5 million calculations were done for this purpose.

The same regulations for enrolling your child at primary school apply to nearly all primary schools in Amsterdam. Of the 210 primary schools in the city, 10 schools do not yet participate in the joint regulations.

The following schools are not participating in the 2021-2022 school year:

Centrum: BOVO-federatie: ASVO

Zuid: Amsterdamse Montessorischool, Willemsparkschool, Cornelis Vrij, Peeterschool, Hildebrand van Loonschool, 1e Openluchtschool, 2e Openluchtschool, Buitenveldertse Montessorischool (BMS), St. Joodse Kindergemeenschap Cheider.

If you want to apply for one of these schools on behalf of your child, please contact the school directly.

There are also schools that have specific conditions regarding enrolment. These schools select pupils on the basis of their religion or beliefs. They do participate in the admission policy, but clearly state that additional conditions need to be met. These schools are GBS Veerkracht (Reformed), Rosj Pina (Jewish), Crescendo and De Morgenster (evangelical).

​If you only enter a single preference and your preferred school receives more applications than it has places, there is a chance that your child will not be placed. In that case, you will have to choose another school with an available place.

Entering more preferences increases the chance of your child being placed at a school of your choice. We advise you to list at least five preferences.

You will receive a placement notification within two weeks following the application deadline. You will receive this notification from the school where your child has been placed.

Each step the computer takes to process applications and allocate places is recorded in a log. The placement and draw procedures are overseen by representatives of the school administration, the representative advisory council and the municipality. The school administration is responsible for the implementation.

​To ensure that children are placed at schools in a clearer, fairer manner that is the same for everyone. The school administration boards in Amsterdam jointly decided that the new procedure is not only fairer, but also enables schools to plan better. The City of Amsterdam supports the new procedure.

If you have not received any notification, contact the school that you submitted your application form to.​

You can submit a complaint to the school administration board of the school that you sent your application form to. This board is responsible for processing your complaint.​

Following the draw procedure, you can choose from the schools that still have places available. You can find a list of availleble schools at www.bboamsterdam.nl.