Netherlands · The Hague
ISH is a Dutch International School, not a private boutique. Admission is a legal test as well as an academic one. Fees for 2025–26 and 2026–27 sit on the same official table, and they are lower than most Hague internationals because the Ministry already contributes. Read the three eligibility sentences before you fall in love with the Silverbacks.
Dieses Porträt steht noch auf Englisch. Die anderen Sprachen kommen Schule für Schule.
Curriculum laut Schule:IB Primary Years Programme (candidate school) · IB Middle Years Programme · IB Diploma Programme · IB Career-related Programme
Unterrichtssprachen:English, Dutch for every student
The International School of The Hague is a state-subsidised Dutch International School in the Kijkduin / Bohemen edge of The Hague. The address the school guide prints is Wijndaelerweg 11, 2554 BZ Den Haag. It is a day school. There is no boarding house. If the posting has not found a flat, ISH will not absorb the child.
The first Dutch International School in The Hague opened in 1983 and became ISH in 1991. It belongs to Stichting Het Rijnlands Lyceum, the same foundation as several lycea and the European School The Hague. It is accountable to Dutch inspectors, keeps absence registers, writes a development plan, and has participation councils. Holidays follow the national Midden (Central) region calendar.
That legal frame is not decoration. It is why the fees look like Dutch-international fees rather than private-international fees, and why your child can only be admitted if at least one of three statutory tests is true.
The university-representatives page currently prints over 100 nationalities and 400+ students in Years 12 and 13. About 80% of leavers, that page says, go to Dutch universities, about 10% to the UK, and about 10% elsewhere or on a gap year. The homepage celebrates the IB Class of 2026: Career-related Programme 100% pass; Diploma Programme 98.47% pass. Treat those as the school’s own snapshots. We are not ranking ISH.
The useful questions are: Does this family meet the Dutch International School law? Can this child work in English by Year 10? Will they actually learn Dutch, or only hear it on the tram? Are you applying into Year 11 or 12 — the years the policy itself fences? And have you read the fee table, including the deposit, before you fall in love with the engineering team?
Internationally mobile families who qualify under Dutch law, want an English-medium IB path, and can live within a day-school radius of Wijndaelerweg.
A student may be admitted only if one of these is true, from the admissions procedure and policy:
If none of those sentences is true, ISH is not a school you can buy your way into. The subsidy is the other side of the same coin. The school-guide background chapter says government support “makes it possible to charge relatively low school fees in comparison with private international and foreign educational facilities.” That is why a Year 6 here is €9,200, not €25,000.
Places, when they are tight, follow three priority levels: 1 siblings already enrolled in either section, and children of new staff; 2 students coming directly from outside the Netherlands; 3 students transferring from another international school inside the Netherlands.
It is not a Dutch havo/vwo school. Transfer into the national system later is possible but not casual; the secondary support profile says there are fewer secondary options for international students, and that a child who wants Dutch secondary after Primary may need to enter ISH Secondary first. Ask that question if you might stay.
Primary is an inquiry-based international primary, and — this matters — a Candidate School for the IB Primary Years Programme. Candidate status, the school prints in the IB’s required language, gives no guarantee that authorisation will be granted. Subjects the primary curriculum names: language arts, mathematics, units of inquiry, social and emotional learning, PE, ICT, music, Dutch, art, drama. Early Years uses a free-flow classroom; CIS evaluation quotes on the homepage praise that team. Dutch is taught three times a week to every primary child, from beginners to fluent speakers, the primary support profile says. Over 80% of primary students are multilingual. There is a Home Language programme as well as EAL.
Early Years age rule. Children entering Early Years must have turned four before 1 October of that school year. A Pre-Early Years class exists for children who turn four on or after 1 October; they move into Early Years the following year. Primary placement is by age unless there is significant evidence for another year group.
Secondary is an IB World School: MYP in Years 7–11, then DP or CP in Years 12–13. Subject areas the secondary curriculum chapter names: English, Dutch, modern languages, mathematics, sciences, individuals and societies, arts, design, physical and health education, plus EAL and Learning Support. Dutch is compulsory. Native speakers get mother-tongue Dutch; others get NT2 (Dutch as a second language) from Year 7 through Year 13.
Knowledge of English is not required for admission in the procedure’s general sentence. Secondary then adds gates by year. Read those before you apply to Year 10.
The Silverbacks are the sports identity. The homepage lists hockey, football, volleyball and cross country travelling to other European cities, and an engineering team that finished third in an F24 Greenpower final in Lelystad. That is campus life. It is not a promise that your child will make the varsity side in week two.
Instruction is in English. Dutch is the host-country subject for everyone.
In Primary, Dutch three times a week, differentiated. EAL supports academic English. Home languages have a programme. Ask how many hours this child would get in each.
In Secondary, placement tests for Years 7–11 cover English and mathematics, plus French, German or Spanish from basic to native. Students who have studied Dutch also sit a Dutch placement. Years 8–9 need at least Phase 2 English Language Acquisition; Years 10–11 need at least Phase 3. Year 11 joiners who hope to continue to the Diploma must also show they have kept a Language A (native or near-native) that ISH can actually offer, taught or as school-supported self-taught. After April, students cannot join Year 11.
Year 12 placement tests include languages, mathematics and most sciences. Higher Level physics, chemistry or biology requires having studied the subject before.
A one-week Summer School exists for new students with a low level of English, the secondary support profile says. Ask whether it is running the summer you arrive.
Enquiry form, then application, then documents, then a fee. An application is not reviewed until the €300 non-refundable application fee is paid. A place is only guaranteed when the €1,000 deposit is in. If ISH cannot offer a place, you may keep the file open one more year without paying the application fee again.
Primary: age placement, reports if they exist, individual review for physical or learning needs. The school says it will decide within 6 weeks (maximum 10) whether a place is possible for a child with particular needs.
Secondary: placement tests for Year 7 and above. Children not yet in the Netherlands can usually sit them at their current school. Year 6 at ISH Primary is prioritised for Secondary but not automatic; every Year 6 must apply, and some will be told early that they do not meet the Year 7 bar.
MYP (Years 7–11) is open to a wide ability range if tests, reports and additional-needs documents show the child can follow the programme. There is a minimum point score for automatic progression; students who miss it can be asked to repeat. Joining from April in Years 8–10 makes that more likely. Year 10 joiners must complete the Personal Project. Year 11 joiners before October must complete it too.
DP and CP (Years 12–13) are selective. ISH only offers the full Diploma, or the Career-related Programme with 10 BTEC units plus three Diploma subjects that must include English and mathematics. Year 12 DP needs proven academic ability and a complete subject package in English. Usual grade bars the policy names: 4 for Standard Level, 5 for Higher Level, with language and mathematics rules depending on phase and course (AA or AI). New sciences or arts may need a test, interview or portfolio. Students joining Year 12 after the October break are warned they may need to repeat; from January, if they have not already been on the CP/DP, they will most likely need to repeat Year 12.
Year 13 is only for students who have finished Year 12 of the same programme. For DP the policy wants a minimum 24 points with at least 12 at Higher Level, plus satisfactory Extended Essay, CAS and TOK, coursework up to date, and good attendance. The previous school’s CP/DP coordinator must complete ISH’s transfer checklist. It is not possible to join Year 13 later than the first week of the academic year.
Finance is finance@ishthehague.nl.
The official fees page uses one table for both years. These are the school’s numbers, in euros. They will move. Confirm the live page and the Fee Agreement PDFs before you budget. Primary and Secondary each have 2025–26 and 2026–27 agreements on that page.
On the way in
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Application (non-refundable) | €300 |
| Deposit on acceptance (refundable — see the Fee Agreement) | €1,000 |
Annual school fees (same published figures for 2025–26 and 2026–27)
| Year | Annual fee |
|---|---|
| Pre-Early Years, Early Years, EY1 | €8,500 |
| Years 2–4 | €9,000 |
| Year 5 | €9,100 |
| Year 6 | €9,200 |
| Years 7–9 | €10,300 |
| Years 10–11 | €10,900 |
| Year 12 Career-related Programme | €12,800 |
| Year 12 Diploma Programme | €11,600 |
| Year 13 Career-related Programme | €11,600 |
| Year 13 Diploma Programme | €11,200 |
Notice that Year 12 CP is the highest line, not Year 13 DP. That is the school’s table, not a typing error we corrected.
A first-year Year 7 is application + deposit + tuition — €11,600 before any extra the Fee Agreement names. We are not adding a bus or lunch figure because the fees page we fetched does not print one. Read the Primary or Secondary agreement for the year you need.
ISH is not a special-needs school. It offers EAL, Learning Support, Student Wellbeing, a Camino sensory room, and a Health Office. Speech and language therapy in Primary is parent-funded. For students with educational or behavioural difficulty, parents must provide a full history, evaluations, and two years of accommodations, and must let ISH talk to previous schools. If the school decides it cannot meet the need, it will not offer a place. Failure to disclose can cost the place later.
The secondary support profile is also honest about English: there are limits, so that only students with the language potential to benefit are accepted. Ask for the EAL support document.
The IB Diploma is the portable academic route: six subjects, three higher and three standard, plus TOK, the Extended Essay, and CAS. The 2026 pass rate the homepage prints is 98.47%. About 80% of the school’s own university-destination sentence is Dutch higher education. If you want a UK or US path, ask the careers team how that 10% actually looks in a given year.
The IB Career-related Programme combines a BTEC-style career study with Diploma subjects. Entry is more flexible than the DP, the policy says, but the Diploma subjects inside it still have minimums. The 2026 CP pass rate on the homepage is 100%.
We are not publishing an average DP score because the official pages we fetched for this portrait did not print one for 2026.
Ask which of the three legal sentences this family actually meets, and what letter the employer must write. Ask where a January arrival sits at lunch in week one. Ask how Dutch is grouped, and whether a child can still buy a broodje in Dutch by Easter. Ask whether this child would enter Phase 2 or Phase 3 English. Ask how many Year 12s are on the DP versus the CP. Ask whether Year 6 at ISH Primary is likely to be offered Year 7 this year. Ask what happens if you join Year 12 in January (the policy has already told you: you will probably repeat). Ask to see Year 5 and Year 10, not only the engineering workshop.
If you might stay and want a Dutch vwo later, ask that question twice. The support profile has already warned you the door is narrow.
We are not saying ISH is the best school in The Hague. We are not guessing a waitlist. We are not inventing a bus price or a 2027/28 fee. Primary PYP authorisation is not a fact yet; it is a candidacy the school itself footnotes.
Read the current fees page and the admissions policy before you resign a flat in another country. This is a map. The school still has to be the right Tuesday.
Offizielle Seiten und Dokumente, die wir gelesen haben. Wenn eine Zahl für Budget oder Bewerbung zählt, öffnet den Link und prüft, ob er noch gilt.
Freundliche Orientierung, kein Antrag. Termine, Gebühren und Programme ändern sich. Alles bei der Schule prüfen.
The Hague is not one international campus. It is a subsidised IB in Kijkduin, an American day campus in Wassenaar, a British school on four gates, an Accredited European School, and a French AEFE lycée on Scheveningseweg. Ask who pays, then time the roads.
16 minDie Buchstaben auf dem Abschlusszeugnis zählen. Sie sind nicht das ganze Kind. So unterscheidet ihr sie ohne Kopfschmerz — und ohne so zu tun, als bliebe jede Tür offen.
16 minIhr braucht keinen perfekten Algorithmus. Nur ein paar wahre Dinge über euer Kind, eine langweilige Liste am Kühlschrank — und den Mut, einen schönen Campus zu ignorieren, der nicht passt.
15 minDas Schulgeld ist die Zahl auf der Startseite. Das PDF ist die Zahl, die im März kommt. Hier steht, wie ihr die zweite lest, ohne einen Euro, eine Krone oder eine Frist zu erfinden.