Netherlands · Amsterdam
This is not ISA in Amstelveen. AICS is a Dutch subsidised international in the Esprit group — South and Sandcastle. Fees are a fraction of a private IB invoice. Dutch-passport-only families must meet the government’s two-of-three-years-abroad rule, or a written plan to leave within two years.
Este retrato sigue en inglés. Las demás lenguas llegan colegio a colegio.
Currículo según el colegio:IB Primary Years Programme · IB Middle Years Programme · IB Diploma Programme · IB Career-related Programme
Lenguas de instrucción:English, Dutch language and culture in primary; Dutch Group 1 required for Dutch-nationality-only Diploma students
Amsterdam International Community School is a Dutch subsidised international — DIPS and DISS in the government’s language — in the Esprit school group. The 2026–2027 school guide is blunt: it is not a private school. The Ministry contributes. Every student still pays a school fee, set to the Dutch International Primary and Secondary School guidelines.
It is one school, two campuses. South sits at Arent Janszoon Ernststraat 1179, 1081 HL. Sandcastle (South-East) sits at Bijlmerplein 1000, 1102 MK, a former bank of towers. The guide’s own snapshot: South about 1,200–1,400 students; Sandcastle about 1,400. Students start and stay on one campus through PYP and MYP. The Career-related Programme is currently South only.
This is the other Amsterdam international parents tour when they have already seen ISA in Amstelveen. ISA is independent and not subsidised. AICS is Esprit and the inspectorate. The commute, the bill, and the Dutch-passport rule are different Tuesdays.
The useful questions are: Which campus still has a chair? Does a Dutch-nationality-only child meet the two-of-three-years-abroad test, or the employer letter that you will leave within two years? Can the child work in English? And have you read the 2026–27 fee table in the school guide, not a forum memory of last year?
The admissions policy (revised April 2024, the file we read) says AICS caters for internationally mobile families and for Dutch students who need an international school to keep continuity. Special rules apply to students with Dutch nationality only.
They may apply if they are returning from abroad and have attended school abroad for two of the last three years (school reports). Or if the family plans to relocate abroad within two years, with a written statement of intent from the employer. That second test is checked again at the move from primary Group 7 into MYP 1.
The Diploma Programme is open to Dutch students with a HAVO 5 diploma or a promotional report from VWO 4 to VWO 5. The school may advise against the programme if mathematics is missing from the package. All students need fluent spoken and written English. Dutch-nationality-only Diploma students must take Dutch as a Group 1 language at native or near-native level.
A child who needs a Dutch havo or vwo from the first year, in Dutch, is looking at a neighbourhood VO house — Spinoza Lyceum if Dalton is the climate — not at AICS.
South has two large PHE halls, a Little Gym, a central atrium, playgrounds, a panna field. Sandcastle has a Little Gym, a lecture hall, a primary hall. After-school care on both sites is Kind&Co Ludens, inside the buildings, the guide says.
Ask which campus you are actually being offered. Preference is collected on the Registration of Interest. Placement is not a promise.
Group 5 swimming is a mandatory Amsterdam City Council programme toward Diploma A, weekly for six months. Sandcastle gym can sit in external facilities. Write those hours on the fridge.
Primary (Groups 1–7). PYP. Group 1 from age 4 (the policy’s November/May cut-offs decide whether a summer birthday stays in Group 1). Dutch Language and Culture sits as a specialist. ELA exists. Writing and Reading Workshop supplements the units of inquiry. Group 7 is a two-year-minded transition: taster MYP lessons in Term 2.
Secondary. MYP, then DP or CP. MYP classes have a maximum of 23, the guide says, with exceptional overflow. MYP5 includes eAssessments. The Personal Project is mandatory. CP is South only. CIS and IB evaluated the whole school together in 2021–22; the guide calls AICS the first fully accredited IB World School in the Netherlands offering the full continuum. Treat that as the school’s own sentence.
Dutch is a host-country language in primary, not a hope that the street will do the work. Ask what this Group actually gets.
OpenApply. A €200 non-refundable registration fee per student must be paid before the application is processed. The payment date is the date in the waiting pool. The policy says applications are processed in order of receipt after that fee; some classes at some locations have waiting lists. We will not invent a length.
Group 1–3 intakes are play mornings or afternoons. If you withdraw after an intake or an accepted place and want back into the pool, you pay the €200 again.
Spaces for a child not yet 4 are allocated 4–6 months before the academic year of entry, the policy says.
Contact admissions before you assume a January chair exists. The live admissions page is the door.
The tuition page and the AICS School Guide 2026–2027 print the same new-student table for a start in August 2026. Later starts are prorated. Confirm the live tuition page if a later PDF disagrees.
| Band | Total school fees 2026–27 |
|---|---|
| Primary Groups 1–5 | €6,025 |
| Primary Group 6 | €6,309 |
| Primary Group 7 | €6,230 |
| Secondary MYP1–MYP4 | €7,178 |
| Secondary MYP5 | €7,628 |
| DP1 and CP1 | €8,318 |
| DP2 and CP2 | €9,168 |
Those totals already include the guide’s lines for excursions and activities, primary lunch supervision, yearbook, and the examination fees printed for MYP5 (€450) and DP2/CP2 (€850). Tuition-only lines sit underneath, lower. Read the PDF.
Registration: €200, non-refundable. Deposit: €500, paid with the first instalment, refundable if the withdrawal rules are met (30 days’ written notice, or 60 days at year-end; books and, in secondary, the MacBook returned). Two instalments: first within 14 days of invoice (or two working days before a start inside that window); second by 31 October 2026.
A first-year Group 1 place is not “about six thousand.” It is registration + deposit + the Group 1–5 total — €6,725 before a BSO contract or a trip the table did not include. Recalculate on the live page.
The school may adjust fees if state funding or external exam fees move. That sentence is on the tuition page.
Ask which campus, which programme, which year group still has space. Ask whether a Dutch-passport-only file will survive the Group 7 to MYP 1 check. Ask how much Dutch a shy eleven-year-old will really have by the second spring. Ask what happens if the school later cannot meet a support need — the policy says they will help find another setting, including Dutch practical, vocational or special education, and refund fees except the registration charge.
Then sit in the 8:10 tram to Bijlmerplein and to Zuideramstel. They are not the same Monday as Sportlaan in Amstelveen.
We are not ranking AICS against ISA. We are not inventing a waitlist length or a 2027–28 fee. Confirm the school guide, the admissions policy, and the tuition page. This is a map. The campus still has to be the right Tuesday.
Páginas y documentos oficiales que hemos leído. Si una cifra importa para el presupuesto o la solicitud, abrid el enlace y comprobad que sigue vigente.
Orientación cercana, no una solicitud. Fechas, cuotas y programas se mueven. Confirmadlo todo con el colegio.
Amsterdam is not one international campus. It is a private IB, a subsidised IB, a Dutch Dalton secondary you reach through the city’s matching, and a French AEFE primary on Rustenburgerstraat. Name which Tuesday you are buying.
15 minLas letras del título importan. No son el niño entero. Aquí va cómo distinguirlas sin dolor de cabeza, y sin pretender que todas las puertas siguen abiertas.
16 minNo hace falta un algoritmo perfecto. Hacen falta unas cuantas verdades sobre vuestro hijo, una lista aburrida en la nevera y el valor de ignorar un campus hermoso que no encaja.
15 minLa matrícula es el número de la portada. El PDF es el que llega en marzo. Aquí va cómo leer el segundo, sin inventar un euro, una corona ni un plazo.