Netherlands · Amstelveen
The campus is in Amstelveen, not Amsterdam proper. It is a not-for-profit IB day school. Fees and language rules are on isa.nl. That is enough to start a serious conversation, and not enough to skip the schedule-of-fees PDF.
Questo ritratto è ancora in inglese. Le altre lingue arrivano scuola per scuola.
Curricolo come lo pubblica la scuola:IB Primary Years Programme · IB Middle Years Programme · IB Diploma Programme
Lingue di istruzione:English
The International School of Amsterdam is an independent, not-for-profit IB day school in Amstelveen. The about page says it was the first school in the world to offer a complete IB curriculum from pre-school to Grade 12. The fees page repeats the claim: first in the world for all three of PYP, MYP and Diploma, and the longest IB relationship of any school in the Netherlands. The accreditation page dates the Diploma authorisation to 1979 (first in the Netherlands), the MYP to 1992 (again a Dutch first), and the PYP to 1997 — the first PYP authorisation in the world. CIS and NEASC accreditation, the same page says, since 1983.
Today the about page prints close to 1,300 students and over 60 nationalities. Ages run 2–18: Early Years at 2–3, PYP 3–12, MYP 12–16, Diploma 16–18. The mission line is “To Educate for International Understanding.” Treat the 1,300 as the school’s own snapshot.
It is a day school. Boarding is not advertised. The campus is the Sportlaan site in Amstelveen, just south of the city. If someone says “the international school in Amsterdam,” this is often the campus they mean. It is not in the canal belt. Budget the commute.
The useful questions are not “is it the first PYP school.” The useful questions are: Can this child work in English by Grade 9, 10 or 11 — three different bars? Will a Dutch-passport child actually take Dutch, which the school says the law requires? Can you pay the tuition on the 2026–27 table and the extras the schedule of fees names? And do you understand that ISA is not subsidised by the Dutch government?
Admission, the policy says, is open to students who want a challenging, university-preparatory, English-language education and who behave respectfully. In practice a committee reads the file: previous school, social-emotional development, behaviour, languages, and whether the family will partner with the school’s Statement of Community.
Priority goes to siblings already at ISA, then international families, then whether the application beat the deadline, then the date the file became complete. Programme needs and the support the school can actually staff also count. Alignment of values is a named criterion. This is not a catchment school.
Additional needs. ISA says it can take mild to moderate learning challenges or physical disabilities, at committee discretion, and that it thoughtfully manages how many such children it can serve. Initial screening and in-class or group support may come from school faculty. Extra support may be private, with fees. Complete documentation is required. Withholding information can mean later withdrawal.
If you need a specialist SEN school, this policy is already telling you to ask a hard question before you pay the application fee.
One campus in Amstelveen. The school talks about a world-class faculty, facilities, and a tradition of IB education “over generations.” The resources page links an admissions brochure, early-years and nursery brochures, curriculum guides, a school profile with IB results, and “ISA Insights” on activities and demographics. Use those, then still ask to see an ordinary classroom and the dining room, not only the IB corridor.
A door-to-door bus runs through WND Services. Zones and prices live on a separate bus page. We are not printing an old zone table from 2022.
Age before 31 August is the published starting point. Exceptions are rare and sit with the Director.
| Grade | Age before 31 August |
|---|---|
| Nursery | 2 (or Rising Nursery from the second birthday, then a further Nursery year) |
| Pre-school | 3, toilet trained |
| Pre-kindergarten | 4 |
| Kindergarten | 5 |
| Grade 1 | 6 |
| Grades 2–8 | previous equivalent grade completed before 31 August |
| Grades 9–12 | previous equivalent grade completed before 31 August, plus the English bars below |
Early Years and Primary are the PYP. Dutch starts as culture and song in Pre-K and Kindergarten for children already strong in English. From Grades 1–5, every child has Dutch three sessions a week. EAL beginners in their first year take a Dutch Culture class in English once a week, then join Dutch. From Grade 2, after a full year of Dutch, a child may switch to French — unless they hold a Dutch passport, in which case Dutch is required by law.
Grades 6–10 are the MYP. Language A as part of the timetable exists in Dutch, English, French, German and Spanish. Other mother tongues can be tutored; the coordinator helps find the teacher; the family pays. The language page currently names Afrikaans, Bulgarian, Danish, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Polish, Russian and Swedish as running. That list will move.
Grades 11–12 are the Diploma years. Language A in the set programme is Dutch and English. Other Language A literature can be school-supported self-taught at standard level: a coordinator plus a specialist tutor the family pays. A rebate may exist; ask the coordinator. A full Diploma must start Grade 11 by 1 October. Grade 12 from nowhere is not a casual move.
Instruction is in English. Every teacher, the language page says, is a language teacher.
English Acquisition. Many children arrive with little English. In primary, EAL is pull-out in small groups or push-in until the child no longer needs it. In secondary, EAL runs in Grades 6–10 at Elementary, Intermediate or Transition. Elementary and Intermediate may move up at the end of a semester; Transition may exit at the end of a year.
The bars. No prior English is required until Grade 9. Grade 10 needs intermediate academic English. Grade 11 needs advanced academic English. Grade 11 applicants sit placement assessments to map Diploma pathways. Those three sentences decide more applications than the architecture.
Home languages are encouraged. The Language Academy is after school, once a week for an hour, in three sessions of about ten weeks, extra fee, invoiced by the business office. It is not a substitute for Language A.
Dutch is not a club. It is the host-country language, required in Grades 1–5, and required by law for Dutch-passport holders. If you want a child who can live in Amstelveen rather than only commute through it, this is the paragraph to test on a tour.
Online application. The apply page says a file has not started until the application fee is paid and the Student Application and Household Information sections are complete. That date is the date that counts for priority. Read that twice if you are racing a sibling deadline.
The school decides grade placement from records, not only from the age table. Checklists for each band live on the resources page. Write to admissions for the current process; the policy is the rulebook.
Wait pools exist when a grade is full. We are not guessing which grades are full this August.
ISA is not subsidised by the Dutch government or any external body. Revenue goes back into the school. Fees are set each year from forecast enrolment and expenditure.
The public fees page prints tuition for 2026–27 and tells you to see the schedule of fees for the full breakdown — application, deposit, capital, bus, withdrawal. We extracted the tuition table. We did not extract a 2026–27 extras PDF in this pass, and we will not reuse 2022 figures.
Annual tuition, 2026–27
| Grade | Tuition |
|---|---|
| Nursery | €22,815 |
| Pre-school | €22,815 |
| Pre-Kindergarten | €24,870 |
| Kindergarten | €25,255 |
| Grades 1–5 | €27,710 |
| Grades 6–8 | €30,880 |
| Grades 9–10 | €31,895 |
| Grades 11–12 | €32,755 |
An application fee exists; the apply page will not treat the file as started until it is paid. The amount is on the schedule of fees, not on the public table. Capital fees, deposits, administration fees for split payments, and bus zones will be on that same schedule. Download it. Do not budget from this tuition column alone.
A first-year Grade 6 is not “about €31,000.” It is tuition plus whatever the schedule adds for application, deposit and capital, plus a WND bus if you need one, plus Language Academy or a mother-tongue tutor if you want those.
The portable leaving diploma is the IB Diploma. ISA has been authorised for it since 1979. Entrance criteria for the full Diploma versus IB courses live in the IB Diploma Course Descriptions Guide. Grade 11 placement tests map the path.
The school also talks about graduation routes for students who do not take the full Diploma; those details sit in the course guide, not on the about page. Ask counselling, with this child’s English level in your hand.
We are not printing an IB average from a profile we did not extract in this pass. The resources page links a school profile with Diploma results. Read that PDF for the current cohort. Treat it as the school talking about itself.
The inclusion policy is the limit: mild to moderate, committee discretion, finite capacity. Extra help may be private. EAL is built through Grade 10, then the English bars take over. Bring the current reports. Ask, in the room, whether ISA can staff what the child actually needs — and what that costs in a year that is not a simple tuition line.
Ask whether this file is a sibling-priority file or a first-international-child file, and what the complete-file date actually is. Ask the English bar for the grade you want, in writing. Ask how Dutch is taught in Grade 3, and whether a Dutch passport closes the French door. Ask who would tutor your home language this year, and what they charge. Ask how many Grade 11s are on the full Diploma. Ask what the schedule of fees adds on top of €30,880. Ask the WND zone for your street. Ask to see Grade 5 and Grade 9, not only the Early Years rooms.
If you might stay in the Netherlands, ask what a Dutch university wants from an ISA Diploma, and whether Dutch A is in the plan. If you will leave, ask the same question the other way.
We are not saying ISA is the best school in the Amsterdam area. We are not guessing a wait pool. We are not inventing 2026–27 application, deposit or capital figures. Accreditation: CIS and NEASC since 1983, five-year cycle; IB PYP, MYP and DP. Confirm the live page.
Read the current fees page and the schedule it links, and write to admissions before you resign a flat in another gemeente. This is a map. The school still has to be the right Tuesday.
Pagine e documenti ufficiali che abbiamo letto. Se un numero conta per il bilancio o la domanda, aprite il link e controllate che sia ancora valido.
Orientamento amichevole, non una domanda. Date, rette e programmi si muovono. Confermate tutto con la scuola.
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 minLe lettere sul diploma contano. Non sono tutto il ragazzo. Ecco come distinguerle senza mal di testa, e senza fingere che ogni porta resti aperta.
16 minNon vi serve un algoritmo perfetto. Vi servono poche cose vere su vostro figlio, una lista un po’ noiosa sul frigo, e il coraggio di ignorare un bel campus che non vi sta.
15 minLa retta è il numero in homepage. Il PDF è quello che arriva a marzo. Ecco come leggere il secondo, senza inventare un euro, una corona o una scadenza.