49 new excellent schools
Almost fifty schools for primary, secondary and special education have received the designation Excellent School 2017. In total, the Netherlands now has 248 such schools.
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The title of Excellent School was awarded for the sixth time on January 22. The number of excellent schools has grown significantly since the predicate was first awarded in 2012. 49 new schools have received the honorary designation this year, so that the Netherlands now has a total of 248 schools that distinguish themselves from the rest in primary (83), secondary (141) and special education (24). The Goese Lyceum, for example, received the predicate mainly because it offers each student a tailor-made profile and because of the attention to talent development. And from this year on, primary school De Sterrekijker in Beverwijk can call itself excellent because the school responds well to the language deficiency with which many pupils enter the school.
Not undisputed
Excellent schools are given more freedom by the Education Inspectorate because they have everything in order. Schools apply themselves for the title. To get the title, they must distinguish themselves in quality and excel with a certain profile. The predicate is temporary, a school can also lose it after three years. Because not all schools participate in the race for the honorary title, the concept is not undisputed, the Education magazine analyzed in 2016 in the article 'Good is not good enough.'
