Tuesday, 27 January 2015 - 12:43
Over 100 primary schools dubbed "excellent"
106 schools were awarded the predicates Excellent School 2014 yesterday afternoon in the Hague. This is the third edition of the designation. The schools are all from different backgrounds and locations including Schilderswijk, Enschede and Wassenaar.
"Whether you work in a technasium, or in special education, teachers and school leaders make a school excellent through their obstinacy and perseverance. They deliberately choose to distinguish themselves in what they are good at. They devise a course and then work according to it with incredible dedication." State Secretary Sander Dekker of Education said on the website of Excellente Scholen.
Dekker studied the effect this designation has on schools and found striking differences between excellent schools and the schools average. Excellent schools have twice as many students with large backlogs than other schools in the area. "Excellent schools don't have to have only excellent students. Excellence is characterized by having an eye for everyone and working well accordingly." Dekker said. "From the first edition it has been evident that especially primary schools that work under difficult circumstances get the recognition they deserve with this predicate."
The complete list of excellent schools can be downloaded here. State Secretary Dekker also recorded the stories of eight excellent schools. "Eight schools that each came in their own way to excellent education. A very inspiring book for anyone with an education center." A digital version of this book is available here.