Some 130 Dutch schools deemed “excellent”

A total of 130 schools in the Netherlands can call themselves "excellent" for the next three years. They were selected by an independent jury, chaired By Jet Ranitz, Chairman of the Inholland executive board, who visited and assessed 210 primary schools, special needs schools and high schools, AD reports. The jury considers a school "excellent" if its education is on a good level and it distinguishes itself from other good schools in a particular area, such as an innovative curriculum, a special way of dealing with differences between pupils or an inspiring method of teaching. Zuid-Holland fared the best, with 26 schools receiving the excellent designation. In Noord-Holland 21 schools are excellent, and in Utrecht 12. Gelderland and Noord Brabant also has many excellent schools, with 20 and 23 respectively. The northern provinces and Zeeland remain somewhat behind. Zeeland has 3 excellent schools, Drenthe and Friesland each has 2 and Groningen has one. Limburg and Overijssel fared somewhat better with 10 and 8 respectively.