First Look: Rijnlands Lyceum in Wassenaar

Today we visited our first open house for students who will be going to middelbaar (or secondary) school. My eldest is still in groep 7 so we're getting a head start on this journey so we're more prepared next year when it will be more for real.

First school on the list is  Rijnlands Lyceum in Wassenaar.

As we arrived in at the bucolic location in sleepy but not at all shabby Wassenaar, we were greeted by the school director (principal) known as a Rector.

Mama

Positives for me were the native English speaking teachers in TTO - although some English teacher reminded me of the snooty English teachers from my own high school. The coursework is however super. Impressed on the level of the student writing and activities. Lots of potential for trips abroad. SO reminded me that these will not be free though. Biology teacher from San Francisco was cooler - of course. I almost wanted to friend him on Facebook. Students in TTO also seemed calmer and less hyper.

Classroom for Greek & Latin

TTO courses taught were history, greek/latin, math, biology, English, Geography. They do TTO first 3 years and then switch over to dutch as these are the languages they are tested in. They can continue for the IB in English certificate.

They don't seem to care if you use British or US English, focused more on consistency. 

Biology teacher said that most of the dutch students picked up on the english quickly usually in the first 6 months they had no problems. Kids are a sponge! 

View from a TTO classroom.

TTO classes were smaller than the regular HAVO / VWO classes. The havo/vwo languages taught were French, German, English and Chinese. English level there is much lower and would be too easy for my daughter. Can't recall if they also taught Spanish. Chinese teacher was much nicer than the other language teachers. Not native but very enthusiastic. The students in the dutch class were not diverse at all. And got negative vibes also from the too tall parents and even from "engels" teacher who mid sentence, walked away to start talking to someone else. Pffft. 

They had an English theater group which we didn't get a chance to see but it looked fun. 

Separate gym, canteen focused on healthy foods and bio products although I did see a lot of snoep all over the place in the school itself. 

Separate gym, outdoor combo football/basketball field (small of course). Lots of bike racks in the front. In a safe, calm neighborhood. 

View from a classroom.

Biking from our place would be a minimum 30 minutes, first part possibly being quite lonely through Marlot. 

Bathrooms actually had decent doors and looked very clean and maintained. Overall, physically the school was well light and had a positive vibe. Lots of windows in the classrooms, lots of decor in the halls and posters and good buzz from most teachers and support in the halls.

In general for me, positive first school open house experience. Very busy, but organized into group tours. Did not plan to spend 4 hours there though the tours were organized, did not anticipate to spend so much time in the classrooms. Worried about the lack of diversity in the prospective students. Do they have to be so white? Another plus, no mention of religion requirements.

Doing science stuff.

After an initial nervousness and feeling overwhelmed, my daughter warmed up and start to interact more. She seemed a lot more comfortable in the TTO than the dutch classes but maybe this was due to the busy constant hyperactive shuffling around in these classrooms by parents and students.

Papa

It was a school. There were people. I think I met a teacher. No religious tendencies. Small classes. Lots of external actvities. TTO + VWO + HAVO. Seems to have good facilities. She will need a really good bike. Distance == far. Not a big fan of those pretentious entitled parents. Nice environment. Free ontbijtkoek at the end.

Wide halls.

Kid (groep 7)

Liked that they used digital programs and computers. English (TTO) was nice. 

Teachers were nice.

Notable swag: drawstring backpack, lots of snacks and drinks.

Maybe too big?

I beat the boy calling himself "RichAndSmart" in the History quiz and was first in the group.
I got a bag. They have art classes plus painting and sculpture and photography.

Kid sister (groep 4)

S(ister) is good in computer les and it was nice.  Oreos!

Score!

Things I forgot / didn't have time to ask: 

- How many brugklasses are there? 

- Are there music, orchestra activities? And what are they?

- Would like to see the gym and other floors. Also the art classes.