Elckerlyc International School

The school is a warm, welcoming, and culturally diverse community. It provides opportunities for children to discover and explore their strengths through an engaging curriculum. The school inspires learners to be responsible, resilient, globally and environmentally aware, and it fosters empathy and respect for different cultures. IEYC and IPC are followed with a focus on personal and academic goals; emotional maturity is developed through the PSHE program Jigsaw; languages are promoted to enable learning, including English as a primary language for academic and social development, and integration into Dutch society with home‑school partnerships. Legal objectives include continuous development of the child and addressing social‑emotional development while respecting heritage.

The International School Elckerlyc has a small SEN department providing educational, social, and emotional support. When applying, parents provide information and reports from psychologists, speech therapists, and specialist teachers. If progress is not as expected, there are discussions between class teachers, the SENCO, the SEN teacher and parents, and any further assessment may be carried out in school or by external professionals. Following assessment, an Individual Educational Plan (IEP) is drawn up. There is a bilingual Speech Therapist based at the school who screens all pupils in group 2 and works with pupils identified by the teachers and SEN department. Support for all pupils is provided in‑class, by the class and SEN teachers, as well as outside the classroom in small group activities and on an individual basis.

At Elckerlyc, we celebrate the multilingual identities of our English language learners. We encourage students to maintain their home languages while learning English. Children learning an additional language can become conversationally fluent in one to two years but may take five to seven years to achieve competence in English. All new students' language proficiency is assessed and appropriate support is put in place; an Intensive Programme is offered to all beginners and ELLs are supported by the English Language teachers, in class or in a small group. We have a team of specialist ELL teachers who liaise closely with the classroom teacher to enable continual progress in English, recognise and understand their own bi/multilingualism and gain confidence in pursuing all languages, and families are encouraged to actively pursue the development of the home language/s within the home.

Jigsaw is the whole school social and emotional development programme that we follow at Elckerlyc. There are six ‘Puzzles' taught throughout the year at age‑appropriate levels in groups 0‑7. Each Puzzle contains six ‘Pieces' of lessons that aim to develop emotional literacy and social skills through familiar activities, calm time, learning tasks, and reflection. Jigsaw covers real issues such as body image, cyber and homophobic bullying, and online safety, and helps build resilience and self‑esteem. Jigsaw is closely linked to the IPC and reinforces the IPC Personal Goals.

The school follows a Needs Based Approach (NBA) to identify and allocate support for pupils with special educational needs, with seven pillars guiding the process. The SENCO provides the first safety net for teachers and oversees the support process. The Internal Care Committee (ICC) includes the director and the SENCO and optimizes care plans, with input from PPO advisors and other external professionals when needed. External contacts for safeguarding and support include PPO advisors, the Youth and Family worker, the school doctor, and other specialists. Parents are involved at all stages, and the process includes signaling, consultation, and support team meetings leading to development plans and evaluation. For students needing extra support, an IEP is written and evaluated after 6‑8 weeks.