Their parents are international executives and scientists, among others, working for companies and laboratories in East and West Flanders. Until now, the only options for imported employees have been a number of international schools concentrated in the Brussels area and Antwerp, or local Flemish schools. While the latter is an attractive option for those on a long-term stay, it’s not practical for those whose stays are limited or who have children already in their teenage years.
A year ago, business and government representatives sat down to put the finishing touches on a plan to open an Englishlanguage school for pre-school and primary-age children in Ghent, serving the whole of East and West Flanders. This month, the first registrations began at the International School Ghent (ISG) for the academic year starting this September.
ISG is a private initiative involving four main partners: from the private sector, technology company Barco and Volvo Cars, and from the public sector, the University of Ghent and the Flemish Institute for Biotechnology. All are keen to attract foreign executives and researchers with the best package of facilities available, for their work as well as for their families.
The scientific establishments, in particular, sometimes find it hard to attract top-level post-doctoral and research personnel because of the problem of available schooling, something the institutions are keen to change to help Flanders position itself as an international centre of excellence. Children of parents from other employers can also register to attend the school.
ISG has also received backing from the Flemish chamber of commerce Voka, the city of Ghent, which helped find premises, the city of Kortrijk and the provinces of East and West Flanders.
The Flemish government has given moral support to the project but is prevented from offering anything more concrete by the laws that require all government-backed schools in Flanders to teach in Dutch.
“It’s going very well, though there are still many, many things to do,” says Sonja Van de Walle, the head of the ISG. “We started pre-registrations, and we have 12 pupils so far, and that’s without the partners. I expect more to come via them. We can take a maximum of 45 this year. The final numbers depend on when the companies start with new people. We’re only expecting newcomers: Expats who are here already will not change their children’s school, so I have to wait for new arrivals.”
The school is on the Ledeganck campus of Ghent University, close to the Citadel Park and within walking distance of the Sint-Pieters train station. While ISG itself offers an international curriculum in English, it will also work closely with the local school De Kleine Ikarus, with which it will share facilities and services, and cooperate on some school projects and extracurricular activities.
That, Van de Walle says, will encourage parents and children to integrate into the local community as well as providing valuable educational experience. In addition, ISG children will receive Dutch-language tuition from the start, with French being introduced in grades five and six. “Right now we have some very young children,” said Van de Walle. “My pre-school will, I think, be the most successful.”
In the beginning, ISG will offer an education that corresponds to the Flemish basisschool system – a pre-school for children aged three to six integrated into a primary school for ages six to 12. That system has proved to help children educationally by smoothing the transition into primary school and is one of the reasons Flemish schoolchildren score so highly. Coincidentally, it also solves the problem of day care for younger children. In the future, ISG aims to also provide places for secondary school students.
The school is also in the process of taking on staff. The pedagogical adviser is Annelies Depuydt of Ghent’s Arteveld University College, an education worker specialised in toddlers and young children. “We’re very happy because we have some very highlevel applicants,” she says. “We expect to be able to employ teachers who are all native or high-level English-speakers. And they will all have experience in international schools.”
Because of the backing of the four main sponsors, tuition fees have been kept to €9,800 a year, with a one-time registration fee of €800. That compares to fees of up to €32,000 a year for tuition at other international schools in Brussels and Flanders
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