Admission Policy

Registering for elementary school
Around the third birthday of your child, you will receive the preference form for the elementary school and a brochure explaining the admission policy (beginning of November 2023) from the municipality of Amsterdam.

You register your child by submitting this form to the school of your first preference.

If you would like a guided tour to get to know our school better, you can sign up for this by completing the Application form for an introduction/tour. It is possible that the tour will take place digitally due to the measures concerning the corona virus.

Priority schools

Your child has priority in the eight closest elementary schools. The schools are determined by the walking distance between the official home address of your child and the elementary school.
When you fill in your child's home address and date of birth at www.schoolwijzer.amsterdam.nl, you can see whether our school is a priority school for your child.

What to do

If our school is your first preference, hand in the preference form (not a copy or scan) at our school.

• This form has your child's name, date of birth and residential address pre-printed on it. If there are any errors, please change them on the form.
• Fill in a minimum of five elementary schools in order of preference. Put your first preference at number 1; put at number 2 the school you choose next, and so on. You can choose both priority and non-priority schools.
• Note: Even if an older brother or sister is already in our school, it is necessary that you submit this form to us. In this case, it is not necessary to indicate multiple preferences.
• The form must also be handed in if your child attends the school's pre-school.
• Please return the fully completed and signed form to our school.
• Once we have processed your preference form, we will send you (by mail/email) proof of registration. Please check this proof of registration and contact us immediately if there is an error.

In some cases it is necessary to show written evidence at the time of registration.

This applies in the following situations:

1. your child has a VVE yes indication;
2. your child attends an IKC (Integral Child Centre);
3. the pre-printed residential address on the preference form is incorrect;
4. you are using a preference form without the personal details of your child printed on it (blank form).

No preference form?

If you do not have a preference form, you can download it from the website of the school boards: bboamsterdam.nl
You can also get this form at our school. In this case, always bring proof of address so we can check your child's address and personal details.

Submission dates for the preference form

The date by which the preference form must be handed in depends on your child's date of birth. The deadlines are for:

• children born between 1 September 2020 en 31 December 2020: 7 maart 2024
• children born between 1 Januari 2021 en 30 April 2021: 6 juni 2024
• children born between 1 May 2021 en 31 August 2021: 7 november 2024

A place at the elementary school

After the submission date, in March, June and November, under the responsibility of the school boards, the urban placement of all registered children is computerized.

If there are enough places in a school, all registered children are placed.
In recent years, more than 90% of the children received a place at the school of first preference.

When more children are registered at a school than there are places, lots are necessary.
If your child is drawn at our school, he/she will be eligible for the next preferred school/schools you have indicated. Each child will be offered a place at the highest preferred school.

Allocation of Places

Allocating places at all schools is done in the following order.

For the 1st preference, this is as follows:

1. An older brother or sister is at the school when your child turns 4; your child has a place guarantee.
2. a. The child has a VVE yes-indication and follows pre-school education at the pre-school affiliated with the school and has the school as his/her priority school;
   b. The child attends an Integral Child Centre (IKC) twice a week for at least 8 months ánd has the school as his/her priority school.
3. The parent of the child has a permanent contract at the school.
4. The child has the school as priority school.
5. The child does not have priority at this school.

Thereafter, registered children who did not come in at 1st preference will be placed as follows:

6. The child has a priority school as 2nd through 10th preference.

7. The child has a non-priority school as 2nd through 10th preference.

8. The child lives outside Amsterdam.

In recent years we have placed almost all registered children.

Registration and enrolment

After the placement you will receive a letter from the school where your child can be placed. In this letter you will find the latest date on which you should inform the school that you wish to make use of this reserved place for your child. Please make sure that you make this notification in time. Your child will not have a permanent place at this school until then; official enrollment will follow once they turn 4 and begin school.

Exception:
If during this registration interview it appears that your child needs special care, which our school cannot offer, the decision may be made not to admit your child. In consultation with the parents, our school will then find another school that can offer this care.

More information
For questions about the admission policy you can also contact the help desk of the BBO (the joint school boards) tel. 020 - 244 6345 or toelatingsbeleid@bboamsterdam.nl
On the website of the BBO: bboamsterdam.nl you will also find more information about the available capacity and the results of past placements, among other things.

Read more about registration at the Merkelbachschool.