Together we grow stronger. On this news page we share the latest updates, inspiring ideas and innovative solutions to make your journey even better. From new courses to real-life examples: discover everything you need here.
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How can we ensure that a healthy lifestyle becomes the norm at every childcare location and every school? And what can you do to contribute to this? These and other questions are central during the conference week 'Healthy living, learning and developing. The norm!' from 6 to 13 November 2024. This week is organised by Healthy Childcare and Healthy School.
Children in the Netherlands are walking or cycling to school less and less often. In the new school year too, many parents choose to take their children to school by car, cargo bike or as a passenger on a bicycle. The 46,000 responses to the biennial Cycling Municipality survey conducted by the Dutch Cyclists’ Union show that children and older people feel less safe cycling.
Since 2 September, the summer holidays have ended in all regions. For children, this means spending a lot of time indoors at school again. Too much, says Vincent van der Veen, IVN Impact Coordinator for Children & Nature. He wrote the blog below about it.
From Monday, September 9 through Sunday, September 15, 2024, Food Waste-Free Week will take place. Chef!, the free online teaching portal with all the lessons and activities from Smaaklessen and EU-Schoolfruit, has Smaaklessen and Smaakmissies for the upper grades that fit in well with this theme.
More and more young children are vaping. Should we now launch a mass education campaign in primary schools? “Preferably not,” argues Simone Onrust in a blog on the Trimbos Institute website. “But that does not mean that no action is needed. Primary schools can do other things that are much more effective.”
As of 1 January 2024, it already applied to secondary education, and it is now also in force for primary and special education: the mobile phone ban. This means that the ‘no, unless’ policy now applies to the entire foundation-level education system.
The plans leaked ahead of Budget Day state that the School Meals Programme will continue. Although it is not yet known how much funding the Schoof cabinet has set aside, the Youth Education Fund and the Red Cross call it ‘fantastic news’.
Students from the Don Bosco School in Dordrecht are starring in the nationwide ‘Lunchbox without Junk’ campaign from this school year. On Wednesday, 28 August, alderman Marc Merx presented the new brochure to the school’s principal and to the students who were photographed for the campaign.
A mosaic of children’s drawings that together form a plate of food adorns the back page of Algemeen Dagblad today (Thursday, 29 August 2024). In the full-page advertisement, 350,000 children are calling on politicians to continue school meals. Time is running out to prevent children from sitting hungry in the classroom soon.
Starting in the 2024–2025 school year, the ‘Sportiest School in the Netherlands’ competition will continue under the name ‘Active School Award’. A title in which ‘physical activity’ is central is a better fit with what the KVLO stands for (Learning to Move Well), and the KVLO also wants to highlight schools that are ‘on the move’. Applications for the renewed award can be submitted from 2 September to 1 November 2024. The award ceremony will take place on 19 March 2025 in Zwolle.
In the first parts of the country, schools have already started again. These first weeks at the beginning of the school year are called the Golden Weeks. These weeks are particularly suitable for laying the foundation for good group formation and a pleasant atmosphere. School & Safety provides information and tips for the Golden Weeks.
In the 2023–2024 school year, 2,897 school locations participated in the EU Schoolfruit and Vegetable Programme. After the 20 weeks of free fruit and vegetables, the programme was evaluated by Right Market Research. A total of 2,124 schools participated in the survey.
To a greater or lesser extent, all schools have to deal with children growing up in poverty. It is important for schools to take these children into account. You can do this by identifying poverty and making it open to discussion, and by referring parents to the right support. To do this, you need a school policy. What should it include? The Netherlands Youth Institute has listed it all.
Researchers and healthcare professionals from the Utrecht Knowledge Centre for Rehabilitation Medicine, together with children, experts and teachers, developed a teaching package on health education for children with and without physical disabilities. Studies show that a large group of children do not get enough exercise and have problems with nutrition and sleep. The teaching package explores these themes in greater depth.
What should the school do about bullying? If your child is being bullied, you may expect the school to take action. What can you expect as a parent? Which rules must the school comply with? And is an anti-bullying protocol mandatory? Ouders & Onderwijs lists it all for you.
Do you have a green schoolyard or a beautiful piece of nature nearby, but lack the knowledge, expertise or materials to make optimal use of it? The IVN Nature Education Fund can help you with that! Apply for up to €2,000 by 2 October via the Cultural Fund.
Education professionals and other youth professionals experience difficulties in preventing and addressing radicalisation among young people. This prompted the development of the Radicalisation guideline. After a development process lasting 2.5 years, the guideline is now complete. The guideline will be published in early September. The focus of the guideline is ‘concerning radicalisation that may lead to extremist violence’. Based on key questions, the guideline provides recommendations to youth professionals on identifying and addressing radicalisation among young people.
Would you like to develop educational resources about nutrition? The SLO Nutrition Curriculum Framework provides guidance on addressing food education systematically during the different stages of a child's development. The Netherlands Nutrition Centre is also available to answer questions.
If your child cannot attend school, or cannot attend school fully, due to physical or psychological reasons, for example, digital distance education may be a solution. In the ‘Digital distance education’ webinar, you will learn everything about this form of education and have the opportunity to ask all your questions.
The School & Safety Foundation is offering the ‘Anniversary Magazine School & Safety’ to mark its tenth anniversary. This magazine contains articles about social safety in and around the school. Practical stories, tips, in-depth articles: everything to inspire you to continue working on a positive atmosphere in the classroom based on a social safety policy.
Children’s development literally involves falling and getting back up. Falling is not a problem in itself; what matters is how a child breaks a fall. By paying attention to this, we can prevent many injuries. And perhaps even more importantly: enable more children to move with enjoyment and confidence. With the Val OK! teaching package, you teach children how to react as effectively as possible when they unexpectedly fall. Val OK! is also of interest to many education professionals.
Every euro invested in the Child to a Healthier Weight approach generates €3.20 in social value. This is revealed by the Social Return on Investment (SROI) analysis commissioned by JOGG. The greatest savings are achieved in youth care and for health insurers. In addition, professionals in health and social care can work more efficiently using the approach. The SROI analysis is also of interest to the education sector.
The Knowledge Centre for Sport and Physical Activity is committed to making physical activity an integral part of everyday life. That is why, from 11 to 14 November, it is organising the fifth edition of the Week of Motor Skills. This edition’s webinars focus on ‘From healthy development to ageing healthily’. All policymakers and professionals who promote physical activity can register for free.
The transition from the summer holidays to the new school year takes some getting used to for many children and parents. Children may find it exciting. Parents themselves often need some time to adjust as well. That is why the Netherlands Youth Institute has put together some tips to help ensure that parents and children are ready for the new school year.
The holiday period is approaching; everyone is done with school and everything is tidied up and cleaned. However, the school garden does not get a holiday—it is left behind and needs care. How do you approach this? On the Alliantie Schooltuinen website, school garden coach Sandy Zwaan offers tips.
82 percent of Dutch young people support a total ban on vaping. This is according to a representative survey conducted by UNICEF among young people aged 10 to 18 in the Netherlands. The survey also shows that a large proportion of young people are unaware of the main risks associated with vaping.
As an education policymaker, you want all students to feel safe and enjoy going to school. Bullying does not contribute to a safe environment. What can the school do to prevent and reduce bullying? The Netherlands Youth Institute has listed the options.
Building healthy habits! That is the slogan of Stichting Special Heroes Nederland. But how do you do that? A great practical example from the field is the sports day organised by Fardou Visser, Regional Project Leader for the Northern Netherlands, for middle- and upper-grade pupils from five special education schools preparing for their merger into ‘Samen Kansrijk’. This day, organised in collaboration with Elsinga Creative Moves, offered an accessible and sporty way to bring pupils and teachers from different schools into contact with one another.
Most primary, secondary and special education schools have policies to ban mobile phones from the classroom. The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW) reports this based on a survey conducted by the Kohnstamm Institute. Vincent Fafieanie of the Netherlands Youth Institute advises schools to support students in dealing with their increased social interactions.
School offers an ideal environment for teaching children the knowledge and skills that enable them to make informed food choices (later in life). Several food education programmes are already available for mainstream education, but these are less suitable for the more than 72,000 pupils in (secondary) special education. To address this, the Louis Bolk Institute, in collaboration with the Jong Leren Eten national programme, Stichting Special Heroes Nederland, the Netherlands Nutrition Centre and the Smaaklessen & EU-Schoolfruit Support Centre, adapted food education lessons and tested their feasibility within (secondary) special education.