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To start each morning fit and active during this special period, TeamNL has launched ‘Fit with TeamNL Kids’ in collaboration with Squla. Here, children are encouraged in a fun way to keep moving, while also learning new skills. This also allows children to discover new sports. From 1 April, the children will get to know a top athlete, a new sport and an accompanying challenge every school day!
How do you organize education? Do all students have sufficient resources, structure and opportunities to follow lessons from home? What do you do if you lose contact with students and parents, or if you are worried about whether things are going well at home? NJi has compiled relevant information and a number of tips on a useful landing page.
Due to the measures surrounding the coronavirus, 95% of children have been at home since 16 March. In the meantime, many organisations have developed physical activities for children to do at home. The emphasis is often on ‘fun’. Jeroen Matthes, a Motor Skills Remedial Teacher and Programme Manager at RiskCare Preventie, which provides physical education every week for several primary schools in South Limburg, believes it is more important that we can also stimulate their motor development remotely. That is why he developed the ‘Home Physical Education’ series.
During the period 2015-2019, JOGG increasingly sharpened its focus in its way of working and its strategy. One example is placing the emphasis on making the various environments in which children and young people grow up healthier, instead of focusing on a healthy weight. Municipalities are encouraged to seek collaboration from within these environments with relevant policy areas and stakeholders. In recent years, JOGG has also further professionalised its support structure for JOGG municipalities, based on knowledge and experience. This is evident from the report ‘Jongeren Op Gezond Gewicht in beeld 2015-2019’ by the Mulier Institute.
Practise multiplication tables on the stairs or search for words in every corner of the house. Wieblie turns schoolwork into fun movement games and makes sure that learning really doesn’t have to involve sitting at the kitchen table all the time. Wieblie was created for education, but during this period it is especially suitable for all those parents who have made the unexpected career switch to becoming a teacher. Wieblie is available to everyone FREE OF CHARGE for the duration of the school closures. Wieblie makes learning fun!
At the beginning of the week, stricter measures were announced to slow the spread of the coronavirus. The good news was that children are still allowed to play outside. The Mulier Institute is interested in parents’ views on outdoor play, especially now that there are few other ways to exercise: no more physical education classes and no activities at sports clubs.
The government measures taken to combat the coronavirus have major social consequences. The Netherlands Youth Institute is committed to providing children, parents, caregivers and professionals with the best possible information in this situation. That is why the NJi has created a landing page answering as many questions as possible.
Playing tag with your friends or simply enjoying playing outside in the fresh air… Can we still do this because of the measures taken by the RIVM and the government due to the coronavirus? On www.speelbeweging.nl, Jantje Beton gives you a number of fun and inspiring play tips that you can also do during these times!
The coronavirus (COVID-19) has a major impact on our society. The Brain Foundation also considers it important that we help one another and follow the precautionary measures. In addition, the Brain Foundation would like to emphasize that it is important that we stay in contact with one another (in a safe way) and keep our brains active.
The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science has prepared a service document that provides guidance for school boards in primary and secondary education on implementing the national measures announced on 15 March.
Kennisnet, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science and the various education organizations in primary education, secondary education and vocational secondary education, has developed the platform www.lesopafstand.nl. The website is intended to help schools continue providing education now that many pupils can no longer physically attend school.
Due to the forced closure of schools and childcare facilities – except for children of parents working in critical professions – a great deal has fallen to parents. Fortunately, there are still plenty of ways to keep children occupied responsibly and enjoyably.
The government has decided to close schools and childcare centres from 16 March through 6 April. This means that the majority of pupils in primary education, secondary education and secondary vocational education will no longer receive lessons until 6 April.
What do you do when a young person does not want to take part in an activity because of their faith? How do you respond when a student uses homophobic slurs? The new ‘Ostrich Session’ tool from the Knowledge Platform for Integration & Society and the School & Safety Foundation helps people engage in dialogue about situations like these, which often lead to moral dilemmas. The result is a clear course of action for the entire organization.
No fewer than 375 schools are taking part in the third edition of National Week Without Meat this week. That is almost three times as many as in 2019, when 132 schools had registered. Of these schools, approximately 150 are secondary schools and 225 are primary schools.
Working on a healthy lifestyle at school? Two support schemes are now available to make this even easier! From 9 March through 20 April, you can register your interest via an account on mijngezondeschool.nl to make use of the Healthy School Support Offer and the Healthy Relationships & Sexuality Incentive Scheme, round 2.
Over the past decade, many primary schools that previously used traditional school hours have switched to different school schedules. This school year, only slightly more than a third of primary schools still use the traditional school-hours model. The continuous schedule and the five-equal-days model are equally popular among primary schools: each of these models is used by a quarter of primary schools. This is shown by a representative survey conducted in December 2019 among 400 primary-school principals. The survey was conducted by DUO Onderwijsonderzoek & Advies.
The quality of childcare in the Netherlands is good. In recent years, childcare organisations have focused on improving quality and professionalisation. As a result, the Netherlands can now measure up to leading countries such as Denmark and Finland, according to research commissioned by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment.
No more excuses for not having time for nutrition lessons. On 4 March, Jong Leren Eten, Rotterdam Lekker Fit! and Glos Educatief launched the Jong Lekker Fit! programme. The programme consists of activity cards, videos and word cards following the Voedingscentrum’s nutrition learning pathway. The activities are so-called crossovers between the theme of nutrition and areas of development such as language, numeracy and physical activity. The entire programme can be downloaded free of charge from this website.
On Friday 17 April, the King's Games will be held for the eighth time. Many teachers have little time to put together an extensive programme for this event. For this group, and for anyone who needs inspiration when organising the King's Games, there is the free King's Games Package from (former) specialist teacher/education consultant Geke Verspille and internet marketer Linda Thuijs.
Education staff are currently receiving many questions about how to deal with the coronavirus. The Dutch government and the PO-Raad, among others, provide useful information on their websites.
On 4 February, GGD Municipal Public Health Service Haaglanden organised a learning community on Well-being (Refugee Children) at School. More than 24 municipal officials from 9 municipalities in the Haaglanden region went home with greater knowledge and inspiration on this subject, with the Healthy School approach at its core.
From Sunday 19 through Thursday 23 April 2020, the Dynamic School Day Study Trip to Denmark will take place. Among the participants are four employees of the municipality of Hoorn. One of them, physical activity consultant Dirk Fris, explains why the trip appealed to him.
Smoking on school grounds has been prohibited since August 2020 at primary schools, secondary schools, MBO and HBO institutions, and universities. A majority of Utrecht politicians now wants to extend this ban to play areas.
National team coach Ronald Koeman, wheelchair basketball player Bo Kramer, speed skater Carlijn Achtereekte, former Wimbledon champion Richard Krajicek and Minister Bruno Bruins will launch the eighth edition of the King’s Games on the morning of Friday, 17 April 2020, at Vlinderslag Children’s Centre in Amersfoort.
The Association of Sports and Municipalities (VSG) is positive about the mandatory number of physical education hours for primary schools. Earlier this week, the House of Representatives adopted an amendment on this matter. André de Jeu, director of the Association of Sports and Municipalities, believes it is good that primary and secondary education are now being treated equally: “There was already a mandatory number of physical education hours in secondary education, but not in primary education. That was rather odd.”
PO-Raad is not in favor of a mandatory number of physical education hours for primary schools. Spokesperson Annemieke Kooper said this in response to the amendment adopted by the House of Representatives on Tuesday, 4 February. The amendment requires primary schools to provide at least two hours of physical education every week. Schools will be given a period of three years to put this in place.
Schools in primary education must be required to provide at least two hours of physical education per week. This is stipulated in an amendment submitted by the VVD and SP, which was adopted by the House of Representatives on Tuesday, 4 February. The schools will be given a period of three years to bring this into compliance.
In the Netherlands, around 32,000 traffic safety parent volunteers are committed to road safety around schools. For example, they help think about safe routes between home and school or organise traffic activities for the children. This helps ensure that pupils can get to school safely and learn about traffic. Fortunately, most people see the value of these traffic activities and do their part.
The Centre of Expertise for Pedagogical Quality in Childcare (EPKK) has entered its initial phase. The idea for the centre of expertise arose from a need among childcare professionals to strengthen the sector’s position in the public debate. This was reported by the trade journal KinderopvangTotaal.