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IVN seeks schoolyard with pond to help toads out of drains

IVN seeks schoolyard with pond to help toads out of drains

Every year, between half a million and one million toads, frogs and salamanders disappear into street drains in the Netherlands. A silent disaster: most of the animals die a slow death or are washed away into the sewer system. With the launch of the ‘Toad out of the drain!’ campaign, this problem is being tackled nationwide. Municipalities, schools, businesses and residents are receiving practical tools from IVN Nature Education to save the amphibians.

Bullying and Classroom Dynamics

Bullying and Classroom Dynamics

Nathalie Hoekstra, a postdoctoral researcher in developmental psychology at Radboud University in Nijmegen, publishes a series of articles on the wij-leren.nl website that takes a closer look at the social processes within the classroom and the mechanisms behind bullying, identifying it and intervening. The role of bullies, victims, bystanders, and teachers is explored. The articles also show how social safety can be purposefully strengthened. Part 3 focuses on the victim.

Primary school pupils in grades 6/7/8 on Schoolyard Safari

Primary school pupils in grades 6/7/8 on Schoolyard Safari

On 22 May 2026, hundreds of primary school pupils (grades 6/7/8) across the Netherlands will once again become researchers for a day. They will take part in Schoolyard Safari. Pupils will go outside to investigate biodiversity in their own schoolyard. They will also interview their classmates about how connected they feel to nature. In this way, they develop an inquisitive attitude, learn about biodiversity, and collect data for genuine scientific research by Wageningen University & Research and Utrecht University.

Moving in and around School team helps create a dynamic school day

Moving in and around School team helps create a dynamic school day

Schools work towards a tailor-made Dynamic School Day over a period of three years: every 30–45 minutes, a movement break interrupts sitting (and learning) and allows pupils to experience the positive effects of physical activity. It is a change to the school day, based on a shared vision and developed into a plan that is refined each year. But how do you ensure that this change is embedded in the long term? Dynamic School Day has a solution: a Moving in and around School (BioS) team.

Grocery card has a positive effect on school-age children

Grocery card has a positive effect on school-age children

Parents see positive effects on their school-age children thanks to the grocery card. This is shown by research conducted by the Red Cross among more than 8,000 parents who receive such a card. Nearly 60% say that their children eat more healthily, and 28% of the children go to school feeling more positive. More than half of the parents also experience less financial stress. Yet for more than a quarter of the parents, the food assistance is not sufficient. Structural solutions to poverty remain urgently needed.

Bullying and Classroom Dynamics

Bullying and Classroom Dynamics

Nathalie Hoekstra, a postdoctoral researcher in developmental psychology at Radboud University in Nijmegen, publishes an article series on the wij-leren.nl website that examines in greater depth the social processes within the classroom and the mechanisms behind bullying, identifying it and intervening. The roles of bullies, victims, bystanders, and teachers are explored. The articles also show how social safety can be strengthened purposefully. Part 2 focuses on the many faces of bullying.

How do you work on bullying prevention and resilience at school?

How do you work on bullying prevention and resilience at school?

This week is Anti-Bullying Week (22–26 September). A positive school climate in which bullying has no chance to take hold is essential for students’ development. But how can a school put topics such as bullying prevention or resilience into practice? In an interview with the Kader Primair monthly magazine, Mirte Klomp and Vivian Kruitwagen-Van der Gaar explain the Healthy School approach based on concrete questions from school principals.

80 new healthy schoolyards launched

80 new healthy schoolyards launched

Jantje Beton, IVN Nature Education and the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS) are starting this school year with the construction of 80 new Healthy Schoolyards in 25 municipalities across the country. In doing so, the organisations are building on the Healthy Schoolyards programme, through which hundreds of schoolyards in the Netherlands have already been improved with more nature and greater challenges. Healthy Schoolyards ensure that children exercise more, play in more varied ways and learn better.

Quit vaping? The Quit Plan helps young people get started

Quit vaping? The Quit Plan helps young people get started

More and more young people vape, and more and more young people do so every day. Some of them would really like to quit, or are thinking about it. The new ‘Quit Vaping’ Quit Plan was specially developed to help young people aged 14 and over get started. Claire de Nerée tot Babberich is a project manager at the Trimbos Institute and an expert in helping young people quit smoking and vaping. She wrote the blog below about it.

Cultural gap between school and home

Cultural gap between school and home

For some children, the culture at school is different from the culture at home. For example, there may be different rules, values, norms and expectations. This can be difficult for children, because children develop better when their different living environments are aligned. It can also be difficult for teachers when the home culture of their pupils differs from their own. The Netherlands Youth Institute provides information about the cultural gap between school and home.

A green schoolyard is healthy for the whole neighborhood

A green schoolyard is healthy for the whole neighborhood

The summer holidays are over, and schools are starting up again. For many children, summer was a time of playing outside, climbing trees and exploring nature. How can we prevent that feeling of freedom and connection with nature from disappearing abruptly as soon as school starts? According to Vincent van der Veen, product market manager for children and nature at IVN, the answer is closer than you think: in the schoolyard. He wrote the opinion piece below for AD.

The first time going to primary school

The first time going to primary school

Next week, many preschoolers will begin a great adventure: they will go to primary school for the first time. It often takes some getting used to for them. They will encounter an unfamiliar teacher and many new children. And they have to learn to carry out instructions. In their new environment, they develop in all kinds of areas. The Netherlands Youth Institute has listed how parents can support their child in this. The information is also interesting for education professionals.

Performance pressure puts young people under strain at the start of the school year

Performance pressure puts young people under strain at the start of the school year

Of young people in the Netherlands, 61% regularly or even frequently experience performance pressure, usually when they are engaged in school or studying (47%). Young people made this clear as the doors of schools and further education institutions reopen. Of the young people surveyed, 68% say they themselves have an influence on performance pressure. These and other results emerge from a recent study by State of Youth NL, an initiative of KidsRights. KidsRights chair Marc Dullaert is calling on politicians, educational institutions and the VO Council to work with young people now to put an end to unhealthy performance pressure.

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