BSN’s Junior School Amalgamation, one year on

Last summer, we bade a sad farewell to our Junior School Diamanthorst campus, as our then three Junior schools amalgamated into two schools – Junior Schools Vlaskamp and Leidschenveen. The amalgamation process, which has involved a new leadership structure, has led to increased collaboration between our two campuses, including between staff, students and families. Below, our two Junior School Headteachers take us through their experience of the year.

Claire Waller

In my welcome speech at the beginning of the year I shared what a privilege it is to work as Head of JSV. It certainly has been a joy to work so closely with our incredible JSV children every day! Our students from F1 up to Year 6 always impress with their friendly warm, kind manner and curious minds.

Whilst reflecting on the school’s journey through the amalgamation, it is important to acknowledge the unwavering dedication and hard work of all of our JSV team who have worked hard to ensure continued academic excellence, breadth of experience and character and community, allowing students to feel supported and comfortable during this period of change. Our staff team really make the BSN a very special place to be, going above and beyond their duties; from running the wildlife garden, developing the pond or welcoming children in their personal language as they enter school. Some new additions this year have been an increased CCA offer, hot lunches, breakfast club, trained parent volunteers as well as further development on the pond.

Equally vital to our success has been the invaluable collaboration and support of the parents. We are fortunate to have such engaged and proactive parents who are keen to work alongside the school. Our events involving the community such as Family Fridays have been a joy to be part of and we are keen to continue to nurture our sense of community. Partnership with parents is extremely valuable and I have very much appreciated my discussions with parents this year.

Throughout the year, the senior leadership teams across JSV and JSL have collaborated closely and we look forward to continuing to develop this next year. We also benefit from close cooperation with our Senior School counterparts. This is particularly important when it comes to making the transition of our students as smooth and welcoming as possible.

As we round off the end of our first year of an amalgamated campus, I am very much looking forward to seeing what next year will bring for our community.

Karren van Zoest

It has been wonderful to see how the amalgamation has already had a very positive impact during its first year.

With a new leadership structure in place, our five new Assistant Heads have been well placed to prioritise a collaborationfocussed agenda. After an initial phase of settling in last September the collaboration has facilitated the creation of a connected set of school improvement priorities for JSL and JSV, allowing us to move together even more closely than ever before.

It has been a pleasure to work alongside Claire Waller, and find that our pedagogic values and beliefs are already so closely aligned. This year we have met on a weekly basis to ensure that the offer in both Junior schools is closely comparable. We have had a focus on areas such as timetabled curriculum allocation, and Assessment and Reporting, as well as Quality Assurance of Teaching and Learning.

Planning for the next academic year, we have already identified key priorities for both schools to work together and have even planned a joint meetings overview to facilitate this.

I am very excited by the developments we have made and am looking forward to next year as we continue this journey. ■