BSN Junior Schools Mother Tongue Programme 2019 - 2020

BSN

Mother Tongue Programme 2019 | 2020

BSN Mother Tongue Programme As an Internationally British school, we value the diversity of our community and understand the importance of supporting language learning both inside and outside the curriculum. The BSN Mother Tongue Programme offers a way of further progressing your child’s language development.

Who are the classes for?

Mother Tongue Language classes are open to children from Years 1 to 6 from all BSN Junior School campuses who speak the language at home.

What languages are offered?

Classes are currently offered in the following languages at a level appropriate to the age and experience of the child: ● Dutch ● French ● German

● Italian ● Spanish

Where and when do the classes take place?

The Mother Tongue Language Classes take place at Junior School Vlaskamp and Junior School Diamanthorst.

Classes start mid-September and follow the co-curricular schedule of the schools.

The programme operates Monday to Friday from 15:50 to to 16.50 – the day your child attends will depend on the language and level.

How do children get to and from classes?

Children from Junior School Leidschenveen join the BSN Language Shuttle Bus to come over to JSV or JSD – the departure of these children is prioritised at the end of the school day.

Children from JSV and JSD are collected at the end of school and supervised at the location where their class takes place until the arrival of the other students.

Children must be collected at JSV or JSD at 16:50 or if they join the return shuttle to JSL at the car park at JSL between 17:10–17:20.

A Language Support Assistant travels on the return bus and waits with the children until parents have arrived to collect them.

What size are the classes?

The minimum number of students needed to run a class is 8. The maximum number of students in a class is 16. A language assistant is employed for all classes with 10 or more students.

How is quality ensured?

Children are placed in classes according to age and level – the combining of children from all junior sites makes this much easier and provides more levelling options for the teachers. All teachers are fully-qualified and native level speakers, and language assistants (employed when there are 10 students or more in a group) are native or near-native level speakers.

Mother Tongue teachers are part of one team and able to share best practices and resources and have access to high quality training. The quality of teaching is also regularly monitored.

How much do the classes cost?

A Mother Tongue Class costs â‚Ź30 for a one-hour lesson. The bus service from JSL is included and parents of JSV and JSD students pay the same fee, irrespective of the bus but including supervision.

The cost for a return shuttle back to JSL will be charged separately and is in addition to the class fee. The price of the shuttle is â‚Ź4 per trip. Costs are confirmed each term.

Billing is done through the school finance department with an annual invoice being sent in the Autumn Term (or alternative date if joining mid-year).

How do I register for the Mother Tongue Programme?

The registration process for the Mother Tongue Language Programme is run via the BSN Gateway.

Parents can sign their children up using this online system. Parents need to register for a whole school year (or part thereof if joining the BSN mid-year). Classes run from mid-September to July.

Children joining the school part way through a school year can only join an existing class at the start of a school term to minimise disruption to the learning programme.

The registration form can be found on the BSN Gateway under the Co-Curricular tab > Clubs & Activities.

The British School in The Netherlands Email: languages@britishschool.nl www.britishschool.nl