”We want to get out what's in it"
De Brug is a school for special primary education (SBO) in Vianen. Director Elselien Wiebenga explains that within the school there is a lot of focus on behaviour, but that learning is just as important.
"Our school is designed for children with additional support needs. All pupils at SBO De Brug need special help with learning, behaviour or their emotions, or a combination of these. Children may have become insecure at their regular school. That's why they need people around them who believe in them and give them self-confidence again. Our teachers specialise in SBO and we also work with other experts, such as a psychologist, speech therapist and a school social worker."
Small groups
"Our school has 80 students and six small groups of about 15 students per group. Children can join after every holiday during the school year, although we prefer not to do so after the May holidays. We prefer children to be registered with us as early as possible, so that we can support them in an appropriate way in good time. After all, our ultimate goal is for children to also move back into mainstream primary education. That is also a positive experience for children than getting stuck and frustrated first."
High expectations
"Despite the fact that our students have to put in more effort to learn, we have high expectations of them. By that, I do not mean that we put pressure on them, but rather that we want to get out what is in them. That is why we pay a lot of attention to behaviour, regulation of emotions, self-knowledge and self-awareness. Children learn to better understand why things sometimes go the way they do and what effect their behaviour has on their environment and vice versa. From this self-awareness, children learn to recognise and indicate what they need. This creates more space in their heads and allows them to concentrate better on things like language and maths. And that learning is just as important! It is not for nothing that we are working towards 1F level. This is the level for language and maths that the vast majority of pupils should master at least by the end of primary school, according to the government. We have noticed that children in the lower and middle grades need a lot of repetition of the lessons. That is why, for example, in group 4 we also offer lessons belonging to the end of group 3. We also see that children in the upper grades often experience tremendous growth, making repetition of lessons less necessary."
Small-scale
"What I often hear back from parents and children is that they find it so calm in our school. Students report that they find the explanations clearer than at their old school and therefore know better what is expected of them. At our school, the teachers stand next to the pupils and, thanks to the small scale, everyone knows each other. There is also a short line to the parents and parents can easily contact their child's teacher via the parents' app. Just as children's development never stands still, so does our school. For instance, we are busy setting up a library and want to work on a greener schoolyard. We also aim to go out with our pupils more often, for instance to the zoo. Furthermore, I think it is important to cooperate with other organisations, such as the municipality and youth workers. Together, we form society and need each other to provide the best guidance to our pupils."
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