American School of The Hague
Encyclopedia
The American School of The Hague (ASH) is an American school in Wassenaar
, Netherlands. Children can attend the school for a maximum of 13 years, from Pre-Kindergarten to 12th grade. However, many students come and go because it is a very international school. It is one of the four international focus schools in the area, others are the International School of The Hague
, The French School in the Hague and the British School in the Netherlands
in Voorschoten
. It is one of three high schools in the area. There are many other elementary and middle schools in the area.
. The school has three divisions, elementary school, middle school
and high school. In 1989 a new campus was built, next to the Rijksstraatweg in Wassenaar which was opened by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands
and First Lady
Barbara Bush
.
, computer, library and PE
are taught by specialists. Field trips are regular and are linked back to the curriculum
. More than 50 teachers work in the elementary school. The current elementary school principal is Tim Messick.
There is an art program called Art Masterpiece sponsored by the Parent Teacher Association (PTA). The program allows students to make connections between great works and their personal lives. Parents introduce the students to pieces of art from different time periods and different media. The students are expected to think about what they see, about techniques and they should form opinions.
The elementary wing is located at the North East side of the school, closest to the parking lot of the school, on the other side of the Rijksstraatweg. It has its own atrium
, cafeteria
, library, playgrounds, gym, music and performance suites and technology labs.
Students in middle school can choose, besides the curriculum, from a variety of extracurricular activities. There is an art club, chess
club, the drama club who do a play in November, Odyssey of the Mind for people with lots of imagination, Boys Sing Too where boys sing at a festival in October, there is an Honor Band, Honor Choir, a spring musical, Boy Scouts
and Girl Scouts
.
The classes in ASH in middle school are of big variety. The 5 "Core Classes" in Middle School are: Math(pre-algebra, algebra, etc.), Science, Social Studies(history and geography), Language Arts(reading and writing), Physical Education(gym).
Four English
credits,
1 credit human understanding (Ex. philosophy) ,
three credits social studies
,
three credits in Mathematics
,
three credits in Science*,
two credits in modern language
**,
one IT
credit,
two credits in the Art Department,
1.5 P.E. credits ,
Half a credit of health class,
3 credits in other electives, meaning anything that does not fit in the previous categories or any credit that exceeds the minimum stated above. Students can chose American High school classes, AP
or IB
and Junior Varsity
. The following sports are offered at ASH:
Baseball, Basketball, Cross-country
, Swimming, Soccer, Softball
, Tennis, Track and Field, Volleyball. At the varsity level students participate in the International Schools Sports Tournament playing teams from Paris, London, Brussels
, Frankfurt, Munich
, Sweden and other places. There are also practice squads (intramural sports) for those students not playing on JV or Varsity teams. The school had an active rugby team which has been discontinued.
team has participated The Hague International Model United Nations for almost 40 years. It brings more than 3,000 students together from 125 schools during the last week in January. Students from ASH can become delegation members, administrative staff, or an officer.
is an exclusive group for students who are selected based on their service, character, and leadership. Students participate in projects at the school.
Peer Support Program. Peer Support Trainees help their peers and facilitate discussion groups and learn to help Kindergarten through grade 12 students in advisory on various subjects.
Students can chose to become a student ambassador, taking on the responsibility of welcoming new students.
The Student Senate helps fellow classmates enjoy their school year by organising dances and by advocating student issues including better lunch service.
There is a day in March/February called International Day where you dress up in your national "costume". The elementary school the rooms are dressed up and look like a certain country they go around.
Every year, in December the high school musical takes place. In 2009, the musical was Man of La Mancha
. In 2008 the musical performed was Gypsy
. In the past musicals like Blood Brothers (2007), Children of Eden
(2006), Les Misérables
(2005) and Into the Woods
(2004) have been produced. Auditions are necessary.
In Spring there is High school play or sometimes a selections of one act plays and sometimes even an opera.
There is a choir and band that students can join.
Lastly, students can choose to participate in the Speech and Debate Tournaments where students from various International School meet to debate.
Also in Middle School every year in May they have a musical. Past musicals include The Pirates of Penzance Jr.
(2009), Mulan Jr. (2008), Honk! Jr.
(2007), and Guys and Dolls Jr.
(2006). Most of the Musical School musicals are Jr. because they are shortened versions of full length musicals and are appropriate for Middle school.
At the end of the school year ASH has a big concert for grades 3–12 called Extravaganza. For the elementary grades(3&4) there is only singing. For the Middle School (5–8) there is singing and band. For High School (9–12) students perform in choir, band, and strings. There is also a select choir called JAKK, which is usually by audition. There is also a jazz band for the high school that performs around Wassenaar.
Wassenaar
Wassenaar is a town in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. A fairly affluent suburb of The Hague, Wassenaar lies 10 km north of that city on the N44 highway near the North Sea coast. It is part of the Haaglanden region...
, Netherlands. Children can attend the school for a maximum of 13 years, from Pre-Kindergarten to 12th grade. However, many students come and go because it is a very international school. It is one of the four international focus schools in the area, others are the International School of The Hague
International School of The Hague
The International School of the Hague is an international school located in the vicinity of Kijkduin, The Hague.-Information:ISH contributes to the large international community of The Hague...
, The French School in the Hague and the British School in the Netherlands
The British School in the Netherlands
-Junior School Diamanthorst:Junior School Diamanthorst opened in September 2003, following a complete refurbishment. Further work was carried out in 2007 to expand the building, and the school now accommodates around 340 children aged 3 to 11. The site boasts excellent resources including a new...
in Voorschoten
Voorschoten
Voorschoten is a village and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. It is a smaller town in the Randstad, enclosed by the cities of Leiden and The Hague. The municipality covers an area of 11.59 km²...
. It is one of three high schools in the area. There are many other elementary and middle schools in the area.
Overview
ASH was founded in 1953. Its purpose was to provide an American style education to children of international cooperation or the Government employees. The board of trustees has eleven members who are elected by the parents. The school is accredited by the Middle States Association and by the Council of International SchoolsCouncil of International Schools
The Council of International Schools is a non-profit association of international schools and post-secondary institutions which aims to improve international education...
. The school has three divisions, elementary school, middle school
Middle school
Middle School and Junior High School are levels of schooling between elementary and high schools. Most school systems use one term or the other, not both. The terms are not interchangeable...
and high school. In 1989 a new campus was built, next to the Rijksstraatweg in Wassenaar which was opened by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands
Beatrix of the Netherlands
Beatrix is the Queen regnant of the Kingdom of the Netherlands comprising the Netherlands, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, and Aruba. She is the first daughter of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands and Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld. She studied law at Leiden University...
and First Lady
First Lady
First Lady or First Gentlemanis the unofficial title used in some countries for the spouse of an elected head of state.It is not normally used to refer to the spouse or partner of a prime minister; the husband or wife of the British Prime Minister is usually informally referred to as prime...
Barbara Bush
Barbara Bush
Barbara Pierce Bush is the wife of the 41st President of the United States George H. W. Bush, and served as First Lady of the United States from 1989 to 1993. She is the mother of the 43rd President George W. Bush and of the 43rd Governor of Florida Jeb Bush...
.
Admissions
Admissions to the school are subject to the agreement of the school that the programme is suitable for the student. ESL support is provided, but in the High School a reasonable knowledge of Academic English is required. Children entering K-1 must turn age 4 before October 1 of that year. Race, nationality, or creed are part of the admissions criteria. Class and grade level assignment is determined by looking at past records.Elementary school
Most classes in elementary school are self contained. However, the arts, DutchDutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
, computer, library and PE
Physical education
Physical education or gymnastics is a course taken during primary and secondary education that encourages psychomotor learning in a play or movement exploration setting....
are taught by specialists. Field trips are regular and are linked back to the curriculum
Curriculum
See also Syllabus.In formal education, a curriculum is the set of courses, and their content, offered at a school or university. As an idea, curriculum stems from the Latin word for race course, referring to the course of deeds and experiences through which children grow to become mature adults...
. More than 50 teachers work in the elementary school. The current elementary school principal is Tim Messick.
There is an art program called Art Masterpiece sponsored by the Parent Teacher Association (PTA). The program allows students to make connections between great works and their personal lives. Parents introduce the students to pieces of art from different time periods and different media. The students are expected to think about what they see, about techniques and they should form opinions.
The elementary wing is located at the North East side of the school, closest to the parking lot of the school, on the other side of the Rijksstraatweg. It has its own atrium
Atrium (architecture)
In modern architecture, an atrium is a large open space, often several stories high and having a glazed roof and/or large windows, often situated within a larger multistory building and often located immediately beyond the main entrance doors...
, cafeteria
Cafeteria
A cafeteria is a type of food service location in which there is little or no waiting staff table service, whether a restaurant or within an institution such as a large office building or school; a school dining location is also referred to as a dining hall or canteen...
, library, playgrounds, gym, music and performance suites and technology labs.
Middle school
Grades 5 through 8 are seen as middle school. The middle school has its own library, yet shares the theater and other parts of the arts and modern languages departments with the high school. The middle school has two wings, one located South West, opposite of the central high school library and one next to the high school library (North). The current middle school principal is Mary Russman.Students in middle school can choose, besides the curriculum, from a variety of extracurricular activities. There is an art club, chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
club, the drama club who do a play in November, Odyssey of the Mind for people with lots of imagination, Boys Sing Too where boys sing at a festival in October, there is an Honor Band, Honor Choir, a spring musical, Boy Scouts
Boy Scouts of America
The Boy Scouts of America is one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with over 4.5 million youth members in its age-related divisions...
and Girl Scouts
Girl Scouts of the USA
The Girl Scouts of the United States of America is a youth organization for girls in the United States and American girls living abroad. It describes itself as "the world's preeminent organization dedicated solely to girls". It was founded by Juliette Gordon Low in 1912 and was organized after Low...
.
The classes in ASH in middle school are of big variety. The 5 "Core Classes" in Middle School are: Math(pre-algebra, algebra, etc.), Science, Social Studies(history and geography), Language Arts(reading and writing), Physical Education(gym).
High school
The High School has about 410 students. The wing is located between the two middle school wings (North West).Curriculum
In order for students to receive a high school diploma at the end of year 12 they have to have a certain number of credits. Each credit counts for 5 $ (US). The following credits are required:Four English
English studies
English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language , English linguistics English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language (including literatures from the U.K., U.S.,...
credits,
1 credit human understanding (Ex. philosophy) ,
three credits social studies
Social studies
Social studies is the "integrated study of the social sciences and humanities to promote civic competence," as defined by the American National Council for the Social Studies...
,
three credits in Mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
,
three credits in Science*,
two credits in modern language
Modern language
A modern language is any human language that is currently in use. The term is used in language education to distinguish between languages which are used for day-to-day communication and dead classical languages such as Latin, Attic Greek, Sanskrit, and Classical Chinese, which are studied for...
**,
one IT
Information technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
credit,
two credits in the Art Department,
1.5 P.E. credits ,
Half a credit of health class,
3 credits in other electives, meaning anything that does not fit in the previous categories or any credit that exceeds the minimum stated above. Students can chose American High school classes, AP
Advanced Placement Program
The Advanced Placement program is a curriculum in the United States and Canada sponsored by the College Board which offers standardized courses to high school students that are generally recognized to be equivalent to undergraduate courses in college...
or IB
IB Diploma Programme
The International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme is a two-year educational programme for students aged 16–19that provides an internationally accepted qualification for entry into higher education, and is recognised by universities worldwide. It was developed in the early to mid-1960s in Geneva by...
- At least three different types of science
- Level III must be reached in order to complete
Sport
ASH offers a variety of sports, most at VarsityVarsity team
In the United States and Canada, varsity sports teams are the principal athletic teams representing a college, university, high school or other secondary school. Such teams compete against the principal athletic teams at other colleges/universities, or in the case of secondary schools, against...
and Junior Varsity
Junior varsity
Primarily in North America, junior varsity or JV players are the members of a team who are not the main players in a competition , usually at the high school and college levels in the United States and Canada. The main players comprise the varsity team...
. The following sports are offered at ASH:
Baseball, Basketball, Cross-country
Cross country running
Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...
, Swimming, Soccer, Softball
Softball
Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...
, Tennis, Track and Field, Volleyball. At the varsity level students participate in the International Schools Sports Tournament playing teams from Paris, London, Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
, Frankfurt, Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, Sweden and other places. There are also practice squads (intramural sports) for those students not playing on JV or Varsity teams. The school had an active rugby team which has been discontinued.
Model United Nations
ASH's Model United NationsModel United Nations
Model United Nations is an academic simulation of the United Nations that aims to educate participants about current events, topics in international relations, diplomacy and the United Nations agenda....
team has participated The Hague International Model United Nations for almost 40 years. It brings more than 3,000 students together from 125 schools during the last week in January. Students from ASH can become delegation members, administrative staff, or an officer.
National Honor Society
The ASH National Honor SocietyNational Honor Society
The National Honor Society is a recognition program for high school students in grades 10-12 in the United States and in several other countries...
is an exclusive group for students who are selected based on their service, character, and leadership. Students participate in projects at the school.
Other activities
The newspaper (ASHTrash, or Today's Realities And Student Happenings, now known as The Trojans Times).Peer Support Program. Peer Support Trainees help their peers and facilitate discussion groups and learn to help Kindergarten through grade 12 students in advisory on various subjects.
Students can chose to become a student ambassador, taking on the responsibility of welcoming new students.
The Student Senate helps fellow classmates enjoy their school year by organising dances and by advocating student issues including better lunch service.
There is a day in March/February called International Day where you dress up in your national "costume". The elementary school the rooms are dressed up and look like a certain country they go around.
Performing arts
Students can audition for the dance team in September.Every year, in December the high school musical takes place. In 2009, the musical was Man of La Mancha
Man of La Mancha
Man of La Mancha is a musical with a book by Dale Wasserman, lyrics by Joe Darion and music by Mitch Leigh. It is adapted from Wasserman's non-musical 1959 teleplay I, Don Quixote, which was in turn inspired by Miguel de Cervantes's seventeenth century masterpiece Don Quixote...
. In 2008 the musical performed was Gypsy
Gypsy: A Musical Fable
Gypsy is a musical with music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents. Gypsy is loosely based on the 1957 memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee, the famous striptease artist, and focuses on her mother, Rose, whose name has become synonymous with "the ultimate show business...
. In the past musicals like Blood Brothers (2007), Children of Eden
Children of Eden
Children of Eden is a two-act musical play with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by John Caird. The musical is based on the Book of Genesis. Act I tells the story of Adam and Eve, Cain, and Abel, and Act II deals with Noah and the Flood...
(2006), Les Misérables
Les Misérables (musical)
Les Misérables , colloquially known as Les Mis or Les Miz , is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg, based on the novel of the same name by Victor Hugo....
(2005) and Into the Woods
Into the Woods
Into the Woods is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. It debuted in San Diego at the Old Globe Theatre in 1986, and premiered on Broadway in 1987. Bernadette Peters' performance as the Witch and Joanna Gleason's portrayal of the Baker's Wife brought acclaim...
(2004) have been produced. Auditions are necessary.
In Spring there is High school play or sometimes a selections of one act plays and sometimes even an opera.
There is a choir and band that students can join.
Lastly, students can choose to participate in the Speech and Debate Tournaments where students from various International School meet to debate.
Also in Middle School every year in May they have a musical. Past musicals include The Pirates of Penzance Jr.
The Pirates of Penzance
The Pirates of Penzance; or, The Slave of Duty is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. The opera's official premiere was at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City on 31 December 1879, where the show was well received by both audiences...
(2009), Mulan Jr. (2008), Honk! Jr.
Honk!
Honk! is a musical adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen story The Ugly Duckling, incorporating a message of tolerance. The book and lyrics are by Anthony Drewe and music is by George Stiles...
(2007), and Guys and Dolls Jr.
Guys and Dolls
Guys and Dolls is a musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. It is based on "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" and "Blood Pressure", two short stories by Damon Runyon, and also borrows characters and plot elements from other Runyon stories, most notably...
(2006). Most of the Musical School musicals are Jr. because they are shortened versions of full length musicals and are appropriate for Middle school.
At the end of the school year ASH has a big concert for grades 3–12 called Extravaganza. For the elementary grades(3&4) there is only singing. For the Middle School (5–8) there is singing and band. For High School (9–12) students perform in choir, band, and strings. There is also a select choir called JAKK, which is usually by audition. There is also a jazz band for the high school that performs around Wassenaar.
Notable alumni
- Brendan Frasier attended but did not graduate at ASH.
- Joe Van Der Sar (son of Van Der Sar) is currently (2011-2012) attending ASH