About us


Director’s Message

My name is Per Frithiofson. I am of Swedish nationality and from 1st September 2021 I am the Director of the European School in Bergen. I am proud of being part of the European School system. I am proud of being the Director of European School Bergen.

The European Schools are special in many aspects. We educate our pupils in different linguistic sections where pupils are taught in their dominant language (often their mother tongue) and the older they get the more subjects will be taught in the second language of the student. Our students are being mixed with students from all over Europe and they are studying in a truly international environment. Out of the bases of mutual respect we make our students curious about others and other cultures at the same time as they are proud of their own origin. With the European Baccalaureate our students have obtained a prestigious diploma which will open for entry into any University within the European Union.

Our location is Bergen, in the province of North-Holland. We attract students from the immediate area, including the city of Alkmaar, but we do also have as many as around 20% of our students who have found their way to us from Amsterdam and Haarlem areas.

In other parts of this web site you will find more information about our school and what we offer. If you don’t find the answers to all your questions, don’t hesitate to contact us. You are of course also welcome to visit us and we will do our best to show you what our European School can offer.

Per Frithiofson – Director

Aims and Values

Mission of the European Schools

Since their beginning in 1953, the European Schools mission can easily be summarised as follows:

Educated side by side, untroubled from infancy by divisive prejudices, acquainted with all that is great and good in the different cultures, it will be borne in upon them as they mature that they belong together.

Without ceasing to look to their own lands with love and pride, they will become in mind Europeans, schooled and ready to complete and consolidate the work of their fathers before them, to bring into being a united and thriving Europe.Jean Monnet

General Objectives of European Schools

The European School system’s primary objectives are to:

• give pupils confidence in their own cultural identity;
• provide a broad education of high quality;
• develop high standards in the mother tongue and in foreign languages;
• enable pupils’ mathematical and scientific skills;
• encourage a European and global perspective;
• strengthen creativity in the arts and European culture;
• advance students’ physical skills;
• offer pupils professional guidance for higher education, and
• foster tolerance, co-operation, communication and concern for others.

History of the ESB

 

16 October 1963
1964
1976-1977
1978
2000
2013
On 16 October 1963, the European School in Bergen opened its doors for the first time to support the newly opened Joint Research Centre in Petten. The school was located in a wooden temporary building with five rooms, five nursery pupils, five primary pupils, three teachers, a secretary, a concierge and a Belgian director, Mr Plastria. The school expanded in the temporary building to 18 classrooms, and the aim was to build a permanent building within three years.
ESB was the sixth European School to open, and one year later it had grown from 10 to 68 pupils (20 nursery, 38 primary and 10 secondary) and after this the school grew rapidly in the 1960s. Often it was so overcrowded that the end of a corridor had to be used as a classroom.
It took until 1976 for the foundation stone for the permanent new building to be laid on the present site of the school, and in September 1977 the administration and secondary school moved in, followed by the nursery and primary classes in December 1977.
In April 1978, the school was officially opened by HM Princess Beatrix, and on the same occasion she also officially opened the Europahal, the sports hall which was built in collaboration with the local community. Numbers in the school increased to a peak of around 900,
Since 2000 they have reduced to the present figure of around 550 with the closure of the Italian and German sections. Now the school has a Dutch, French and English section and it continues to be an important educational facility not only for the children of people working at JRC Petten, but also in the wider local community with many pupils traveling from as far afield as Amsterdam to attend the school
50th anniversary of the ESB, second visit of Queen Beatrix
16 October 1963
1964
1976-1977
1978
2000
2013