The location for personalized education of the Dr. Nassau College remains in Norg. In recent years, the school board has been committed to moving to Assen, but that plan has been canceled.
At the end of November 2020, it was announced that the location in Norg would in principle close. The board wanted to move the school to the provincial capital because of declining student numbers. The personal education does attract many students from Assen, among others, while many students from Norg choose a school elsewhere. Another reason is that the outdated building in Norg would no longer suffice.
The proposed closure was criticized by the school board. The Interest Association Norg concluded that the decision seemed set in stone, while the school was popular among students and parents. This is partly due to the form of education in Norg. The school uses the Swedish concept of Art School, in which personal goals and structure are worked on with a lot of attention from the teacher for the students.
The dr. Nassau College in Norg would close after the summer of 2022. That plan was postponed by a year because the closure for the umbrella body of the school came too soon. And now the move from Norg to Assen is completely off the table. This is the result of new research that the Executive Board of Dr. Nassau College has had carried out in the past period.
The research shows that a move in the current situation has ‘considerable financial consequences’. The school should have a larger number of students in Assen to be financially viable, but there is currently a decrease in the number of students in Assen.
“There is quite a bit of shrinkage there. So you have to ask yourself whether it is wise to start a new school there,” says location manager Richard Gerding. “The students who now have to travel a little further don’t seem to really make an issue of that. They are willing to cycle a few kilometers for a good school.”
In Norg it gets Dr. Nassau College a new location. After discussions with the municipality of Noordenveld, a building at De Brinkhof emerged as the best option. In the coming period, it will be investigated what needs to be done to make the building suitable for the school.
“It is a very nice building, centrally located in the village. It has a very large sports hall and a library,” says Gerding. “It is perfect to go there with a school, where you already have those facilities at hand. And it is also very beneficial for the village and the quality of life that we stay here. We have always had a great time here.”