Several secondary schools in Drenthe are bringing their open day for primary school students a few months ahead. They want to be ahead of a possible new lockdown due to an outbreak of the corona virus.
The schools in Meppel, among others, have brought their open day earlier. Terra, Stad & Esch, Dingstede and Greijdanus welcome students from groups 7 and 8 and their parents on Friday 7 October. They will also open their doors on January 27. “Normally we only hold the open day in January, but now we have split it up with a view to corona,” explains Michiel de Boer of Terra Meppel.
The primary students therefore take their first steps in their possible new school months earlier. With the choice for October, the Meppeler educational institutions think they know for sure that corona will not throw a spanner in the works. De Boer: “October is still a safe period. As winter approaches, the chance of taking measures increases.”
RSG Wolfsbos in Hoogeveen is also changing the schedule in connection with a possible new outbreak of the corona virus. January is also exchanged for October here. According to Sytske Poppinga of RSG Wolfsbos, ‘personal contact’ and ‘taste the atmosphere’ is very important for the children who will make the switch to secondary education next summer. “In recent years, that was difficult due to all the corona measures,” she says.
She calls the choice for 7 October ‘conscious’. “Because who knows whether corona measures will not apply again in January.”
For example, there are more schools that take into account what may come in the winter. the dr. Nassua College in Assen (location Penta) holds a small-scale open day every year after the autumn holidays, but has decided to organize this on a grander scale. “We are expanding the information provision and advertising more clearly outwardly,” says Peter Oostra of the Dr. Nassau College. “Should this ultimately be the only time when we can welcome the students, we will at least have informed a larger group of people.”
Incidentally, by no means all parties in education adjust their planning. For example, NHL Stenden University of Applied Sciences, with locations in Assen and Emmen, can live well with the alternative: everything online. The Drenthe College (Assen, Emmen and Meppel) is also doing nothing different compared to the years before corona. During the school year, she already has several opportunities for students to visit. The educational institution considers the chance ‘small’ that all moments cannot take place. In addition, there are schools that have not yet made a decision about their open day.