Soon after the change of year, the neighborhood will be able to have a say about the new Ter Apel asylum school

“It is a preliminary design on which local residents can give their opinion,” says councilor Wietze Potze (PvdA) of the municipality of Westerwolde.

Hopelessly outdated

The intended location is the spot on Westerstraat (a few kilometers away from the large asylum center) where secondary asylum education is already provided. This takes place in the former Westermarke primary school. However, it is hopelessly outdated and no longer sufficient. The building is too small, too cold in winter and too hot in summer. In short, it is ‘finished’.

Westerwolde, the COA and the central government have therefore decided to demolish that old building and build a brand new secondary asylum school or International Link Class (ISK) on the same site, for more than 100 students. COA will bear the costs.

Rooms for practical education

“We have now reached the point where there is a design for the new ISK school,” says Potze. “A plan for a school with two floors, a ground floor and an upper floor, which also has classrooms for practical education. Children aged 12 and older who stay in the asylum center receive lessons there. And especially children of that age who live in the asylum center in Musselkanaal. The lessons will be given by staff from the Ter Apel Regional School Community, which is already doing this.”

Potze states that the plan also provides for parking space for those staff to be created on the school grounds. Parking nuisance for local residents must be prevented. “It is also clear that the school can only be used for education, the COA is not allowed to accommodate people there,” says the councilor.

Walking route and nuisance

Not only residents of Westerstraat but also of nearby Kloosterveenweg and Markeweg can have their say about the new school. Both streets are on the walking route between the asylum center and the Ter Apel shopping center. There is also some regular nuisance on that route, caused by residents of the reception location. The municipality and other stakeholders want to prevent the school from causing any nuisance as much as possible.

The intention is that demolition and new construction will start later in 2024 and that the new ISK school will be put into use in 2026. “I’m happy with that, the children and teachers are finally in a decent building,” says Potze. “Don’t forget that the asylum center will be here contractually until 2040. It cannot be that the school building has not been in good condition all this time.”