The Evangelical Primary School Online in Eindhoven attracts more students than ever: nearly four hundred children from Eindhoven and surrounding places go to school daily. At the founding, 25 years ago, the school had 89 students. Parents consciously choose the strong Christian identity. “This school has the goal of simply making all children heard more about Jesus. I like that very much,” says Love Zannou (11) from group eight.
Earlier, even parents from Den Bosch came to bring their children to primary school here. Now they come from Helmond, Mierlo and Boxtel, for example. But according to director Jennifer Bakker, there are also children from the neighborhood at the school. The Netherlands has eleven evangelical primary schools. The school in Eindhoven is the only one in Brabant.
The Christian is paramount: praying, Bible texts and faith education have a permanent place in education. “With us all people work with love for Jesus who also want to propagate that,” says Bakker. “They are people who consciously made a choice to follow God and use his Bible as a manual.”
“Many things will probably be the same as at another school. But if you know Jesus, you can sometimes respond differently to things,” the director explains. “We really try to transfer that, even in a piece of character.” At the school there is often praying together. For example, a group of children pray for politics. “I don’t think that happens at another school. We do believe that it has influence if you start praying for things. That also changes your view of things.”
Praying is also reflected in dealing with each other, for example when bullies are bullied. Because that too can occur at this school. “You can pray and ask God for help: that you can forgive each other or that you learn that you react differently. That God wants to help you not to be so angry if someone says something to you what you don’t like.”
Primary education in Eindhoven was reorganized in the 1990s. “There was a merger between the Catholic and Protestant schools,” says director Jennifer Bakker. “Protestant schools became less and less Protestant. We thought: can’t we set up our own school?” That finally succeeded. In 1999 the application was approved by the Ministry of Education and the municipality of Eindhoven. The school opened in 2000 and is celebrating the 25th anniversary this month.
Linda from the Broek is a teacher of group 8. “We are an evangelical school and that is not just an extra lesson or a sauce or something. You can also include your own identity in your lessons.” The whole team of believing teachers comes together before the school day. Then someone tells something from his or her life. Or they read a piece from the Bible. “We pray together. So it really feels like a family here.”
The children know no better than that faith runs through the day like a common thread. Elise van Kampen (11) is in group eight. “We read from the Bible every day. We pray for eating and for the day. We close the day with prayer. If someone wants to pray, you can. But most of the time the teacher does it.” Bastiaan de Jager (11) from group 8: “We have ‘the text of the week’ and Bible time. Then we read a few Bible texts. We think about that.”
Christian holidays are celebrated on the EBS online. “We usually do that with the entire school,” says director Bakker. “Then we rent a church.” The school now has 35 nationalities. “These people feel free to drive a lot to bring their kids to school. That is very normal for them. We also have a special group to learn Dutch.”
Fifteen percent of the children are not religious. These parents then opt for the quality of the school, according to the director, the school is back. Children who do not believe do run completely in the normal school program, including praying.
According to teacher Linda, the children grow because they go to this school is not unworldly. According to her, the transition to high school is not too great. “That is also something we prepare for the children for. We also say that they might hear other things in secondary education. But the children are of course also just part of society. At the football club and outside on the street they are very used to having to deal with all kinds of children.”