Why DNS? 

Taking John Dewey and his philosophy as a great inspiration for our educational system, we aim to make our students open minded and independent individuals in society. The slogan of DNS is “discovery lights up new ways” and we believe the curiosity of the student should be the main drive for learning. DNS works with an unique educational concept, where not the teacher, but the student is the center of the learning process. Similar to Project Based Learning education, students work on projects (individually or in groups) and learn based on their personal research question. The learning areas in which the projects take place are Arts, Science, and Humanics. After finishing the projects they are asked to give presentations to share the knowledge with other students. Finally, they are expected to evaluate the project, by making a personal reflection and come up with improvements of the process.   

The school is a tight community where students feel at home. Competent teachers, who are responsible for the education, work closely together with professional tutors, who guide the student through the learning process. The school values student’s initiative and the role of the student within the school community, encouraging them to take part in extracurricular activities, such as attending the student council, organizing cultural events, working in the canteen, maintaining the garden, or playing in the school band. Overall, DNS puts much emphasis on arts, cultural activities, and personal development.  

DNS offers several external educational diploma’s as an addition to the Mavo, Havo, or VWO athenaeum diploma, to provide the option for students attend extra challenging and demanding programs. During their career our students can (voluntarily) obtain ERK (Common European Framework of Reference), qualifications for English (Anglia levels), French (Delf program), or German (Goethe program).