July 8, 2023
Congratulations to the Polish School of Eindhoven, which just celebrated its 35th anniversary of providing Polish education to children with a Polish background. Some were born here in the Netherlands, some were born in Poland or elsewhere, but they are able to come together a few Saturdays per month to understand their background and to develop important communicative and academic skills in their home language -- and, of course, to make friends!
The Polish School of Eindhoven
In operation since 1988, the Polish School of Eindhoven is one of the longest-running heritage language (HL) programs in Eindhoven and it was the first Polish school to open in the Netherlands. In recent years, the school has more than doubled in size and has become a foundation. If you want to know more about the recent revamping of the Polish school, check out our interview with Dr. Ania Kijak, manager of the Polish School of Eindhoven.
An active and engaged community
The Polish School of Eindhoven and its team participates in the activities of the HLE Network, including contributing to Eindhoven Library's International Children's' Book Collection and reading the picture book of the year during the National Read Aloud Days. One of the students from the Polish school appeared in a Studio 040 news piece promoting a book recommendation contest organized by the network.
The Polish School is also an active member of a national forum of Polish schools in the Netherlands. They participate in a national poetry contest each year together with other schools in the national forum, often earning a distinction. This year they additionally participated in a dictation contest together with other Polish programs in the Benelux region for the first time. One of their students received at the Polish embassy from the hands of the consul an award for the distinction she won in the dictation.
35th Anniversary celebration
Thus, there is a lot to celebrate! On July 1, the Polish School organized a family picnic at a children's entertainment park in Hullie, to enjoy a party just for kids the before summer break.
A week later, on July 8, there was a more official celebration, with performances by the students, information shared about the history of the school, and a performance by Cracovia. Esteemed guests included Ms. Consul Dagmara Bobak and Mr. Consul Adam Jaworski, Katarzyna Janssen (former headmistress of the school), Katarzyna Kiszkiel (Forum of Polish Schools in the Netherlands) and Diana Angelova-Uzunov (Heritage Language Education Network) and, of course, parents and families of the students.
Adding to the festive atmosphere were beautiful decorations, anniversary cupcakes, refreshments, and gifts. The students were awarded with diplomas, and the staff were given gifts and flowers as a thank you for their heart-felt work. School manager Ania Kijak reported that there was a lot of excitement and everyone had smiles on their faces.
The Polish school thanks the Polish Embassy in The Hague for co-sponsoring the anniversary celebrations on July 1 and July 8 and for attending the latter event.
