A court rejected a mother’s request to require Fons Vitae Lyceum in Amsterdam-Zuid to promote her son to the second year of havo. The school had concluded that his bridge-class results were insufficient and that a lower level was more suitable. As the school has no vmbo department, he must leave the school.

The mother argued that the school had known about her son’s limited command of Dutch, had not supported him sufficiently and had not adequately accounted for a difficult personal year. The court found that the school had considered not only his marks but also his work, learning pace and understanding of the material, and that it had provided sufficient support for his language disadvantage. It ruled that the decision not to promote him was well founded.