Ebru: ‘Pantarijn continues to support our daughter’

I remember when we had decided to move from Turkey to Wageningen, we felt anxious about our daughter’s school there. She could speak English but none of us knew Dutch. After getting information about schools around the area through internet, ISK Pantarijn responded and arranged a meeting during the first weeks we arrived. We had a lot of questions in mind, especially how she would both take the regular course and learn Dutch at the same time. After the meeting we realized that she should first learn Dutch and then move on to the regular courses. We had nice comforting answers during our meeting.

However, ISK’s building was not part of the main building of Pantarijn and didn’t look like a school building. This was a bit discomforting for us, and we were worried that she wouldn’t be able to learn among Dutch students and learn the language as quickly as possible. But we also understood that she would have to learn Dutch well before she could move on to the regular school. So we decided to start and see how it goes.

During her year in the ISK we got a lot of support from all of our teachers, not only for learning Dutch but also helping her to integrate to the new environment and different culture. They were very observant and we were confident that they would choose the right high school level for her. This school year, our daughter started Pantarijn MHV in the gymnasium section only after one year. Even though she only spent one year in the ISK, we were comfortable at Pantarijn because we knew that ISK would continue to support our daughter and they still do. She is now happy and doing well at Pantarijn.

Ebru Cengiz, mother of Lidya