€100
per year (suggested)
The base amount. A serious contribution that already gets us a long way.
Donate €100
Why we're doing this
A small school with a rich creative tradition. For every child.
We all chose this school deliberately. For that small, creative public primary school in the Jordaan where children don't just learn to read and do maths, but also draw, move, make music and discover their talents. We'd much rather not have had to set up this foundation. But because of the structural cuts to primary education, those additional activities are increasingly under pressure. That's why we, as parents of pupils, set up Stichting De Gelukkige Klas: to keep cultural, physical and enrichment education accessible to all children.
In short: deep cuts are coming to the Theo Thijssenschool, like every primary school in Amsterdam-Centrum. Together we're raising money to keep additional education — culture, movement, enrichment — accessible to all children. Contributions are entirely voluntary and are separate from pupils' participation in activities.
What's going on. Primary education in Amsterdam-Centrum is facing deep, structural budget cuts. The causes: rising staff costs, subsidies that haven't kept up with inflation, the end of one-off Covid funding, and falling pupil numbers in the city centre. At the TTSA that means: groups 6 and 7 (ages 9–11) will be combined next year, additional language tuition has already been cut, one day a week of gym for early years by a specialist teacher can no longer be funded, and the weekly visual arts lesson by a specialist teacher is on the line. The school's leadership is doing everything they can to provide children with good education. We saw that it's specifically cultural, physical and enrichment education that's coming under increasing pressure. This foundation is from all parents, for all children.
Why we're doing this. It's a public school where children don't just learn to read and do maths, but also paint, move and make music. We want it to stay that way, for all children. A happy classroom for every child.
That's why we, as parents, are putting our shoulders to it. We raise money through voluntary contributions to keep culture, movement and enrichment accessible to all children. The first priorities are keeping physical education for early years in small groups, and the weekly visual arts lessons by a specialist teacher. Everything we fund is for the whole school. Our priorities cut across the year groups: gym for kindergartners affects groups 1 and 2 (ages 4–6), visual arts affects groups 3 to 8 (ages 6–12), the cultural programme affects everyone. We work on all three at once and don't link them to individual donors or groups.
