20:50 Nov 8, 2011 

Kirsten, I agree that a school offering only the first three years of primary education would be unusual; the way I understand it is that the person may have attended classes in this school only until the third year, and then moved somewhere else.

20:10 Nov 8, 2011 

And I am Flemish too. ;) I was only saying about that tag that it is highly unusual (I have never come across one or have never heard of one in my 24 years in Belgium, from birth to emigration), for a school to offer only 1st to 3rd year primary education or to offer only 4th to 6th year, just as it is for 1st to 3rd year and 4th to 6th year secondary. I was in a school which was split, but it was considered as one school and two buildings (former girls' and boy' schools). Primary schools most often/usually offer kindergarten too. It is only secondary schools which are alone, or some are part of a bigger school with a primary attached, due to that fact that there are more primary schools funded by communities than there are secondary schools (funded straight from the state I think). Yes the plot thickens... ;)
Otherwise, we can see where this school really is, then all will become clear. I could be wrong, of course.

17:59 Nov 8, 2011 

@Kirsten: I think it's better not to assume the client is mistaken when you can easily verify with him or her, that's all.

How people use (and abuse?) language is not something that surprises me - I'm Flemish, by the way. Lager onderwijs does consist of both Basisonderwijs and Kleuteronderwijs (nursery school). The problem isn't so much the Flemish system, I believe, but rather the cultural differences between various geographic regions.

Some information on education in Flanders is available in English at http://ond.vlaanderen.be/English/.

17:48 Nov 8, 2011 

Wow, thanks Kirsten.
I suppose we could also just leave it as 'Vrije gesubsidieerde Lagere Basischool' ... and add EVERYTHING you just said in parentheses after that ;)

17:23 Nov 8, 2011 

@Christoph
You would be surprised what people dare to put on official signs in Flanders... ;) In all likelihood they just wanted to be correct at all costs and put together Lagere school and Basisschool which both mean the same, making a nice pleonasm. ;)
@Michael:
The problem with Flanders is that the whole thing is private and not private. Officially 'free schools' (as in Vrij) are private, but they are subsidised, thus making no sense in English. Public neither because in English terms they cost bags of money. A free school is not to the point either because free schools, as they have been recently introduced, are schools which are run by very small groups of people (parents even). They are subsidised and work according to the national curriculum which they can add to nonetheless but their pupils learn what they are supposed to learn. Then there are Flemish 'free' schools which are subsidised, accredited, but most are confessional or method schools which are governed by a special body like De Koepel van Katholieke Scholen with a director and its own inspectors, so-called independent from the state inspectors but not really as they endorse the same curriculum.

16:12 Nov 8, 2011 

So no one thinks that 'subsidised private-authority school' or 'subsidised privately-run school' are correct? That is what my dictionary* offers for a Flemish 'gesubsidieerde vrije school'.

Alexander suggested '(UK) subsidised free grade school' which was accepted, but with the suggestion by Tina Vonhof: 'but "private" instead of "free"' ... which would seem to end up resembling my (first) suggestion: 'subsidised privately-run school'.

* Notebook Nederlandse en Vlaamse onderwijstermen in het Engels., by Kees Broekhof (4de druk)(Sardes, 1999).

16:00 Nov 8, 2011 

First thing to check seems to be whether 'Lagere Basisschool' is a contamination, then.

12:20 Nov 8, 2011 

'Vrij' means that it is not part of state-run education and that it has its own freedom in dealing with the guidelines set out by the ministry of education (eindtermen) and therefore that it is subsidised. However, as the Belgian law says that a child is obliged to LEARN (leerplicht) and not obliged to GO TO SCHOOL (schoolplicht), it means that there is possibility for non-accredited (and thus not subsidised) schools or home schooling. I seem to remember that the first Turkish muslim school operated not subsidised and not accredited for a while, although it has now been accredited, and that there was a short-lived controversial American -based method school with an Italian name. It was closed because it didn't obtain accreditation from the Ministry as its pupils had a big chance of failing on several topics because its program was only steered by interest from the child. I have been looking but I haven't been able to find it, though it must have been between 2003 and 2007. Leaving subsidised out makes it totally private
I think 'lagere basisschool' is a contamination here as I have never encountered a school that only offered 1st to 3rd year education.

11:18 Nov 8, 2011 

Keep 'lower primary' or 'lower elementary': the first three years of primary education. You can safely leave out 'gesubsidieerd'; as far as I know, all schools in Flanders are publicly funded.

In practice, 'vrij' means that the education is not provided by government. Parents have the right to have their children educated in accordance with their religious and other views, according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_education.

09:57 Nov 8, 2011 

Thanks very much for your suggestions! This is the school the candidate attended but no dates are provided.

01:38 Nov 8, 2011 

There seem to be many different English translations of Belgian 'vrij gesubsidieerd onderwijs' / 'réseau libre subventionné'...
Is the preferred term 'subsidised privately-run school', 'subsidised private-authority school', 'subsidised independent school', or 'subsidised free school', I wonder?

23:46 Nov 7, 2011 

Is this the school the candidate attended as a child ? If so , what was the age when the person attended?

Or is it a school they have taught at?