History of CLZ

1.	The beginning	6.	One location
2.	New buildings	7.	Mergers
3.	The ambiance	8.	Christelijk Lyceum
4.	The war years	9.	Headmasters 1918 - 2005
5.	The sixties
	Geschiedenis CLZ (Dutch)		Christelijk Lyceum Zeist in pictures (Dutch)

The beginning

The CLZ began its existence in the Dutch town of Zetten in 1909. The boarding and grammar school (Christelijk Gymnasium) gave children from a rural, Christian background the opportunity to prepare themselves for a university education.
H.A. Westrate ran the school in Zetten and the boarders were in the hands of H. van Dijk. The entire school was relocated to Zeist in 1918 and became a lyceum; a combination of HBS (an ordinary secondary school) and Gymnasium (a school offering classical language education) This decision was conform the wishes of the board of school governors in Zetten, the town council in Zeist and the NCSV (Dutch Christian Student Union).
The board of governors in Zetten was afraid that the school would not be viable in this somewhat isolated village and was, therefore, searching for a way to prolong its existence. The Zeist town council wanted to start a secondary school in Zeist, but did not have the means to do so. The NCSV, whose headquarters were in Zeist, was also looking for a way to extend her interest and work in other schools.


The Gymnasium, Veldstraat located in Zetten

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New buildings

After four years of pioneering (1918 – 1922), the school was given its own building in the Schaerweijder Park, later known as the Lyceumkwartier. The brothers Jan en Theo Stuivinga designed the school on the Lindelaan.

Drawings of the school by the brothers Jan en Theo Stuivinga (1921)
The boarding school for boys on the Krakelingweg

The auditorium








 Pannenbier 1921

 


 The main hall with staircases

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The ambiance

The move to Zeist was a great success. There was a huge increase in the number of pupils and the school on the Lindenlaan was soon too small to house them all. Therefore, in April 1941, after some years of temporary accommodation, a second school building was opened on the Socrateslaan, a little northwest of the Lyceum.























The school on the Verlengde Socrateslaan

The Christelijk Lyceum was a school for children from Zeist and its far surroundings. The boarding element (between fifty and eighty boarders) gave the school the suggestion of International awareness. The children came from “good homes”, very often with parents who worked abroad. Furthermore, the school had room for variety. The Zeist town council had made certain that each pupil, regardless of his or her religious preference, should be admitted to the Lyceum. The school strived for a peaceful, caring atmosphere and was not preoccupied by a strong Christian dogma.

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The war years

The war years were a difficult time for the school. The building on the Lindenlaan was occupied for a long period, first by Dutch and later German troops. The pupils had to take their classes in private houses. The boarding school was also occupied by German troops. In the autumn of 1944, school life came to a halt as the school buildings on the Socrateslaan were used for emergency housing for evacuees from the Betuwe. After the war, school life slowly returned to “normal”.  In September 1945 school began again. The school buildings on the Lindenlaan, having first been used by the occupation and later (May 1945) the Canadian liberators, were not fit for school use. Only by 1947 had everything been renewed.
The former German teacher and deputy head, W. Snelleman, had become the headmaster, taking over from H.C. Schamhardt who, in 1935, had taken over from Mr. Westrate. A new headmaster was appointed for the HBS in 1946, D.N. van der Neut.
A girl’s boarding school and a MMS (girl’s secondary school whose diploma was not sufficient for university entrance) were opened in 1947. The girls had their own school building, “Huize Pavia”, on the Laan van Beek en Royen.

Headmaster HBS dr. D.N. van der Neut	Pavia

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The sixties

In 1958 M.W. Rombout replaced the headmaster, Mr Snelleman. Mr Rombout divided the school into a First and Second Christelijk Lyceum. The first, run by Mr Rombout himself, was on the Lindenlaan and the second, run by J.F. Hufferman, on the Socrateslaan. New education bills and ideologies in the sixties led to this being only a temporary situation. The Mammoetwet (a new vision and law in education) meant that, as from 1968, the old school system altered drastically. The HBS and MMS were replaced by the vwo (gymnasium and atheneum) and the havo (vwo is pre-university education, and havo is pre-college education). In 1969 the second Lyceum was brought back together with the first and was run by J. Dekker.


   





   headmaster of the Tweede Christelijk Lyceum
   J.F. Hufferman



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One location

Finally, the renovation of the Lyceum began in 1983. The new school on the Lindenlaan, which would house all pupils, was opened in 1985. It was Mr Dekker’s last big assignment for the school as in 1986 Mr L. van Noort became the new Head. The total move to the Lindenlaan was the result of necessary reductions. The girls’ boarding school was closed in 1976, the boys’ boarding school was closed in 1981 and, in 1983, Socrates was sold. The number of pupils in these schools had steadily been declining and these boarding schools were becoming superfluous.


  The management of the school 1985
  Mr. Steensma, Mr. Jansen, mr. Dekker, Mr. Maters and Mr. Smit














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Mergers

The following years, with Mr Van Noort at the helm, were a period with many mergers. In 1994, the Christelijk Lyceum became part of the Christelijk College Zeist.  This school was a convergence of three other schools to form a general comprehensive school. The Christelijk College Zeist merged with Revius Lyceum in Doorn in 1996 and became part of the school group, the CVOG (Christelijk Voortgezet Onderwijs Groep Zuidoost-Utrecht).
After Van Noort left to become general director of the CVO-groep, J.C. Jansen (teacher of classics) took over as headmaster.

A new building behind the original school buildings on the Lindenlaan was built to house the mavo pupils (lowest level of secondary school education). In 2000 Mrs M. Pranger took over as headmistress. M. Pranger had been deputy head since 1989. In 2001 the school also started its bilingual stream, which has become one of the fastest growing in the Netherlands.




A rear view of the original schoolbuilding

 The staff of the school 1993/1994

 Aerial photograph of the school 1999

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Christelijk Lyceum

The original name of the school was re-established: Christelijk Lyceum. Since the retirement of M. Pranger in 2004, interim head, W. de Vos, has run the school.

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Headmasters Christelijk Lyceum

aan de Lindenlaan in Zeist van 1918 - 2005:

1918 - 1935  dr. H.A. Weststrate	1945 - 1958  dr. W. Snelleman

 Boven: 1966 - 1986 
 drs. J. Dekker





1935 - 1945 
dr. H.C. Schamhardt

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Original text and photos:
Diggelen, van M.J., Een bijzondere school, een geschiedenis van het Christelijk Lyceum te Zeist in vogelvlucht 1922-2002, Zeist 2002, ISBN 90-9015772-7
Translation: Mrs. C.M. Kirwin
Webmaster: Mrs. R. Baud - Nieuwenhuis

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