Bernardinuscollege is a comprehensive school

Comprehensive school

A comprehensive school is a state school that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude. This is in contrast to the selective school system, where admission is restricted on the basis of a selection criteria. The term is commonly used in relation to the United...

 in Heerlen

Heerlen

Heerlen is a city and a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. The municipality is the second largest in the province of Limburg. It forms part of Parkstad Limburg, , an agglomeration of about 220,000 inhabitants.After its early Roman beginnings and a rather modest medieval period, Heerlen...

, the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

. The school was founded by Franciscan

Franciscan

Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....

 monks in 1911 as ‘Sint-Bernardinus, R.K. Hoogere Burgerschool met 3-jarige cursus’ (‘Saint Bernardinus, R.C. Higher Citizenschool with 3-year course’), because of the need for education in the wake of the blooming mining industry. In September 1913 the first students arrived.

Sint-Bernardinus was expanded with a midlevel-business school

Business school

A business school is a university-level institution that confers degrees in Business Administration. It teaches topics such as accounting, administration, economics, entrepreneurship, finance, information systems, marketing, organizational behavior, public relations, strategy, human resource...

 and in 1919 the 3-year HBS (Higher Citizen School) course was changed to a 5-year one. In 1930 the school was further expanded with a Gymnasium

Gymnasium (school)

A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...

.

In 1970 the 'Sint' was dropped from the school name, giving it its current name: Bernardinuscollege.

Bernardinuscollege is part of Onderwijsstiching Sint-Bernardinus together with College Rolduc, Eijkhagencollege, Herlecollege, Praktijkonderwijs Parkstad Limburg, and Sintermeertencollege

Sintermeertencollege

Sintermeertencollege is a comprehensive school in Heerlen, the Netherlands, established in 1967. The school was founded by the Bernardinuscollege as a dependence school for the Bernardinuscollege in Heerlen-west Netherlands....

 .

Notable students

• Ad Fransen, journalist and author
• Jan Hanlo
  Jan Hanlo
  Johannes Bernardus Maria Raphael Hanlo was, under the pen name Jan Hanlo, a Dutch poet and writer.-References:...
  
   (1912-1969), poet and author
• Jo Ritzen (b. 1945), Minister of Education
• Frans Timmermans (b. 1961), State Secretary for European Affairs