Zundert School

Vincent always knew the school of the village which faced his home. A nursery school welcomed the youngest children. Although we do not have any trace of his presence in 1860, (there was no register), we can suppose he spent a first year in this nursery school. He is enrolled on the following year (see document) in the senior form (those who can read and write) and his sister Anna , two years younger, is enrolled in the nursery class on the same year.

We found the architects' plans of this school. There were nearly 200 pupils in this school, most of whom were peasants' children who went away in summertime to help in farm work. After the mainstream education courses, there were modern languages lessons, and Vincent learnt the rudiments of English, German and French. The school was run by M. Dirks, a good teacher who was helped by a supervisor and student teachers. Dirks later suffered from a deep depression, following the death of three of his children. He will sink into alcoholism. He will skip school, and after several warnings from the school council, he will have to resign after spending 20 years in this school.