Elementary school De Meerpaal

In 1927 a new Christian Reformed elementary school was opened in Duindorp, the Dr. H. Colijnschool. In 1974 it was renamed to De Meerpaal. It served its duty until 2007, the building was demolished and a modern school building took its place.

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I attended De Meerpaal for a year at the age of five. For some reason I hated school from the first day. I still remember the first day I had to go to preschool here. My mother tried to drag me to the building while I was just screaming, crying and trying to break loose. It was so bad that they decided to let me skip preschool and wait until I had to go to elementary school by law. After the first year I switched to a different school where I felt a bit more comfortable.

Like school itself wasn’t bad enough, I was completely frightened by the old building. It’s high-ceilinged hallways, typical wall tiles and brownish colours made me feel awful. For some reason I was very sensitive to vibes of things back then and old buildings were terrifying to me. Who would have thought that exploring old derelict buildings would become my passion!

I visited the building just before it was demolished in 2007. I thought it was going to bring up these old traumas, but it didn’t move me at all. Most of the interior was painted over and the hallway ceilings appeared a lot lower. The pictures aren’t very good since I was 15 years old when I took them, but the sentimental value is high.