Changes to the way subsidies are allocated to schools with a high proportion of disadvantaged children has led to some of the country’s top schools getting hundreds of thousands of euros extra in government money.

Secondary schools no longer get a fixed amount for each child who has lived in the Netherlands for less than eight years. Instead, they get a payout if more than 30% of their pupils come from a disadvantaged area. Amsterdam’s prestigeous Barlaeus school, for example, now gets an extra €380,000 a year.