Bedrijfsschool De Schelde
THE ABANDONED SCHOOL IN THE NETHERLANDS
‘Bedrijfsschool De Schelde’ was the technical school from the Schelde shipyard in Vlissingen. The school taught classes for fitters, welders, and carpenters.
In this factory hall, shipyard the Royal Schelde started a division that built airplanes. The sports plane S.12 was built here. In 1954 this division was taken over by Fokker and the airplane division was closed. The next few years the building was used to produce aluminum ship parts, but in 1980 the Schelde Factory School housed in these halls.
The history of the ‘NV Koninklijke Maatschappij De Schelde’ or ‘Royal Schelde Group’ starts in the year 1875. In that year the yard De Schelde was established as founder Arie Smit took over a former naval yard in the city center of Vlissingen.
Bedrijfsschool
In 1954, the first class of the company school consisted of 236 students. In 1980 the school moved into the old airplane factory. Not every student became an employee of The Schelde after the finals. Students also applied at other companies or started their own business.
When the shipyard was moved to the industrial area of Vlissingen, the buildings in the city center became abandoned. Only the headquarters is still in use today. The school was demolished in 2007.
More photos of this abandoned shipyard, click here. Or check out these reports: De Timmerfabriek, Zware Plaatwerkerij and Machinefabriek. I visited the ‘Bedrijfsschool De Schelde’ in 2004 and 2006.
