Maartenscollege, Groningen

Maartenscollege was founded by the Jesuits in 1946 at the request of the Catholic community in Groningen and the Archdiocese of Utrecht, as there were no Catholic secondary schools in the northeastern part of the Netherlands. The school was built in Haren, just south of the city of Groningen. taking as its patron that of the city, St. Martin of Tours.

Between 1959 and 1969 it was a minor seminary for the Diocese of Groningen, with students boarding and attending St. Martin's College in Haren.

In the autumn of 1984 St. Maartenscollege International School was founded as a separate department of St. Maartenscollege, to provide education for international students living in the north of the Netherlands, with English as the language of instruction.

In 1992 St. Maartenscollege merged with Schalm Protestant-Christian secondary school and became an interdenominational school with VMBO, HAVO, atheneum and gymnasium with the shortened name "Maartenscollege". It also has Bilingual Education (TTO), as well as the combination TTO+ (gymnasium and TTO). A partially independent division of Maartenscollege opened in 2005 and is now the International School Groningen, with some classes still taken at the main school.[1] In 1999 the building in Haren had been enlarged to include the Haren and Groningen branches together.

At present the school has a population of approximately 1400 students and 170 staff. This includes the International section with a population of 180 students and 30 on the staff.

Maartenscollege has always been a sports school. In the past, the school had its own football club, VMC, which amalgameted with Amicitia in the 1950s, and its HMC hockey team that has repeatedly won the northern championship.{[cn}}

• Rob Van Dam (1954), voice actor
• Erick van Egeraat (1956), architect
• Hans van den Hende (1964), bishop
• Francine Houben (1955), architect
• Arjen Lubach (1979), writer and comedian
• Daan Schuurmans (1972), actor
• Tom Snijders (1949), professor
• Driek van Wissen (1943-2010), poet
• Ron Jans (1958), football coach