← Back to the rankingBirralee International School Trondheim
Trondheim, Norway · est. 1973 · Private
Illustration · Trondheim
Birralee International School Trondheim is a private, non-profit international day school in central Trondheim, founded in 1973 by the Australian teacher Margot Tønseth; the school translates the name Birralee as 'a safe place for children'. It started with nine students and now has about 300 children aged 6 to 16, more than 50 nationalities and about 50 staff. Since 2004 it has been recognised as an independent private school under Norwegian law and receives state subsidies, so fees are low. Since 2018 its curriculum has been fully international and approved by Utdanningsdirektoratet: the IPC in grades 1-5, the IMYC in grades 6-8 and Cambridge IGCSE in grades 9-10; after grade 10 graduates receive the Norwegian lower secondary certificate and IGCSE certificates. Teaching is in English, and Norwegian is taught as a subject at two levels. A bilingual English-Norwegian kindergarten for children aged 3-5 run by the same owner is in the same building. The school has no upper grades 11-13.
Key facts
Tuition
≈ $3 787–3 879 a year
3 645–3 733 NOK a month
The year is counted as ten payments: the school does not say how many payments it takes.
Programmes
Cambridge · IGCSE · IPC · IMYC
Admits from
6 years · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
English
Languages taught
Norwegian, Spanish
Students per teacher
17 students per teacher in grades 6-8 and 14 students per teacher in grades 9-10
About the fees Fees for 2026: 3645 NOK per month in grades 1-7 and 3733 NOK per month in grades 8-10; no fee is charged for July, so there are 11 payments a year. The home page gives a range of 3280 to 3733 NOK per month, about 300 euros. Fees include all trips and outings, books and materials; under Norwegian law the school charges no extra for teaching materials, excursion transport or educational activities. The sibling discount is 10% for the second child and 25% for the third. Fees are low thanks to state subsidies.
Admissions The school admits children from Norway and from abroad: it is open to all children who meet the criteria for enrolment in Norwegian public schools. Applications are made through the form on the website; the main deadline for the next school year is 1 February, and decisions are sent in late February. If there are more applicants than places, the admission policy priorities apply: first come internationally mobile children transferring directly from an international or English-speaking school abroad, then combinations of criteria - English as a first or second language, siblings of current students, transfer from Birralee kindergarten; with equal priority, a draw decides. The school reserves up to 10 places for children in the first three priority groups. The maximum size of the school is 300 students. If places are available, children are also admitted during the year. Year group is set by age, as in Norwegian public schools; early or delayed school start is decided by Trondheim municipality. Decisions are made by the principal and the school development leader and can be appealed to Statsforvalteren i Trøndelag. On accepting a place, two months of fees are paid in advance. The school does not mention entrance examinations.
Stages and year groups Grades 1-10. Grades 1-5 (ages 6-11) follow the International Primary Curriculum (IPC) with thematic units, plus reading, writing, mathematics and Norwegian; grades 6-8 (ages 11-14) follow the International Middle Years Curriculum (IMYC); grades 9-10 (ages 14-16) follow Cambridge IGCSE. Students are assessed against IPC and IMYC criteria and Cambridge Maths and English. In grade 10, Cambridge IGCSE examinations in Maths, English Language and Science are compulsory; optional examinations are English Literature, Spanish, History, Global Perspectives, Physical Education, Computer Science, Design and Technology, Music, Art and Design. Examinations are marked by Cambridge International on a scale from A* to G, and certificates are issued by Cambridge; subjects without an examination are assessed by teachers against IGCSE criteria. Graduates receive the Norwegian lower secondary certificate (vitnemål). Students in grades 5, 8 and 9 take the Norwegian National Tests. The curriculum was approved by Utdanningsdirektoratet in 2018 (the IMYC also in 2020). The kindergarten for children aged 3-5 is a separate company of the same foundation in the same building, bilingual in English and Norwegian. The school does not offer IB programmes.
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
Cambridge · IGCSE · authorised programmeThe Cambridge register names the school as its centre: in Years 9-10 it teaches Cambridge IGCSE, with compulsory Year 10 exams in mathematics, English and science. Before that come the International Primary Curriculum in Years 1-5 and the International Middle Years Curriculum in Years 6-8.
school is in an official registryconfirmed by a school document, by membership or by taking part in a networkclaimed by the school, no confirmation, not counted in the scoreGuide to all organisations → What stands behind each entry
CambridgeCambridge International Education
Part of the University of Cambridge. It allows a school to teach the Cambridge programmes and to enter pupils for the exams. There are four stages and they are authorised separately: primary, lower secondary, IGCSE and A Level. If the stages are known they are named in the line below; if that line is missing, the school does not publish them, and the Cambridge registry does not show stages either - it gives only the name of the centre, the country and whether private candidates are accepted. Cambridge calls what it does registration rather than accreditation, and the network holds about ten thousand schools.
What the badge means for this school. The school is allowed to run this programme and to award its certificate. This is a confirmation of the programme, not a judgement on the school as a whole. The entry stands in the organisation's public register - anyone can check it. At this school: IGCSE (ages 14-16). IGCSE means exams at around Year 10 or 11, the British counterpart of a lower secondary leaving certificate.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →IPC
International Primary Curriculum: a British primary school programme for children aged 5 to 11. It teaches through themes that draw subjects together rather than through separate subjects; it is published by the International Curriculum Association, formerly Fieldwork Education.
What this means for this school. This is a programme for the primary stage, not an accreditation of the school: the organisation sells it to schools and trains their teachers, but it does not check the quality of teaching at a particular school and keeps no public register of the schools working to it. There is no outside register to check it against, so the entry comes from the school's own words or from the record of its accrediting organisation. The programme has no leaving certificate: at the end of primary school a child moves on to the middle stage, and it is that stage which decides what they finish with.
IMYC
International Middle Years Curriculum: the continuation of IPC for the middle school, ages 11 to 14. The same organisation and the same thematic frame, only for teenagers.
What this means for this school. As with IPC, this is a programme for one stage rather than an accreditation of the school, and the organisation keeps no public register of the schools working to it. The entry comes from the school's own words or from the record of its accrediting organisation. The programme has no leaving certificate of its own: after it the school takes a pupil on to a final stage - IGCSE, A-Level, IB or a national programme - and that is what to look at.
Exams and destinations from the school's official website
Exam results The school does not publish IGCSE results. The website gives Norwegian National Test results for 2021-2022: grade 9 ranked 35th in reading in Norwegian and 2nd in numeracy among 1538 lower secondary schools in Norway, second overall; in grade 8 the school was first in Trondheim in reading, numeracy and English.
Facilities from the school's official website
·Swimming poolnot stated on the website
✓Sports hall
·Laboratoriesnot stated on the website
·Theatre or assembly hallnot stated on the website
·Librarynot stated on the website
·Cateringnot stated on the website
·School transportnot stated on the website
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Also on site: Playground
Clubs and activities: Birralee Choir · Homework Club · Green Team · Student Council
Teaching staff from the school's official website
·Teachers listed by namenot published
✓Teacher qualifications
·Number of teachersthe school does not say
✓Students per teacher or class sizein the key facts above
What the listings show: Teachers hold qualifications from universities in the UK, USA, Canada, Australia and Norway; most from the UK, Canada and Australia; many have worked in various international schools.
About 50 school staff, about 60 including the kindergarten. The website names the principal, team leaders, pastoral coordinators, the SEN coordinator and class teachers.
Safety and wellbeing from the school's official website
·CCTVnot stated on the website
·Security staffnot stated on the website
·Access controlnot stated on the website
✓Nurse or medical room
·Counsellornot stated on the website
✓Child protection policy
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
✓Anti-bullying policy
The school states zero tolerance for bullying, violence, discrimination and harassment and works under section 12 of the Norwegian Education Act: every staff member must notice, intervene and report to the principal; the school investigates and draws up a written action plan; if a student is harassed by a staff member, the principal reports to the board. Parents can report a concern to the principal through a form on the website, and if measures do not help, they can turn to Statsforvalteren. There is a safeguarding team: the principal and two pastoral coordinators, for grades 1-5 and 6-10. The municipal school health service is free: a school nurse, a physiotherapist and an occupational therapist, vaccinations and check-ups under the Norwegian programme. Mobile phones are kept in a locked cabinet during the day.
Reviews
No reviews yet. The community rating counts towards the score once a school has five verified reviews - until then we do not show a zero, so as not to mislead.
Criteria breakdown criterion weight in brackets
Academics and programmes (16%)72 Community rating (16%)no dataparent reviews are needed: the criterion switches on at the fifth verified one Exams and destinations (12%) scored on disclosed data80 Safety and wellbeing (12%) scored on disclosed data70 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)85 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data60 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data70 "Scored on disclosed data" stands where we count only what the school has written about itself on its own site: exams and destinations, safety and wellbeing, teaching staff, facilities, clubs and activities. A low score here means the school does not write about this, not that the school does not have it: a school with good security and a sparse site will score low. A school can fill in its profile, and the score will be counted again.
The score is counted from 8 of the 9 criteria.Only those with checkable data count: programmes and accreditations from official registers, the fee from a published price list. Where it says "scored on the median", the school has no data and the middle of the list is put in its place, so that a gap gives no advantage. Admissions, teaching staff and reviews come in as their data arrives.
The full methodology → Similar schools in the country