The Deutsch-Norwegische Schule Oslo (DENOSO, in Norwegian Den tysk-norske skolen i Oslo) is a private German-Norwegian encounter school (Begegnungsschule) recognised by Germany and Norway, with a kindergarten and grades 1 to 12. It is one of the German schools abroad and is supported by both countries. From grade 1 teaching is in German, except Norwegian and social studies (samfunnsfag), which are taught in Norwegian under Norwegian curricula; other subjects follow German curricula, in primary the framework of North Rhine-Westphalia. After grade 10 students receive the German Mittlerer Schulabschluss, and after grade 12 two qualifications at once: the German International Abitur (DIA) and the Norwegian vitnemål; the school follows the eight-year G8 gymnasium model. The school currently has 18 classes, with about 130 students in eight primary classes. People of more than 25 nationalities study and work here. There is a strong focus on music and arts: a school orchestra, a primary choir, participation in Jugend musiziert and the school's own film festival.
Key facts
Programmes
German programme · National programme
Admits from
1 year · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
German
Languages taught
Norwegian, English, French
Class size
18 students on average; usually 18 to 22 in primary
About the fees School fees: 4073 NOK per month in grades 1-9 and 2703 NOK per month in grades 10-12; July is fee-free, so there are 11 payments a year. The year of the fee schedule is not stated. Fees are based on the state maximum rate (makspris), which the authorities revise every six months. Kindergarten costs 1200 NOK per month plus 800 NOK for meals. From the third child there is a 35% sibling discount at school if the fees are not reimbursed by an employer; families with an income below 6G can apply for a social discount.
Admissions Applications to the school can be made at any time through the office: an application form, copies of the last two school reports, a birth certificate and a vaccination record are needed. Grade 1 starts in mid-August and the first application deadline is 1 December of the previous year; early in the year future first graders are invited to an introductory lesson where the school sees how well they understand the language. The main admission requirement is sufficient understanding of German; attending the school's kindergarten is not required. The school advises registering the child at a municipal school in parallel. Students from Germany and other countries can attend as guest students for a half year to a year, up to and including grade 10: deadlines are 15 March for an August start and 15 October for a February start, and very good German, two years of reports and a named host family or guardian in Oslo are required; continuing to the Abitur is possible with good grades and sufficient German. Grades 11 and 12 are the Abitur qualification phase and must be completed entirely at the school. The kindergarten admits children from 12 months, no German or Norwegian is needed, and applications go to both the kindergarten and the Oslo district by 1 March.
Stages and year groups Kindergarten for children from 12 months to 6 years (a separate legal entity attached to the school, bilingual German and Norwegian). Primary school (Grundschule) grades 1-4; middle level (Mittelstufe) grades 5-9, where from grade 7 a conference decides whether a child is graded at gymnasium or Realschule level; upper level (Oberstufe) grades 10-12. The programme follows German curricula, with Norwegian and samfunnsfag under Norwegian curricula; the school is also subject to the Norwegian Education Act (opplæringsloven). Qualifications: Mittlerer Schulabschluss after grade 10, the Deutsches Internationales Abitur (DIA) and the Norwegian vitnemål after grade 12; the German language diploma DSD I. From grade 7 students choose French or science and technology.
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
ZfA · accreditationWDA · part of the alliancePASCH · takes part in the programmeIts core is the German curriculum for schools abroad: after Year 12 graduates receive both the German DIA (Deutsches Internationales Abitur) and the Norwegian vitnemål. The Central Agency for German Schools Abroad (ZfA) lists the school as a German school abroad (Deutsche Auslandsschule). The school is a member of the World Association of German Schools Abroad (WDA). The school is part of the PASCH network.
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
ZfACentral Agency for German Schools Abroad
A German federal agency. It recognises a school as a German school abroad, funds it and grants the right to award the German leaving certificate. Quality is examined by a state inspection about once every six years, and schools that pass receive the mark of an excellent German school abroad.
What the badge means for this school. The school has been through this organisation's accreditation. It was judged as a whole: governance, safeguarding, staff, premises, teaching. The entry stands in the organisation's public register - anyone can check it.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →WDAWorld Association of German Schools Abroad
An association of the owners of German schools abroad: in essence an industry lobby and a service organisation. It runs no inspections. The condition of admission is a recognised German certificate, but that recognition is granted by the German state, not by WDA.
What the badge means for this school. The school belongs to an association of school owners. There is no inspection of its own behind it: the badge rests on a decision of the German state and adds nothing to it. The entry is confirmed in the organisation's open directory.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →PASCHSchools: Partners for the Future, an initiative of the German foreign ministry
More than two thousand schools in about 120 countries. A school cannot apply for itself: participants are chosen by German agencies in agreement with the embassy. Very different schools sit under one mark - full German schools abroad, and ordinary national schools that simply teach German well.
What the badge means for this school. The school belongs to a German support programme. By itself the mark means neither a German curriculum nor the right to award a German certificate: of the two thousand PASCH schools, about seventeen hundred hold no such right. Look for a ZfA status next to it - that is the one that is about this. The entry is confirmed in the organisation's open directory.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →German programme
The German school programme. Recognised German schools abroad award the Deutsches Internationales Abitur, the German leaving certificate used for entry to universities in Germany. Behind the recognition stands the federal agency ZfA.
What this means for this school. ZfA recognition comes at levels: a school that takes pupils through to the German leaving certificate is one thing, a school with the DSD language diploma, where German is taught as a subject, is another. Which level this school holds is not stated here.
National programme
The state school programme of the country the school stands in: it is set by that country's ministry of education, which also licenses the school and awards the leaving certificate. That certificate is used for entry to local universities, and abroad it is matched to the local one.
What this means for this school. This entry does not count towards the score, and that is deliberate. Every lawful school in a country works to the national programme, so on its own it tells one school apart from no other - unlike the French, German or Russian programmes, which are carried abroad and confirmed by the register of their organisation. We show it because a parent needs to know what programme their child is taught and what certificate the child will get. Counting it would lift the whole ranking at once and still tell nobody apart.
Exams and destinations from the school's official website
The school publishes nothing about where its leavers go: no share going on to university, no exam results, no list of universities.
Facilities from the school's official website
·Swimming poolnot stated on the website
·Sports hallnot stated on the website
·Laboratoriesnot stated on the website
·Theatre or assembly hallnot stated on the website
✓Library
·Cateringnot stated on the website
·School transportnot stated on the website
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Campus: The school and kindergarten are next to each other by the Akerselva river in Myraløkka park in the Sagene district. There is a small school library in the after-school rooms, run by the after-school team with student reading scouts from grades 5-8. The school has its own plot in the city's Geitmyra school garden with vegetable beds, hens, greenhouses and an outdoor kitchen, used in lessons and after school. The after-school programme runs for grades 1-4 (AKS) and 5-8 (SAKS) from 7:45 to 16:45, with homework help, projects, excursions and holiday care. There is no school bus. It is a day school with no boarding.
Clubs and activities: Schulorchester (school orchestra) · Grundschulchor (primary school choir) · Jugend musiziert (music competition of German schools abroad) · Oslo filmt! (school film festival) · Lesescouts (student reading scouts in the library) · Schülervertretung (student council)
Teaching staff from the school's official website
·Teachers listed by namenot published
·Teacher qualificationsnot stated
·Number of teachersthe school does not say
✓Students per teacher or class sizein the key facts above
The school has about 70 permanent staff: teachers, care staff, pedagogical staff and administration; each year trainee teachers, interns and volunteers join them. In primary each class has a class teacher and an assigned after-school pedagogue who supports lessons five hours a week and leads homework time in the afternoon. More than three quarters of the after-school team are trained pedagogues. The school says it has qualified teachers with support from Germany and Norway. The site names the head of school, the deputies, the heads of each level, the social education teacher and those responsible for specific areas.
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 follows the Norwegian Education Act, under which every student has the right to a safe and good school environment free of bullying; the head and the board are responsible. A school environment committee (SMU) of students, parents, teachers and leadership is in place, and there is a social education teacher, a student council liaison teacher and a media educator. The school nurse from the Sagene district health service is present three days a week. Primary has a buddy system and a stop-hand rule, and all classes have a prevention week. The school works with the Statsforvalteren, child welfare services, child psychiatry, the bullying ombudsman and the police prevention unit. There are school rules, house rules, a mobile phone policy and a disciplinary measures policy.
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 data55 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 data65 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data76 Value for money (6%) scored at the median95 "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 7 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
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