← Back to the rankingHaugesund International School
Karmoy, Norway · est. 2016 · Private
Illustration · Karmoy
Haugesund International School (HIS) is a small private, non-profit international school for children aged 6 to 16, grades 1 to 10. It was set up in 2015 by the Haugesund Shipowners Association and the regional business association, and opened in Haugesund in August 2016 with 18 students; in 2019 it moved to its own building in Torvastad on the island of Karmøy, and in 2023 it built a new building for the upper grades. Today it has 155 students and 19 staff; families represent more than 60 nationalities, with parents working in medicine, academia, shipping, energy and engineering. The school runs the IB PYP in grades 1-5 and the MYP in grades 6-10; lessons are in English, Norwegian is taught at all grade levels as the Norwegian curriculum requires, and Spanish is added in grades 6-10. The school operates as a state-subsidised private school, so fees are low and capped by Udir.
Key facts
Tuition
≈ $3 325 a year
32 000 NOK
Languages of instruction
English
Languages taught
Norwegian, Spanish
Class size
no more than 18 students in grades 1-5, no more than 20 in grades 6-10 pupils
About the fees Fees for the 2026-2027 school year (August 2026 to June 2027) are the same for grades 1-5 and 6-10: 32000 NOK per year, or 10 instalments of 3200 NOK from August to May. The school is a non-profit foundation and keeps fees as low as financially viable; the maximum fee is set by Udir. Sibling discount 10% for the second child and 20% for the third.
Admissions Applications for children aged 6-16 are accepted all year through an online form; new students for a school year are taken from August to 30 September, and after 1 October only for the following year. Preferred dates: 30 March for new families, end of February for re-enrolment. Grade placement follows the year of birth after an interview with the Head of School; there is no entrance test, with diagnostic testing if needed. Grades 9-10 require a high level of English and previous school records. Udir has approved the school for 190 students; the school is close to full and many classes have waiting lists. When places are short the priority order is: international students and children whose mother tongue is not Norwegian; siblings of students; children of permanent staff; students returning to Norway after schooling abroad; then others by application date. The admission decision is an individual administrative decision that can be appealed to the Statsforvalteren in Rogaland within three weeks. The school does not undertake to provide for severe learning difficulties, but offers moderate support.
Stages and year groups Grades 1-10. The IB Primary Years Programme in grades 1-5 and the IB Middle Years Programme in grades 6-10; the school completed its five-year IB evaluation in 2024. Teaching is in English, Norwegian (Bokmål) is taught at all grade levels under the Norwegian national curriculum requirements, and Spanish in grades 6-10 on the IB language acquisition continuum. Upper grades sit school examinations at the end of the year. There is no upper secondary section or IB Diploma; the school does not mention Cambridge programmes.
Address Hålandvegen 175, 4260 Torvastad, Karmøy
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
IB · PYP, MYP · authorised programmeThe school is listed in the IB register and runs the Primary Years and Middle Years programmes.
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
IBInternational Baccalaureate
A Swiss non-profit, working since 1968. Its programmes are among the most widely recognised school programmes in the world. Authorisation is granted stage by stage, so a school with the final stage does not necessarily run the younger ones; which stages this school holds is set out in the line below.
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: PYP (ages 3-12), MYP (ages 11-16). PYP is the primary stage, ages 3 to 12. It is not a set of subjects but a frame for the whole school: learning is built around lines of inquiry, and there are no exams at the end. MYP is the middle stage, ages 11 to 16. There are no exams here either; at the end an optional electronic assessment of pupils' work is possible.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →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
✓Laboratories
·Theatre or assembly hallnot stated on the website
✓Library
·Cateringnot stated on the website
✓School transport
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Also on site: Art studio · Playground
Campus: The school is in rural Torvastad on the island of Karmøy, between farmland and the sea, about 10 kilometres from the centre of Haugesund. The primary school uses a remodelled 1975 building that the school bought from the municipality in 2021; outside there is a playground, a ball court and a grill hut. In 2023 a new building for grades 6-10 was built with a school kitchen, library, science lab and art room. There is a first aid station and a school bus. It is a day school with no boarding.
Clubs and activities: Music · Poetry · Architecture · Mindfulness · Knitting · Chess · Podcast creation
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: The school promises an experienced and highly qualified faculty recruited in Norway and overseas; in job postings it seeks teachers qualified in their subject with IB experience.
The home page lists 19 staff. The staff page names 20 educators: the Head of School, programme coordinators, homeroom teachers for grades 1-5, teachers of Norwegian, Spanish, English, mathematics, science, individuals and societies, physical education and art, the school counsellor and assistants; separately a learning support specialist and the business manager.
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 roomnot stated on the website
✓Counsellor
✓Child protection policy
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
✓Anti-bullying policy
The anti-bullying policy, updated in December 2025, rests on Chapter 12 of the Education Act: bullying, including cyberbullying, is not tolerated, complaints are investigated confidentially by the Head of School, and bullying may lead to measures up to expulsion. There is a school counsellor for both programmes, a learning support specialist, a first aid station and regular evacuation drills.
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 data75 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data78 "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