Herlufsholm Skole is Denmark's oldest boarding school, founded in 1565 by the nobles Herluf Trolle and Birgitte Gøye on an estate near Næstved. It is a private day and boarding school teaching from class 6 to class 10 and in the gymnasium, with 431 students in total (172 in the primary and lower secondary school, 196 in the Danish STX and 63 in the international line). The primary school and STX teach in Danish. The international line is a one-year pre-IB and the two-year IB Diploma Programme, taught entirely in English; Danish remains the school's language of communication, so international students study Danish at two levels and can take an intensive course at the start of the year. The school is known for its traditions: school uniform, balls, its own herlovian slang and the annual archery event Fugleskydning. Since 2009 the school has been a member of Round Square: exchanges, conferences and service trips; students take The Duke of Edinburgh's International Award and join Model United Nations. Boarders are admitted to the upper classes of the primary school and to the gymnasium.
Key facts
Programmes
IB · DP · National programme
Languages of instruction
Danish, English
Languages taught
German, French, Spanish, Latin
Class size
up to 22 students in classes 6-9; on average about 17 students in classes 6-10, about 20 in the three gymnasium years and about 22 in the preparatory year and the two years of the international line
About the fees The fee list carries no year. The annual fee (kontingent) is paid quarterly in advance. For boarders, including accommodation, meals, laundry and nursing: classes 8-10 and STX 181800 Danish kroner per year, pre-IB 229500, IB Diploma 272400. For day students, including lunch: classes 6-7 50200 kroner, classes 8-10 and STX 61700, pre-IB 106100, IB Diploma 148900. The STX Samfund & Business line costs 11500 kroner more per year. Families can apply for income-based fee reductions, sibling reductions (by 1 June) and, from age 18, the state SU grant.
Admissions The school looks not only at grades but also at the student's potential for personal development in the community. A report card and a preliminary assessment of educational readiness or a statement from the current school are required; for STX the school expects grades around 7 in mathematics, English and Danish, and applicants apply both through Optagelse.dk (deadline 1 March) and the school's own form, followed by an interview with the head of the gymnasium or the vice-rector. Pre-IB, IB Diploma and primary school applicants are admitted on a rolling basis, and the school recommends applying before 1 June. Boarding applicants first have a Teams conversation. According to the IB brochure, each year the school admits students who have studied under various international curricula, including those whose parents do not speak Danish; if there is doubt about a student's Danish, the school tests the student at the start of the year and offers extra Danish lessons. Day students are advised not to live further away than Køge, Slagelse and Vordingborg.
Stages and year groups Grades 6-10, 1.g-3.g (STX), pre-IB, IB Diploma 1-2. Primary and lower secondary school (grundskole, privatskole) classes 6-9 with FP9 exams and class 10 (10GO) with FP10; the Danish gymnasium STX (3 years, studentereksamen) with study lines in science, social science, languages and the arts. International line: the one-year pre-IB (preparatory year built on the IB core subject groups) and the two-year IB Diploma Programme with the Extended Essay, Theory of Knowledge and CAS; IB subjects: Danish A, English A, Self-taught A, Danish B, Economics, History, Psychology, Global Politics, Business Management, Environmental Systems and Societies, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Computer Science, Analysis and Approaches, Applications and Interpretation, Visual Arts, Film. Of the IB programmes, the school offers only the Diploma Programme.
Address Herlufsholm Allé 170, 4700 Næstved
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
IB · DP · authorised programmeRound Square · part of the associationThe IB register lists the Diploma Programme at the school; it is taught in English after a preparatory pre-IB year, alongside the Danish STX gymnasium. The school has been a member of Round Square since 2009.
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: DP (ages 16-19). DP is the final stage, ages 16 to 19: six subjects plus a compulsory core of theory of knowledge, an extended essay and CAS. The diploma is accepted by universities all over the world, and in a number of countries it counts for admission on the same footing as the local leaving certificate.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →Round SquareRound Square
A network of about three hundred schools in some fifty countries, built on the ideas of the educationalist Kurt Hahn: internationalism, democracy, environment, adventure, leadership, service. On joining, representatives of the network visit the school and write a report, and the school then spends up to two years as a candidate.
What the badge means for this school. The school belongs to the network. The check on joining is a real one, but what is examined is fidelity to the six principles rather than the quality of teaching, safeguarding or governance. Reports are not published, and the five-year review is one the school carries out on itself. The entry is confirmed in the organisation's open directory.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →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
Average IB score
33 (world average 30.88)
Exam results IB Diploma, 2024: average score 33 against a world average of 30, highest score 42 points, pass rate 89% against a world rate of 80%. The school publishes a table from 2008: in 2022 the average was 34, in 2023 32 with a 100% pass rate. The school says its primary school has raised its average in the leaving exams for the third year in a row, and its students score above the national average.
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
✓Catering
·School transportnot stated on the website
✓Boarding
Clubs and activities: Badminton · Basketball · Fodbold (football) · Tennis · Volleyball · Håndbold (handball) · Mountainbike (mountain biking) · Løbehold (running team) · Musik, sang og bands (music, singing and bands) · Billedkunst (visual arts) · Model United Nations · Debat (debating) · E-sport · Finansiel forståelse (financial literacy) · Jagttegn (hunting licence course) · Madlavning (cooking) · The Duke of Edinburgh's International Award · Round Square-komité (Round Square committee)
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
Teachers teach only their specialist subjects; in classes 6-7 some lessons have two teachers, and in classes 8-9 the primary school teacher co-teaches with a gymnasium teacher. As of November 2025 the school area has 77 full-time staff, the whole organisation 135. The international line has its own IB coordinator; every gymnasium and IB student is assigned a teacher mentor, and boarders are looked after by the resident boarding teacher. The school is a certified talent school with a talent development programme.
Safety and wellbeing from the school's official website
·CCTVnot stated on the website
✓Security staff
✓Access control
✓Nurse or medical room
·Counsellornot stated on the website
✓Child protection policy
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
✓Anti-bullying policy
The school has a nurse and a health visitor, and a TeamTrivsel well-being team led by a well-being manager: conversations, prevention and a well-being ambassador programme for all 1.g students. Every student has an adult to turn to: class teacher, mentor or counsellor. The school publishes an anti-bullying strategy and policies on alcohol, drugs, conflict, grief and crisis, and digital behaviour. In boarding, the boarding teachers live in the houses, and the outer doors lock automatically at night and are checked by the night watchman.
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%)82 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 data85 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)85 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data70 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data78 Value for money (6%) scored at the median83 "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
Naestved, Denmark · est. 1565 · Private