The International School of Älmhult (ISÄ) is a municipal international school of Älmhult municipality for students aged 3 to 16, taught in English through IB programmes: Early Years (ages 3-5), the PYP primary school and the MYP (ages 11-16). The school gained PYP authorisation in 2004; its staff include certified IB workshop leaders and international school accreditors. Education from PYP 1 to MYP 5 is free; preschool and Fritids may be charged. Students come from 49 countries and teachers from 32. The school is open to international families living in the region temporarily. There is no upper secondary stage: after MYP 5 students go on to the PreDP year and Diploma Programme at Haganäs or to Swedish national upper secondary programmes.
Key facts
Admits from
3 years · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
English
Languages taught
Swedish, French, Spanish
About the fees Tuition is free: the school says it is 'a communal school', 'funded by the municipality' and 'its PYP 1-MYP 5 is free of charge'. Charges may apply for preschool and the Fritids programme.
Admissions Applications are accepted all year if the child meets one of the criteria; if no place is available the child joins the waiting pool. Criteria: the family is moving to Älmhult from abroad for a limited time (temporary job contract or deputation letter); the child has attended school abroad for most of their education (two latest report cards, transfer certificate), although attending an international preschool is not in itself a reason; the family lives permanently in the region but will soon leave Sweden for an extended period (employer letter); one or both parents speak English at home and the child knows it well enough to follow lessons (an English test may apply; not required for preschool). Otherwise English is not required: students still learning it get EAL support. Placement is by age; without IB experience a student is placed in MYP 4 instead of MYP 5. Applications go by post or email with report cards and a vaccination record; for preschool and Fritids families also apply to the municipality. Moving from Early Years to PYP 1 requires a new application; PYP 5 to MYP 1 is automatic.
Stages and year groups Grades Early Years (ages 3-5), PYP 1-5, MYP 1-5. IB programmes in English: PYP Early Years from 3 to 5 (play-based learning), PYP from PYP 1 to PYP 5 with the PYP Exhibition, MYP from MYP 1 to MYP 5 (ages 11-16), eight subject groups, the Community Project and Personal Project. Swedish is taught as language acquisition, at the proficient level; the second foreign language is French or Spanish. In June of MYP 5 the school converts IB grades to the Swedish scale for admission to Swedish upper secondary schools. There is no Diploma Programme at the school itself: since 2017 it has been offered at Haganäs. The school does not teach the Swedish curriculum Lgr22.
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
·Laboratoriesnot stated on the website
·Theatre or assembly hallnot stated on the website
✓Library
✓Catering
·School transportnot stated on the website
·Boardingnot stated on the website
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 sizenot stated
What the listings show: The school employs qualified teachers who all receive IB training and attend official IB workshops; staff include certified workshop leaders and international school accreditors.
Teachers come from 32 countries. The school does not publish staff numbers or class sizes.
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 has an annual Wellbeing and Equal Treatment Plan against offensive treatment, harassment and discrimination (for 2025-2026) with steps for students and guardians. The school counsellor works on the school climate and bullying prevention; staff are legally required to notify social services of suspected child mistreatment. The school nurse provides health checks and vaccinations by age. Every day starts with a class Morning Meeting, all grades have social and emotional learning lessons, and the school uses the Responsive Classroom approach.
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 data55 "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
Almhult, Sweden · State