← Back to the rankingInternational School of Hellerup
Hellerup, Denmark · est. 2009 · Private
Illustration · Hellerup
The International School of Hellerup (ISH) is a private, not-for-profit international day school for students aged 3 to 19, founded in 2009. It is an IB Continuum school: the PYP for ages 3-11, the MYP for ages 11-16 and the Diploma Programme for ages 16-19; it gained MYP and DP authorisation in 2015 and PYP authorisation in 2016, and opened its first DP class in 2017. Early years, primary and middle school are in Hellerup, and since 2020 the high school has been in Østerbro, where a Danish three-year STX gymnasium also opened in 2022. The language of instruction of the IB track is English, as the school states directly; the STX is a Danish programme taught in Danish. About 750 students from more than 70 nationalities attend, 95 of them in the Diploma Programme. The school operates under Danish law with state funding, so fees for families with a Danish CPR number are relatively low.
Key facts
Tuition
≈ $5 721–6 333 a year
3 785–4 190 DKK a month
The year is counted as ten payments: the school does not say how many payments it takes.
Programmes
IB · PYP, MYP, DP · National programme
Admits from
3 years · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
English, Danish
Languages taught
French, Spanish
Registration fee
≈ $302
2 000 DKK
About the fees Fees for 2026-2027 are paid monthly 12 times a year, August to July (grade 12 August to June). With a CPR number registered by 1 September 2026 (1 December for grade 10): Kindergarten to grade 5 3785 DKK per month, grades 6-10 3990 DKK, grades 11-12 4190 DKK plus a 300 DKK IB fee; Pre-K 5295 DKK plus mandatory lunch at 750 DKK. Without a CPR number or with late registration the fee is 6500 DKK per month for the whole school year. The Danish STX gymnasium costs 1938 DKK per month, 23256 DKK per year. Fees are indexed annually by at least 2%.
Admissions Applications for early years, primary and middle school (up to grade 9) are accepted all year; Diploma Programme admission closes on 1 September, after which only students transferring from an IB DP programme with compatible subjects are accepted. Steps: enquiry, online application with a 2000 DKK fee, review by the admissions committee, decision (offer, waiting pool or not proceeding), enrolment with a deposit. Applicants to grades 4-5 and 6-11 take English and Mathematics tests and an interview; younger children may be invited to an interview. Two years of report cards translated into English and a recommendation from the current school are required. From grade 8 confident English is required and assessed; if the level is insufficient, extra tuition at the family's expense is needed. A CPR number is not needed at the application stage. The admissions policy promises to consider applicants equally regardless of nationality; students of more than 70 nationalities attend. Admission to the Danish STX gymnasium is via optagelse.dk by 1 March under Danish requirements, or after that through a central entrance test and interview; mid-year transfers are possible.
Stages and year groups Grades Pre-K, K, 1-12. IB Continuum: PYP (Pre-K, Kindergarten and grades 1-5), MYP (grades 6-10; grade 10, MYP 5, is equivalent to Danish 1g), Diploma Programme (grades 11-12). Alongside, since 2022 the high school runs a three-year Danish STX gymnasium (studentereksamen) with social science, language and natural science tracks. The IB track is taught in English, the STX in Danish. Age on 15 August: Pre-K from 3 (children must be toilet trained), Kindergarten from 5, grade 1 from 6.
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
IB · PYP, MYP, DP · authorised programmeThe IB register lists the Primary Years, Middle Years and Diploma programmes at the school. Since 2022 a Danish STX gymnasium has also run at its upper school.
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), DP (ages 16-19). 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. 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 →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
32 (world average 30.88)
Exam results IB Diploma 2026: 38 candidates, 37 diplomas (97%), average score of diploma holders 32, highest 44 points. 2025: 38 of 38 (100%), average 35, highest 43; 2024: 34 of 37 (92%), average 32, highest 42. The school stresses its non-selective admissions; the international pass rate is about 81% and the international average score 31.
Where leavers go: University of Copenhagen · Technical University of Denmark (DTU) · Copenhagen Business School · Aarhus University · Lund University · Imperial College London · University College London · King's College London · University of Edinburgh · University of Warwick · Delft University of Technology · IE University
and others, 14 universities in the school's list in allThe school profile lists universities where graduates have enrolled since 2017 in Scandinavia, the UK, Europe, the US and elsewhere. Of 38 graduates in 2025, 20 matriculated to 15 colleges and 18 took a gap year.
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
·Librarynot stated on the website
✓Catering
·School transportnot stated on the website
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Clubs and activities: Choir · Band Workshop · Guitar · Piano · Violin · Flute · Cello · Saxophone
Teaching staff
The school publishes neither the number of its teachers nor their qualifications.
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 policynot stated on the website
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
·Anti-bullying policynot stated on the website
All adults in the school are responsible for safeguarding; the school has a child protection team that meets every two weeks or as required. Student Support Services include school counselling, learning support, EAL, occupational therapy, speech and language therapy and the school health service. Families sign a school-home partnership agreement on enrolment.
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%)95 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 data60 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 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