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Jelgava, Latvia · est. 1990 · State
Illustration · Jelgava
A state gymnasium in Jelgava, founded in 1990 on the initiative of the Latvian Culture Foundation - professor Ilmārs Lazovskis and poet Imants Ziedonis - around the idea that 'a school is not a building, it's an idea'. It has worked from a new building on Sarmas iela 2 since 2019. It provides basic education in grades 7-9 (including an International Baccalaureate MYP stream in Latvian and English since 2021) and general secondary education in grades 10-12 along three tracks - science, commerce and social science. In the 2025/2026 school year the gymnasium opened a Diploma Programme (DP) section for the first time, for its two senior grades, becoming the only IB school in the Zemgale region; it has no DP final exam results yet, since the section only opened this school year. Per the 2024/2025 self-assessment report, the gymnasium had 226 students in the main basic-school stream, 55 in an alternative basic-school stream, and from 265 at the start of the year to 256 at the end in general secondary.
Key facts
Languages of instruction
Latvian, English
About the fees Basic education at the state gymnasium is free for Latvian citizens and residents, as at all state schools in the country. Neither the site nor the self-assessment report names a separate fee for taking part in the MYP or DP programmes.
Admissions Admission to grade 7 and to free places in grades 8-9 goes by an in-person entrance exam and a motivation letter. A separate basic-school stream runs the International Baccalaureate MYP in Latvian and English. The site names no citizenship requirement.
Stages and year groups The MYP programme has run since 2021 in grades 7-10, DP since the 2025/2026 school year in the two senior grades; admission to the gymnasium as a whole starts at grade 7, so ageMin is set for the gymnasium overall, not for the IB section
Address Sarmas iela 2, Jelgava, LV-3001
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
IB · MYP, DP · authorised programmeschool 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: MYP (ages 11-16), DP (ages 16-19). 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 →Exams and destinations from the school's official website
Exam results per the 2024/2025 self-assessment report: on the grade 9 centralised exam the gymnasium scores above the national average - maths 64.49% against 53.8%, Latvian 68.73% against 58.5%, English 81.47% against 65.8%; on the grade 12 general-level exam - English 78.66% against 60.7%, maths 48.80% against 43.7%, Latvian 72.38% against 55.9%. The average grade is 7.58 in basic school (grades 7-9) and 7.91 in secondary school (grades 10-12). There are no Diploma Programme (DP) final exam results yet: the section opened in the 2025/2026 school year and has had no graduates yet.
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 gymnasium moved into a new building on Sarmas iela 2 in 2019; a recreational area called 'Laimes stacija' was built on the grounds with the support of a EUR 20000 grant
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 sizenot stated
the exact number is not stated, counted from the staff list on the 'Skolotāji' page; 6 subject-area heads are listed separately
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
✓Counsellor
·Child protection policynot stated on the website
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
·Anti-bullying policynot stated on the website
a nurse (1.0 post), a psychologist (0.6 post) and a social pedagogue (1.0 post) are named in the self-assessment report as part of the support team; cameras, security or a separate anti-bullying policy are not named in the documents read
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%)88 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 data65 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