← Back to the rankingKongsberg International School
Kongsberg, Norway · est. 2003 · Private
Illustration · Kongsberg
Kongsberg International School (KIS) is a state-funded private international school in Kongsberg for children aged 6 to 16, grades 1 to 10, with one class per grade. It was conceived in the early 2000s at the Kongsberg Group to attract and retain international staff and to give continuity to Norwegian families returning from abroad; other local companies, the Chamber of Commerce and the mayor supported it. The school opened in August 2003 with 65 students instead of the expected 40, quickly gained authorisation for the IB MYP and then the PYP, and in 2008 took over the neighbouring building. Today it has more than 190 students, with more than 39 nationalities among students, parents and staff. Lessons are in English; grades 1-6 follow the PYP and grades 7-10 the MYP, all students learn Norwegian, and all middle school students learn Spanish. Admission is non-selective, there is no homework in grades 1-6, the school limits screen use and students wear a uniform.
Key facts
Tuition
≈ $4 104 a year
3 950 NOK a month
The year is counted as ten payments: the school does not say how many payments it takes.
Languages of instruction
English
Languages taught
Norwegian, Spanish
Class size
no more than 20 students per class
About the fees From August 2026 fees are 3950 NOK per month for any grade from 1 to 10, paid in advance over 10 months from August. Fees are set by the school board based on Udir rates. Families with more than three children at the school at the same time pay only for three. Textbooks are lent, exercise books and educational supplies are included. Three months' notice is required to terminate the contract.
Admissions The school is open to everyone with the right and duty to attend school in Norway, that is, living in the country for more than three months; children aged 6-16 are admitted without entrance tests. The main admission for grades 2-10 starts on 1 May, and for grade 1 applications are due by 1 December for the following year, ahead of the municipal schools. When there is a place, admission is rolling all year, except for grade 10 after 1 October; only the application form is needed, an offer must be answered within a week and the student must start within a month. When places are short the priority order is: children of staff; international students without a suitable alternative nearby (with emphasis on the child's ability to communicate in Norwegian); siblings of students; other international students; children with previous IB or other international schooling; residents of Kongsberg Kommune; then by application date. Decisions can be appealed to the Statsforvalteren in Oslo og Viken. There are currently places in grades 1, 3, 8, 9 and 10. Students relocating from countries with a high prevalence of tuberculosis need a test.
Stages and year groups Grades 1-10. The IB Primary Years Programme in grades 1-6 (ages 6-12) and the IB Middle Years Programme in grades 7-10 (ages 13-16; MYP classes A-D), with the personal project and service as action. In the MYP English language and literature is compulsory for all, most students also take Norwegian language and literature and the rest Norwegian language acquisition; all middle school students take Spanish for all four years. Sciences are a combined course, arts from the third MYP year are a choice of visual or performing arts, and design includes programming, robotics and 3D design. There is a careers programme: work experience weeks in grades 8-10 and visits to upper secondary schools. The school operates under the Independent Schools Act (friskolelova). There is no kindergarten or upper secondary section; the school does not mention Cambridge programmes.
Address Dyrmyrgata 39, 3611 Kongsberg
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
·Cateringnot stated on the website
·School transportnot stated on the website
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Also on site: Playground
Campus: The school occupies a building on Dyrmyrgata in Kongsberg and, since 2008, the neighbouring Red Building; after-school care is in the white building next to the playground. There is a library with books in English, Norwegian and students' mother tongues, and a library club for grades 4-6. PE in grades 1-4 is mostly outdoors, grades 5-6 use the town's Idrettshallen sports hall; grades 7-10 do ice skating, self defence, baseball, tennis, circus arts, rock climbing, golf and downhill skiing at the local ski centre. There is no canteen: children bring lunch from home, and milk, yoghurts and smoothies can be ordered. Students wear a school uniform (top half only). It is a day school with no boarding.
Clubs and activities: Library Club · Dungeons & Dragons · Model United Nations
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: Teachers must meet the Norwegian qualification requirements (§ 14 of the regulations to the Education Act), with foreign qualifications approved by Udir. Staff hold degrees from universities in Norway, the UK, Canada, the US, Portugal, India and elsewhere, and several are IB workshop leaders and consultants.
On the staff page the school introduces 26 educators by name with their qualifications: the Head of School, heads of primary and middle school, homeroom teachers, subject teachers, special needs teachers and the psychologist, as well as assistants, the librarian, the SFO leader and administrative staff. Hiring involves reference checks and a police certificate.
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 policy
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
✓Anti-bullying policy
Student support is coordinated by the primary student support coordinator and the middle school educational psychologist; there are special needs teachers and assistants and an inclusion policy. Parents can raise concerns about the psychosocial environment through a form under Chapter 12 of the Education Act. Municipal school nurses are at the school on Tuesdays and Wednesdays (grades 1-7) and Fridays (grades 8-10) and give scheduled vaccinations. The school uniform was introduced partly to reduce peer pressure and bullying. Staff undergo police checks.
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 data75 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 data67 "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