Stenhus Gymnasium is a state upper secondary school in Holbæk, about 65 km west of Copenhagen (around 40 minutes by fast train). Its history goes back to 1906, when Stenhus Kostskole opened, with its first graduates in 1912; in the 1970s the gymnasium moved into a new building next door, and today the gymnasium and Stenhus Kostskole are separate institutions. It is one of Denmark's largest gymnasiums, with about 1300 students and almost 150 university trained teachers. The school offers the Danish STX (3 years) and HF (2 years) programmes in Danish and an international line in English: the one-year Pre-IB and the two-year IB Diploma Programme, offered since 2016; about 150 students are in the international programmes. The school also runs a Sports College (badminton, basketball, dance, handball) and Holbæk Drama College. Since 2024 it has operated its own boarding house, Stenhus Housing, for students from other towns and from abroad. In 2026 the school joined the UNESCO Associated Schools network.
Key facts
Programmes
IB · DP · National programme
Languages of instruction
Danish, English
Languages taught
German, French, Spanish, Chinese, Latin
Students
about 1300, of whom about 150 are in the international programmes
About the fees Tuition is free: the school states directly that there is no tuition fee, including for Pre-IB and IB, because it is a state school financed by taxpayers. Main student expenses are the study trip (usually about 3000 DKK) and a calculator for Mathematics (about 1000 DKK); textbooks are lent from the school depot. Stenhus Housing is paid: 5250 DKK per month for a double room and 5750 DKK for a single room, 11 payments a year (July free); the fee covers the room, meals seven days a week, utilities, joint trips and adult supervision. Optional paid programmes: Sports College 12000 DKK a year (Danse College Light 8000 DKK), Holbæk Drama College 8500 DKK a year.
Admissions STX and HF admit students after grade 9 or 10 through optagelse.dk, deadline 1 March. Pre-IB requires Danish grade 9 or 10 leaving exams or equivalent international exams; sometimes there are tests in English, Mathematics or Science and an interview. Direct entry to the IB Diploma is possible after 10-11 years of schooling, for example after the first year of STX or with five IGCSE subjects (English, Mathematics, Science and History or Global Perspectives); a personal statement and a teacher reference are required. Two applications are submitted: the school form and optagelse.dk; priority goes to applicants who list the school as first choice. The school explicitly names among its applicants non-Danish students living in Denmark because of their parents' jobs and non-Danish students coming to take the IB. Students from outside the EU coming without their parents can only get a one-year residence permit for Pre-IB and cannot continue the IB in Denmark; EU citizens need an EU residence document. Boarding requires a separate application by 1 February.
Stages and year groups Grades STX 1g-3g, HF 1-2, Pre-IB, IB1-IB2. Danish line: STX (studentereksamen, three years, 1g-3g, with an introductory course in the autumn of the first year and a choice of study line) and HF (two years, four semesters). International line in English: Pre-IB, a preparatory year equivalent to the first year of STX, followed by the two-year IB Diploma Programme with profiles (business, global politics, arts, medicine, engineering, psychology, language and culture), Theory of Knowledge, CAS and the Extended Essay. Pre-IB students can move to the Danish STX. The school does not run Cambridge programmes: Cambridge IGCSE is mentioned only as an entry qualification for the IB.
Address Stenhusvej 20, 4300 Holbæk
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
IB · DP · authorised programmeThe IB register lists the Diploma Programme at the school; it is taught in English after a preparatory pre-IB year, alongside the Danish STX programme and the studentereksamen exam.
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 →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, May 2026: 45 candidates, 40 passed the diploma (88.9%), average points of those who passed 33, highest score 43 points, average subject grade 5.17. The school publishes statistics for sessions since 2022.
Where leavers go: University of Copenhagen · Copenhagen Business School · Technical University of Denmark · Roskilde University · University of Southern Denmark · Aarhus University · Aalborg University
IB graduates study medicine, law, engineering, psychology, business, political science, economics and natural sciences; besides Danish universities the school lists countries where its graduates study: England, Scotland, Ireland, USA, Spain, the Netherlands, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Czech Republic, Poland.
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
✓Library
✓Catering
·School transportnot stated on the website
✓Boarding
Also on site: Sports ground or field
Clubs and activities: Art Club · Book Club · Chess Club · Climate Club · DnD Club · Floorball · Holbæk Drama College · Model United Nations · Outdoor Life Club · Political Society · Red Cross · Sailing and Crafts Club · School Band · School Soccer · Self Defense Club · Sound Production · Story Club · Theatre Club · Volleyball · Yoga · Young Film · Young Music
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: university education
The school reports almost 150 university trained teachers. Teachers on the international line teach IB subjects and often Danish subjects as well; Pre-IB and IB have their own coordinator, administrator and student counsellors.
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 roomnot stated on the website
✓Counsellor
✓Child protection policy
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
✓Anti-bullying policy
The school has an adopted anti-bullying strategy with a procedure for teachers and management, rules and regulations, and an inclusion policy for students with special needs. It is part of the UPCN psychologist scheme: psychologists are attached to the school and students are referred by their student counsellor; there is a psychological hotline, the Elevtjenesten service and cooperation with the municipal SSP. In the boarding house students are supervised by adults on weekdays from 7:00 to 8:30 and from 15:00 to 23:30, and at weekends from 9:30 to 01:00; parents have an emergency number.
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 data70 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)85 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data75 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
Holbaek, Denmark · est. 1906 · State