Svenska Skolan i Lissabon is one of the oldest Swedish schools abroad in Europe: it was founded in the 1950s by the teacher Marianne Rocha Martins in Carcavelos, on the coast between Lisbon and Cascais, where it still is. It is an official Swedish school abroad for children aged 3 to 12: preschool and förskoleklass to grade 6 under the Swedish curriculum Lgr22. It is approved by Skolverket, undergoes inspection and receives the state grant, and is also authorised by the Portuguese authorities. All lessons are in Swedish; Portuguese is taught in the preschool and the school. Classes are small and in 2026-2027 are combined: förskoleklass and grade 1, grades 2-3, grades 4-6, with the preschool split into a group for ages 3-4 and a separate group of 5-year-olds. National tests are taken in grades 3 and 6, as in Sweden. Pupils come from Sweden and Norway, and also from Denmark and Finland. The school is run by a parents' association, so parents have a say and decisions are made quickly. There are no upper grades: pupils can continue at Swedish distance schools or at international schools in the area.
Key facts
Tuition
≈ $8 925 a year
7 900 EUR
Programmes
Swedish programme
Admits from
3 years · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
Swedish
Languages taught
Portuguese
Class size
small mixed-age classes
Registration fee
≈ $226
200 EUR
About the fees The annual fee for a full day (30 hours a week) is 7900 EUR in both the preschool (ages 3-5) and the school (ages 6-12); for a pupil for whom the school receives the state grant it is 7426 EUR. The fee includes textbooks, materials, home-made lunch, fruit and snack, accident insurance and access to the school nurse. Fees are set by the association and updated annually; in 2026-2027 45% is paid for the autumn term and 55% for the spring term. The school itself applies for the state grant for children whose parents live in Portugal, for example for work; the money goes to the school, and the family pays slightly less. Swedish municipalities very rarely transfer skolpeng.
Admissions The school is open to children with a connection to Scandinavia; registration in Sweden is not required, and families can apply wherever they are registered. Often one parent does not speak Swedish, for example a Portuguese parent; if neither parent speaks Swedish, this is discussed with the school in advance. Children under 3 are not admitted because of the Portuguese licence. Applications to the preschool and school are accepted all year; the minimum stay is one term, but full-year pupils have priority, and single-term pupils are taken only if there are free places. The application must confirm that the school's documents have been read and give the current class teacher's contact; the child's health records may be requested before starting. Children with special needs are generally not admitted; exceptions are discussed with the head in advance.
Stages and year groups Swedish curriculum: preschool under the Swedish preschool curriculum (Lpfö98, revised 2011) for ages 3-5, förskoleklass from age 6 and grades 1-6 under Lgr22. In 2026-2027 the groups are: preschool ages 3-4 and a separate group of 5-year-olds, förskoleklass together with grade 1, grades 2-3, grades 4-6. Each term there is a development meeting with learning goals, and national tests in grades 3 and 6. The school has no grades 7-9 or upper secondary. The school offers no international programmes.
Address Rua Quelimane 174, 2775-620 Carcavelos, Portugal
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
SkolverketSkolverket names the school as a Swedish school abroad and gives it a state grant: it teaches the Swedish curriculum.
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
SkolverketSwedish National Agency for Education (Skolverket)
A Swedish school abroad: the full-day Swedish curriculum, a state grant from Skolverket and checks by the Swedish Schools Inspectorate.
What the badge means for this school. This is a Swedish school abroad: it teaches the full-day Swedish curriculum, and Skolverket gives it a state grant - this can be seen in its grant decisions. The entry is not a quality inspection. The curriculum and the qualifications are Swedish. Whom the school admits and what it charges are on its own website. The entry stands in the organisation's public register - anyone can check it.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →Swedish programme
The Swedish school curriculum taught in Swedish: förskoleklass, the compulsory grundskola under the Lgr22 curriculum and, at some schools, the upper-secondary gymnasieskola leading to the Swedish gymnasieexamen.
What this means for this school. The curriculum is set by the Swedish state: the school follows the Swedish curriculum, receives state funding through Skolverket and is checked by the Swedish Schools Inspectorate. A child who returns to Sweden carries on without switching from another system.
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 pool
·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
Also on site: Sports ground or field · Art studio · Playground
Campus: The school occupies a former villa in a residential area of Carcavelos between Lisbon and Cascais, five minutes' walk from the sea and two minutes from the railway station; the building holds 90 children and about 20 staff. The fenced playground has a pool, a ball court, a creative corner, a climbing frame, swings and a sandpit, and adults are always present at break. There is a woodwork room. The school's own chef cooks home-made food daily following Swedish guidelines, with organic and local produce: fruit, lunch with a salad bar and an afternoon snack. The preschool runs from 9:00 to 16:00; after-school care runs from 15:00 to 17:00 for school pupils and from 16:00 to 17:00 for preschool children. There is no uniform; it is a day school.
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: Staff are qualified or licensed in their respective fields (behöriga/legitimerade).
The website lists about 20 staff: the head, class mentor teachers, a förskoleklass and grade 1 teacher who is also the special needs teacher, teachers of woodwork, PE, music and Portuguese, after-school staff, a nurse, a school coordinator, a cook and a head chef. Teachers are hired according to group size.
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 policynot stated on the website
The school has a crisis plan and a plan against discrimination and degrading treatment for 2026-2027. The nurse works part-time and invites every pupil to an annual health talk; vaccinations and growth checks are done by regular healthcare in Portugal. The playground is fenced and adults are always present at break and in after-school care. There is a special needs teacher.
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 data65 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)85 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data70 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
Carcavelos, Portugal · Private