← Back to the rankingVasa International School of Stockholm
Stockholm, Sweden · est. 1998 · Private
Illustration · Stockholm
Vasa International School of Stockholm is a small free independent school (friskola) in Vasastan, central Stockholm, for students from age 5 to grade 9. It is an IB school: the PYP was authorised in 2009 and the MYP in 2017; teaching combines the IB programmes with the Swedish national curriculum Lgr22. Teaching is bilingual: the class teacher teaches in Swedish, the class assistant speaks English, and PE, art and music teachers teach in English. The school was founded by teachers from Estonia, Anette Parts and Rita Ahonen; the website gives 1998 as the founding year, while its history says the first classes opened in 1995 and the Docendo Discimus foundation was set up in 1997. The school emphasises languages and mathematics, order, homework and respect. The fully English IB programme has run at its sister school on Kungsholmen since 2022. Students regularly visit the school's own farm, Eknäs Gård, outside the city.
Key facts
Programmes
IB · PYP, MYP · National programme
Languages of instruction
Swedish, English
Languages taught
French, Spanish
About the fees Tuition is free: the school says it is 'funded by the local education authority' and 'the bilingual program has no associated school fees'. Lunch is free too. Joining the waiting list is free.
Admissions Applications to the waiting list can be made at any time, free of charge; there is no entrance exam. The school is open to all but recommends good knowledge of English. Applications are reviewed at the beginning of the year and places are finalised by the end of April; late admissions take place in June, August and January and throughout the year when places are available; expat families who have just arrived in Sweden are invited to contact the school about places at any time of year. Siblings of current students are placed higher in the queue, and proximity to the school is considered. Class placement is strictly by year of birth. Parents receive a queue reference number but cannot see their position.
Stages and year groups Grades Early Years (ages 5-6), PYP 1-5, MYP 1-4 (to grade 9). A bilingual IB programme combined with the Swedish curriculum Lgr22: an Early Years class for ages 5-6 (about 18 students and two teachers, one speaking English and one Swedish, equivalent to förskoleklass), the PYP for ages 5-11 with the PYP Exhibition, and the MYP up to MYP 4, equivalent to Swedish grade 9; the MYP includes the Community Project. Languages in the MYP: Swedish, English, French, Spanish. There is no Diploma Programme.
Address Luntmakargatan 101, 113 51 Stockholm (Vasastan)
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. The IB programmes run together with the Swedish compulsory-school 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
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 →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
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 hall
✓Laboratories
·Theatre or assembly hallnot stated on the website
✓Library
✓Catering
·School transportnot stated on the website
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Also on site: Art studio
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
Teachers and staff come from different countries. The staff page lists Early Years and PYP 1-5 homeroom teachers, MYP teachers of Swedish, English, French, Spanish, mathematics, science, individuals and societies, PE, visual arts, music, home economics and outdoor life, a librarian, a special education teacher and a nurse. Each student has a staff mentor. The school does not publish qualifications, the exact number of teachers or class sizes, except for the Early Years class (about 18 students and two teachers).
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
The school has a school nurse and a special education teacher; each student is assigned a staff mentor to approach with questions about studies and personal life. PYP children may be on campus outside school hours only with an adult or in after school care. The school stresses self-discipline, mutual respect and tolerance of individual differences.
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 data60 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 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