← Back to homeVolksschule SmartCity Leopoldinum
Graz, Austria · est. 2019 · State
Illustration · Graz
Volksschule SmartCity Leopoldinum (VS SmartCity, VSC) is a public primary school (Volksschule) of the city of Graz in the new Smart City district, open since September 2019 ("SEIT SEPTEMBER 2019"). More than 350 children ("350+ children") in Grades 1-4, from 35 cultures according to the school, speaking more than 30 languages at home. The school is an IB World School offering the Primary Years Programme (PYP) and stresses that all children receive the PYP, in both the German and the English classes ("All of our 350+ children receive an IB education whether they are in the German classes or the English classes"). The school names the language of instruction directly in its language policy: "German is our main language and English is our secondary language in all classes except one class where English is the main language and German is the secondary language". All children learn English. The school holds the MINT quality seal, is a Meistersinger-Schule (a choir of more than 60 children, Meistersinger award in 2023 and 2024) and is a training school of PH Steiermark teacher college.
Key facts
Programmes
IB · PYP · National programme
Languages of instruction
German, English
Languages taught
Italian, Turkish
Admissions The school invites all children to apply regardless of language, religion, ability, gender, origin and culture ("All students are welcome to apply regardless of language, religion, sexual orientation, physical and cognitive abilities, gender, race, or culture"). As a public school it admits through the city registration: online pre-registration (Vormerkung) in November for children with their main residence in Graz ("Kinder mit Grazer Hauptwohnsitz"), naming three schools, one within 1500 m of home; then registration (Schuleinschreibung) in January and an interview with the admissions committee in English or German. Documents include proof of registration (Meldenachweis), a birth certificate and "Staatsbürgerschaftsnachweis oder Reisepass" (proof of citizenship or passport) of the child or parents. A child must be 6 by 1 September to enter Grade 1. If there are more applicants than places, the school considers distance from home, previous attendance at an international school, commitment to a full school year, siblings at the school and the need for afternoon care. Children in German classes take the MIKA-D German test and receive extra German support if needed (DAZ, Deutschförderklasse); children in the English class get 3-4 hours of German a week.
Stages and year groups Grades 1-4. A primary school, Grades 1-4 (Schulstufe), with the IB Primary Years Programme for all children within the Austrian curriculum. Classes with German as the main language (2-3 hours of English a week in Grades 1-2, 1 hour in Grades 3-4, plus English in clubs, PE, choir and music) and an English class where English is the main language and German the second. The language policy describes the English class as a mixed-age class, Grades 1-4 together ("a family class with grades 1-4 altogether"); the team page shows two English classes, PYP 1-2 and PYP 3-4. As a primary school it awards no leaving certificate: after Grade 4 children move on to secondary school.
Address Waagner-Biro-Straße 99, 8020 Graz
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
IB · PYP · authorised programmeThe IB register lists the Primary Years Programme at the school (recorded as Volksschule Leopoldinum-Smart City). The enrolment page of the school's website still calls it a candidate, while the home page calls it an authorised IB World School; the register confirms the latter.
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). 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.
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 hallnot stated on the website
·Laboratoriesnot stated on the website
·Theatre or assembly hallnot stated on the website
·Librarynot stated on the website
·Cateringnot stated on the website
·School transportnot stated on the website
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Campus: A cluster building: learning areas (Lernlandschaft) with a large experiment table, classrooms with sliding doors, group rooms, an assembly hall (Aula), all-day care with lunch.
Clubs and activities: STEM inquiry learning · STEM · Choir · Coding club · After-school music conservatory · Badminton · Basketball · Ball sports · Hip Hop · Music & Theatre
Teaching staff from the school's official website
✓Teachers listed by name40 names
✓Teacher qualifications
·Number of teachersthe school does not say
·Students per teacher or class sizenot stated
What the listings show: The school says it has trained and certified all its staff for the PYP ("we have worked hard to train and certify all of our staff") and calls its English teachers certified native speakers ("English native certified teachers"); teachers mentor student teachers from PH Steiermark.
The team page lists 40 people by name: PYP class teachers by grade, English and German teachers, special-needs (SPF) teachers, PE, technology and design, religion and home-language teachers. Head of school is Sandra Edler, PYP coordinator Jacquelyn Hafellner. The all-day care team of 16 people is 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 roomnot stated on the website
✓Counsellor
✓Child protection policy
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
·Anti-bullying policynot stated on the website
The psychosocial support team of the Styrian school psychology service (Schulpsychologie Steiermark) works at the school: an educator offering counselling in Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian (Monday-Thursday 10:00-16:00) and a school psychologist; counselling is voluntary, free and confidential. There are counselling teachers for emotional and social development (Beratungslehrer:innen). Admissions, assessment, inclusion and language policies are published.
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 data90 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data60 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data78 Value for money (6%) scored at the median76 "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 7 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