The Swedish parliament recently decided that free schools are welcome to continue to contribute to the Swedish school system. We welcome this decision and will continue to provide the highest possible quality of education to all children at IES schools. We also work closely with municipalities in an often-challenging reality around Sweden. Together we find ways to offer even more children quality education, which in turn attracts companies and parents to these municipalities.

Skellefteå municipality has announced that it would welcome Internationella Engelska Skolan, IES, to open a school in the city in 2019 and has invited IES to run such a school in the former buildings of Brännanskolan. The move would be dependent on a contract being signed following a formal decision from IES.

Jörgen Stenquist, Vice CEO of Internationella Engelska Skolan, said: “We have wanted to open a school in Skellefteå for a number of years, and we are delighted by the enthusiastic welcome that we have received from families, politicians and the local business community.  Skellefteå is a town with a bright future, working to attract multinational companies and with that comes the need for a first-class education. We want to be part of the solution, providing the quality education which is needed."

Students from Internationella Engelska Skolan Johanneberg came away from a national contest with two prizes.
The final of iLCompetition, held in Malmö, saw the students from Johanneberg win first prize in the Swedish contest - Mästerskapet i Svenska, and third prize in Spanish.
Kicki Zhou and Gunnar Fovaeus (pictured above) competed against other students from across Sweden to win their place at the national final, but to win the overall contest in Swedish was a surprise.

Internationella Engelska Skolan, IES, is the largest free school organization in compulsory education (grundskolor) in Sweden, with 24,000 students and over 170,000 registrations in our queue.  Our students receive above national average results in the national tests as well as make academic progress with us over time.  This is regardless of social or academic background. 38% of our students have a foreign background compared with 24% in municipal schools. In the face of Sweden’s educational challenges, we can, and want to, be a part of the solution.