About IES

About IES

Within the Swedish compulsory school system, Internationella Engelska Skolan is currently the largest operator of independent schools. As of autumn 2024, we have more than 32,000 students in 47 compulsory schools, from Trelleborg in the south to Skellefteå in the north, as well as one upper secondary school. We are a bilingual school that follows the Swedish national curriculum and believes that learning starts with a safe and calm environment.

IES was founded in 1993, and has a long experience as a high-quality school organisation. Barbara Bergstrom, the founder who was herself a teacher, saw the need of an alternative to existing schools at the time. She believed in the need of discipline, to create a safe and orderly environment, in which teachers can teach and students learn. She emphasised the importance of raising high expectations for everyone, also the most gifted learners. And she believed that young Swedes needed to fully command both the Swedish language and English, which had become the key to the world. The best way to achieve this is via “language immersion”, with many teachers recruited from English speaking countries.