Graduation ceremonies are held at all IES schools and is an important part of the special culture of celebrating progress and learning that permeates IES. At IES Staffanstorp, there was great pride when 100 per cent of graduating students qualified for upper secondary school.
The atmosphere is one of anticipation among waiting parents, teachers and relatives in the large, combined gymnasium and auditorium at IES Staffanstorp as the year nine students solemnly march in, dressed in the traditional dark blue caps and gowns. One by one they get up on stage, shake hands with the principal and school leaders and push their cap tassels to the left. Year eight students are also in the audience, there to see what they can look forward to next year.
The ceremony marks the end of an important era in the students’ young lives: compulsory school. Their tears, hugs and laughter show that it is a moment of anticipation, relief and sadness. It also concludes a day of musical performances, speeches and the awarding of prizes to those students who have worked hardest to improve their results, and those who have demonstrated the greatest proficiency in Swedish, both as a first and second language, in essays.
Rewarding hard work and progress
”For IES, the symbolic rituals that characterise graduation from compulsory school are part of our culture, with an emphasis on learning, but above all on progress,” says Truls Katzler, principal of IES Staffanstorp.
“Our primary goal is for every student to achieve their full potential and move on in life with confidence after compulsory school. That’s why we award prizes to the students who have worked hardest to improve their results during the academic year.
”This year we also had a large number of students who graduated with ’honours’, i.e. more than 300 points.
This was the first IES Staffanstorp graduation, as the school was inaugurated in 2022, with classes from preschool class to seventh grade. Today, the school has 580 students, with a catchment area stretching from Staffanstorp and Lund to Rosengård in Malmö and Limhamn. It also has 75 employees. Like many of the IES schools, it has an international base of both students and teachers, with some 80 languages being spoken.
“We are extremely proud that 100 per cent of graduating students have qualified for upper secondary school. It’s a testament to the hard work that both students and teachers have put in over these three years,” says Mr Katzler.
Leading by example
In his 22 years as a school leader in both municipal and independent schools, he has a history of successfully raising the level of student achievements. Before Mr Katzler was appointed principal of IES Staffanstorp, he was principal of IES Hässleholm, where 98.5 per cent of his year nine students qualified for upper secondary school when they graduated. A key success factor, he says, is that IES schools have committed management teams with clear mandates that can share tasks. This means that he himself can be present and visible to both students and staff.
“I am convinced that the best way to lead is by example – and that means being visible. It’s also important to be clear and to make demands, but at the same time to show care and concern, i.e. ’tough love’ – a term often used by IES founder Barbara Bergström,” he says.