News | 07 September 2022
Greater interest than ever in new IES schools
Internationella Engelska Skolan has today sent updated queue numbers to the Administrative Court, for the planned schools in Norrtälje, Upplands-Bro, Vårby Udde in Huddinge outside Stockholm and Södra Änggården in Gothenburg and can state that the interest is greater than ever before, this long before planned start of school.
– It is very gratifying and shows that there is a great demand for a school with our international profile among families in many parts of Sweden, says Jörgen Stenquist, vice president at IES and responsible for establishing new schools.
In July, the School Inspectorate announced that they rejected four of the Internationella Engelska Skolan applications to open new schools. The reason was that the authority did not consider that the reported data was enough to demonstrate a sufficient interest directed at the specific schools. In the past, IES has been able to refer to its general queue to demonstrate demand, but this approach is no longer approved by the School Inspectorate.
After the rejections, IES has therefore opened queues to all the planned schools, and the response has been overwhelming. Never before have so many parents lined up their children for new IES schools, so long before they opened. Total number of students in the queue for the respective schools (occupancy rate in brackets):
Norrtälje (2023): 650 (108%)
Vårby Udde (2024): 677 (113%)
Södra Änggården (2024): 1277 (140%)
Upplands-Bro (2024): 961 (160%)
– The authorities have requested figures on targeted interest for each school and now we have produced this, says Jörgen Stenquist. We have always known that there is a great demand for our type of school, but now we know in black and white that the places will be filled. It is a queue administered by Schoolsoft, an independent operator used by a large number of municipalities and independent schools.
Internationella Engelska Skolan (IES) has existed for almost 30 years and today runs 45 primary schools across the country, from Trelleborg in the south to Skellefteå in the north, and a secondary upper school, at Södermalm in Stockholm. IES only opens new schools in municipalities where there is a political will and where the municipality assesses that there is a student base and a demand.
– As long as there is a demand among students and parents, we are interested in opening new IES schools, but it must be the municipality's analysis of the need and student base that decides where and when, says Jörgen Stenquist.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Chief Press Officer Lars Anders Johansson 072-178 22 83, press@engelska.se