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Choosing a school in Hellerup: IB, Danish STX or IGCSE
ISH and Rygaards overlap in age but lead to different qualifications. Check the actual campus, the 16–19 plan and the CPR-related fee rules before choosing.
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The most important difference is what happens after age 16. International School of Hellerup continues to the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma and also offers a separate Danish STX programme. Rygaards International School follows an English curriculum through IGCSE at 16, so pupils need another school for their final two years.
Follow the pupil, not the school name
ISH’s younger pupils attend Rygårds Allé 131 in Hellerup. MYP 5, the IB Diploma and STX are based at Præstøgade 17 in Østerbro. A family joining for secondary school should therefore test the journey to the campus the child will actually use, including the later campus change.
At ISH, the IB route is international and English-medium. STX is a separate three-year Danish gymnasium programme leading to the Danish upper-secondary qualification. It has its own admissions process through optagelse.dk and its own fees. Do not assume a pupil can move from the IB Middle Years Programme into STX without meeting the Danish entry and language requirements.
Rygaards, on Bernstorffsvej, runs an International Department alongside a Danish school. The international route uses the English National Curriculum and ends with Cambridge or Edexcel IGCSEs. Confirm the intended 16–19 destination before choosing it for an older child. Sharing a site with the Danish school does not make the two admissions routes interchangeable.
Confirm the complete cost
Both schools’ 2026–27 schedules link the subsidised charge to Danish registration rules. A CPR number and qualifying status by the stated deadline can materially change the fee. The ISH document we reviewed contained conflicting 2025 and 2026 deadline references. Ask the finance office to confirm the applicable date in writing. Rygaards names 5 September 2026.
Add application, enrolment, deposits, meals, after-school care, materials and any language or learning support. At Rygaards, use the International Department schedule rather than the Danish school’s charge.
Build a resilient shortlist
Compare these schools with the local folkeskole if Danish integration may matter. Ask each school what support is available for the child’s current English and Danish, and whether it changes the bill.
See the Hellerup hub and Denmark guide. The profiles retain the fee tables and official links.
Friendly orientation, not formal admissions advice. Always confirm dates with the school.
Other school profiles
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Copenhagen International School
CIS is Copenhagen’s large, established full-IB day school. Its Nordhavn campus offers the PYP, MYP and Diploma in English, but admission also depends on language readiness, support capacity and a nationality limit whose wording differs between two official sources.
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Institut Sankt Joseph is most distinctive for its Danish–English bilingual route: about half the timetable follows Danish national goals, while maths, English and science follow Cambridge programmes in English. It requires real Danish as children get older.
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International School of Hellerup offers the full IB continuum in English across campuses in Hellerup and Østerbro. Its Østerbro high-school site also houses a separate Danish-medium STX programme. The school publishes detailed fees, but its 2026–27 documents contain conflicting years in the CPR-subsidy rules, so families near the deadline should obtain a written fee decision.
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Lycée Français Prins Henrik follows the French national curriculum from early childhood to the baccalauréat. Older pupils can pursue the Danish-French baccalaureate, which preserves access to both systems. The 2026–27 rules distinguish the school’s 2 September CPR submission deadline from the fee table’s 5 September subsidy date.
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