International School of Bergen: IB education through Grade 10

The International School of Bergen (ISB) is a not-for-profit day school at Sandslihaugen 36, 5254 Sandsli, about 15 kilometres from central Bergen. It does not provide boarding or family accommodation.

The school serves children from age one through Grade 10, normally completed at about 16. It does not offer the IB Diploma. Families wanting to continue with that qualification must plan a later move, for example to Bergen Katedralskole, a public upper-secondary option. ISB describes helping pupils with applications to Diploma schools and United World Colleges; assistance does not guarantee admission.

The main fit questions are the child’s English and Norwegian needs, the applicable fee category and the next school after Grade 10. Test the Sandsli journey from your proposed home before committing.

Who it is for

ISB serves internationally mobile and local families who want English-medium education. Its curriculum is international rather than American. The school says it is approved by UDIR, the Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training, and must teach aspects of the Norwegian national curriculum. Its Early Childhood Centre (ECC), the on-site kindergarten, follows the Norwegian Framework Plan for Kindergartens.

The 2026–27 policy defines these fee categories:

Category	Published eligibility
A	A company reserves a place through the Guaranteed Seat Programme, including for a midyear arrival. These places receive priority.
B1	Internationally mobile families living in Bergen municipality, where neither parent nor the child has a Norwegian passport, who have spent fewer than three years in Norway and can prove the employer is not paying.
B2	Families living outside Bergen municipality, regardless of time spent in Norway.
C1	Families employed by not-for-profit organisations, with supporting documents.
C2	Norwegian-citizen families or families in Norway for more than three years, without company support.

Category C has the lowest priority when places are limited; international C1 families take priority over C2. Ask the school to confirm how all conditions apply to your household.

Families must document eligibility. Where the parents fall into different categories, the policy initially applies Tuition B.

A B1 family may request category C after three years, with the change taking effect in the following school year. A B2 family must move into Bergen municipality before it can request C for the following school year. Conversely, a category C family moving out of the municipality changes to B2 the following year. Check the fee effect before choosing a home across the municipal boundary.

The FAQ says ISB does not offer scholarships. It prints a 25% sibling reduction for Tuition C. The 2026–27 schedule also prints 25% for B1, and none for B2.

Campus and the school day

The building was modernised in 2019 and houses all three sections. Shared facilities include the Community Cove library, art rooms, a science laboratory and a gym. The ECC has four classrooms and dedicated art, climbing and performing-arts spaces. Outdoors, there are two enclosed playgrounds, forest and cycle paths, a grill hut and a vegetable garden.

The school also uses nearby sports and cultural facilities. Grades 2–4 travel by public transport to swimming at Slåtthaug. Upper School activities include cycling, skiing, canoeing, skating and hiking. Ask which activities are scheduled for your child’s year and what equipment is needed.

Published hours are:

• ECC and supervision: 07:30–16:30.
• Grades 1–7: 08:50–15:00, ending at 14:00 on Wednesdays.
• Grades 8–10: 08:15–15:00, ending at 14:00 on Wednesdays.

After-school activities are listed as starting at 15:00, or 14:00 on Wednesdays; the homepage also gives 15:05–16:05. Confirm the particular club’s times. Families register and pay external providers each term. ISB says providers must hold a police certificate and sign its child-protection policy.

Programmes and assessment

The Early Childhood Centre serves ages one to six, in Preschool 1&2, Preschool 3&4 and Kindergarten. Teaching is in English and combines the Norwegian kindergarten framework with the inquiry-based approach of the IB Primary Years Programme (PYP). It follows the school calendar. Its 07:30–16:30 opening hours and municipal fees are separate from Grade 1–10 tuition.

Lower School, Grades 1–5, follows the PYP. Children explore connected questions across subjects, culminating in the Grade 5 Exhibition, a final inquiry project. The 2023–24 Lower School guide describes Toddle digital portfolios instead of traditional report cards and family conferences in November and May. It lists school iPads for Grades 1–4 and Chromebooks for Grade 5. Daily reading is emphasised in Grades 1–4, with more written homework in Grade 5 to prepare for the next stage. Confirm these arrangements in the current handbook.

Upper School, Grades 6–10, follows the IB Middle Years Programme (MYP). ISB dates its pioneering involvement in the programme to 1987. Grade 6 has an Oslo cultural visit, while Grade 10 organises a European service project. Both incur extra charges; the school directs families to its handbook for approximate costs. The published 2024–25 Erasmus+ programme involved exchanges with Italy, Spain, France, the Netherlands and Liechtenstein; this does not establish the destinations for a new entrant’s year.

The admissions age table gives 6–7 for Grade 1 and 15–16 for Grade 10. British Year 2 corresponds to Grade 1, and Year 11 to Grade 10, but ISB decides placement after reviewing the child.

The school reports a 1:7 pupil-to-teacher ratio, classes of 15–22 and a Grade 1–10 average of 18. These are school-wide figures, not a guarantee for a particular class. ECC staffing follows municipal requirements; the pages do not give a numerical ratio.

English and Norwegian

Teaching is in English, but children who do not yet speak English may apply. English Language Support (ELS) may take place in class, in separate sessions, through an alternative English programme or through a combination. The school does not publish a fixed English proficiency threshold on these pages. Ask what support and timetable would apply to your child.

Norwegian is compulsory from Grade 1. The dated Lower School guide specifies three hours weekly, alongside cultural learning. Its Language A course follows the Norwegian national curriculum within the PYP approach. Language B provides separate teaching for beginners, with an emphasis on practical Norwegian. Ask how the school assesses placement and progression between the courses.

ISB participates in the national testing programme, which covers reading, numeracy and English across Grades 5, 8 and 9. Its pupils are exempt from the English papers intended for Norwegian-medium schools. Individual exemptions from reading or numeracy may apply for limited Norwegian or educational needs.

The Lower School guide describes a Grade 5 reading test in November for Language A, with Language B participation on parental request. It also describes Grade 3 diagnostic reading and mathematics tests in Norwegian, from which Language B pupils may be exempt.

The dedicated testing page lists the International Schools Assessment (ISA) annually in Grades 3, 5, 7 and 9, covering reading, writing and mathematics. This differs from the older Lower School guide’s Grade 3–5 list; use the current testing page and confirm your child’s schedule. ISB describes its results favourably, but these statements are not an independent comparison of school quality.

How a child actually gets in

Applications run all year. The process has three stages: application, placement and welcome.

Application. ECC families complete the ISB form and the Bergen Kommune barnehage form. The office will help if the kommune form is only in Norwegian. Grades 1–10 complete the ISB form and, if they exist, two complete years of records, including any individual education plan (IEP).

Placement. The school chooses the grade from learning, social development and age. Bring work samples. Say how long you expect to stay. Send scores if you have them. For Grades 2–10, a form goes to the previous school through OpenApply. A formal offer can follow once application and placement checks are complete.

Welcome. The school briefs the teacher and assigns a pupil buddy to help the newcomer settle in.

Leaving needs one month’s notice on the termination form. The nurse forwards records to the next school. For dates and what you still owe, the form points you back to the tuition schedule.

New Grade 1–10 students accepting a place for 2026–27 or later pay a 2,500 NOK admission fee, or 5,000 NOK if two or more children are admitted at once. This is a one-off, non-refundable charge on acceptance. It does not apply if you already have a child at ISB. The 2026–27 page also says an Early Deposit is non-refundable and does not print that deposit in kroner. The joining page mentions an enrolment fee without a figure. Ask admissions to confirm every charge in the offer.

Mid-year entry is possible if a seat exists. Join Grade 1–10 after the year has started and you pay the whole month you arrive in. Fees are not refunded for part of a month on departure. The same whole-month rules apply to ECC and paid supervision.

Fees for 2026–27

These figures come from the 2026–27 fee schedule. The Board sets the next year when it adopts the budget. The page says each application is treated individually and fees can be adjusted when the offer is confirmed. Obtain the applicable charges in writing before making housing commitments.

ECC fees follow Bergen municipality’s rates and may change in January following the national budget:

Fee	2026/27
ECC, 5 days, annual	13,200 NOK
ECC, invoiced monthly 15 August 2026–15 June 2027	1,200 NOK

The August-settlement column for ECC is the same 13,200 — no 2.5% rebate on this row. The ECC page repeats 1,200 NOK a month, 15th from August to June. More than one sibling in the ECC gets the Bergen Kommune sibling discount, refunded in January and June. Preschool and Kindergarten supervision is free: 07:30–09:00 and 15:00–16:30.

Admission, new Grade 1–10, 2026–27 or later:

Fee	2026/27
One new student	2,500 NOK
Two or more new students at once	5,000 NOK

Grade 1–10 tuition, kroner as printed. Pay the year by 15 August 2026 and Grades 1–10 get a 2.5% rebate. Or pay monthly on the 15th, August 2026 through June 2027.

Category	Who, in the school’s words	Annual	By 15 Aug 2026	Monthly
B1	In Bergen Kommune; no Norwegian passports; under three years in Norway; not company-sponsored	149,044	145,418	13,550
B1 sibling, 25%	Second child, Grades 1–10	111,783	108,988	10,163
B2	Lives outside Bergen Kommune	202,700	197,633	18,428
B2 sibling	None	—	—	—
C1 / C2, Grades 1–7	C1: not-for-profit employer. C2: Norwegian citizenship or more than three years in Norway, no company support	84,857	82,736	7,715
C sibling, Grades 1–7	25%	63,643	62,052	5,786
C1 / C2, Grades 8–10	Same C rules	95,935	93,537	8,722
C sibling, Grades 8–10	25%	71,951	70,152	6,541

The Tuition A Guaranteed Seat Programme rate is available on application, not published.

For a new Grade 6 pupil, the listed B1 annual tuition plus admission totals 151,544 NOK (149,044 + 2,500), before applicable extras. The equivalent calculation is 205,200 NOK for B2 or 87,357 NOK for C2, if eligible. These calculations use the annual column, not the sum of monthly invoices. Confirm the actual payment schedule and category in writing.

Supervision for Grades 1–4 is charged separately. It provides childcare, not lessons, from 07:30–08:45 and 15:00–16:30:

Option	Annual	Monthly
Morning and afternoon	20,267 NOK	1,843 NOK
Morning only	12,156 NOK	1,106 NOK
Afternoon only	12,156 NOK	1,106 NOK

The published columns do not always reconcile. For example, eleven B1 monthly payments total 149,050 NOK, rather than the annual 149,044 NOK. The B1 early-payment amount of 145,418 NOK also differs from a calculated 2.5% reduction, which would be 145,317.90 NOK. Other tuition and supervision rows have smaller annual-versus-monthly differences. The tables retain the school’s figures; ask which total will govern your invoice.

Starting supervision mid-month incurs a full month’s fee. Tuition includes teaching, Lower School devices, Norwegian, language and learning support, counselling and nursing, as well as library and listed sports provision. External clubs and some trips cost extra.

Support and its limits

The Learning and Wellbeing team includes a counsellor, a learning-needs coordinator (IENS), an English Language Support coordinator and the nurse. The learning-needs coordinator works with teachers and PPT Bergen, the municipal educational and psychological service. The counsellor also assists with upper-secondary applications.

The Lower School guide states that Grades 1–10 lack the facilities or resources to support severe physical or learning disabilities, including low cognitive functioning or conduct disabilities. Discuss the child’s specific needs before applying and request a clear account of the support available. The existence of a support team does not mean every need can be accommodated.

Our view

Choose ISB if English-medium schooling through Grade 10, Norwegian teaching and the Sandsli location suit your child. Plan the next stage separately: Bergen Katedralskole offers a public IB Diploma route for older students, not a like-for-like alternative for a younger child.

Friendly orientation, not an application. Dates, fees, and programme details move. Confirm everything with the school.