International school in Oslo, anyone familiar w/this school?

[partyoffive]

We are considering this school. Know it is located in 'bekkestua' in Bærum kommune, the web. link is rather short and does not give a lot of info. We will plan to visit the school, but meanwhile I thought I would see if anyo of you in here had any experience/info. about this school? We are an english/norwegain speaking fam. and have 2 kids age 2 and 4. We just moved to Norway freom the states this summer, and thoguht maybe this school would be good for the kids???? Any input appreciated! Thank's!

[Gjest ->>-]

It's got a good reputation and is insanely expensive.

[partyoffive]

Ok, thank you. That was the piece of info. I was looking for. Had a feeling it was, of course nothing is listed on their web site about price.

[Gjest ->>-]

You're right - seems they've removed the info from the website. We considered the school for our US/Norwegian kids when we settled in Oslo a few years back, but discarded it due to costs. It was something like 110,000 NOK + yearly.

 

Other private options are few in Oslo. There's St Sunniva Catholic School which is academically excellent, but - obviously - quite religious; a bunch of sectarian Christian schools; Montessori, Nyskolen and Steiner if you're into that; a German school and a French one (Lycee Rene Cassin) with an excellent reputation. There are no other English language options. We ended up with the local inner city public school and are, so far, surprisingly satisfied.

[Gjest]

Yupp, and frankly - I didn't like it all that much.

[Anonym bruker]

I would have gone for the local school - think it will be good for the kids to integrate into the local community

[Anonym bruker]

Hi, I used to teach at Bekkestua Ungdomsskole, next door (public school). I have a very good impression of the International school, but if money is an issue I can understand. It is a bit exspensive. An other issue is that the students come from all over, so you might not get to know the "kid next door".

 

What area are you guys going to live in? I would do a little reasearch about the public schools there and ask to come buy to visit during regular school hours to get a "feel for the school" A lot of public schools are quite good also. I also lived close to and worked for a short period at Vindern Skole (elementary school) and Ris Ungdomsskole. And Smestad skole is a public school where the Crownprins Håkon and Martha Louise went to school.

 

I live in america now and have experienced teaching at privat school here (5th grade through 12th),(cost about $25 000 per year) but honestly I find the public schools in Norway to be at leat the same quality if not better.

 

Good luck!

[Anonym bruker]

The French school is less expensive than the International school and placed in Frogner, so kind of more central if you live in Oslo. It also have a pree-school where kids can start at the age of 2 so a good obtion:-)