SSHL to become a high school exclusively

Following thorough analysis and careful consideration, the school board and its trustees have decided to change the structure of the school.

We will refine SSHL’s selection of educational options by concentrating on and developing our high-school programmes, while at the same time we are phasing out our middle-year programmes. 

We will also continue to develop our boarding offering. SSHL is tasked with being a boarding school that also welcomes day students. Our goal is for the school to have slightly fewer students in a few years than it has today, divided between Swedish and international high-school education and with at least half of the students as boarders. Our vision is to go on being one of the best schools in Scandinavia. 

In order to act, we need to change the school’s offering.
While we are reducing the educational options overall, we are adding new high-school programmes. 

More specifically, this means that we are fully closing our Swedish middle-year programmes in years 7-9 and in the IB MYP2-4. All middle-year programmes will be gradually cancelled over the next three years. Concurrently, we are concentrating on developing our Swedish and international high-school programmes, which include the upcoming IB Career-related Programme in Business and Hospitality Management. 

We are also introducing more accommodation choices for our boarders to meet the demands of the modern family. 

The background to this decision originates from many years ago.
In 2012-2013, political decisions left the school no longer able to charge tuition fees. At around the same time, the system of national boarding schools was abolished, which also created financial challenges. The school’s offering, however, has remained unchanged. We continued to offer the same broad range of educational courses as before, with four types of school: education at elementary and high-school level as well as education in accordance with two different curricula, the Swedish version and the International Baccalaureate (IB). 

Maintaining the same high standard and broad offering under radically different financial conditions is not sustainable in the long term. Ensuring the school’s financial balance while being able to develop and offer high quality requires us to prioritise and to concentrate on operations that are financially solid over time. The amendment that has now been agreed gives us the opportunity to move forwards and take SSHL into the future with a new approach.

The changeover is to begin with immediate effect:

• All students admitted to years 7-9 and MYP2-4 who will start their schooling in the 2021 autumn term and all students currently in year 8/MYP3 and year 9/MYP4 will complete their studies as planned. 
• We are placing a lot of emphasis on ensuring that the phasing out of our middle-year programmes is done professionally and with concern for our students and staff. 
• Annual admissions to year 7 and MYP2 are cancelled with immediate effect. 
• The school’s application system for year 7 and MYP2 will be closed with immediate effect. 

Carina Nilsson, Principal and Head of School at SSHL:

– We are now focusing all our efforts on ensuring that the changeover will occur in the best way possible, both for our students and staff. We are highly confident that this improvement to how the school is structured will create an even better and stronger school for our current and future students.

All students who have applied for our middle-year programmes will be informed in writing of the change in the structure of the school. The same applies to current students and all students who have been accepted for autumn 2021. 

For further information, please contact: info@sshl.se