Ms Bergström (in pink) spoke passionately about free schools

With many schools from around the region participating, Internationella Engelska Skolan was represented by teachers and students from IES schools in Bromma, Järfälla, Eskilstuna, Nacka, Täby, and Södermalm.

Teachers from Bromma proudly carried their banner

“Without the right to establish free schools, Internationella Engelska Skolan i Sverige would not exist,” said Ms Bergström. “This would have been a loss to students and parents who would have been unable to thrive with the alternative we have and are offering.”

She went on to stress: “It would also have been a loss to the country and the community were we have contributed with a sense of dynamics and determination. We have been and are providing a unique insight into international and Swedish education. The right to choose presupposes that school choice exists.”

Dr Benedikz, who represented Internationella Engelska Gymnasiet at the event is also a strong advocate of what free schools can offer Sweden.

“They are an integral part of our education system. They offer an alternative to state schools and many parents and students in the Stockholm have chosen schools like Internationella Engelska Gymnasiet specifically because of the different education they offer.

“At IEG we strive to create an academic, internationally-orientated school where teaching is predominantly in English.”

Dr Benedikz by the IES stand

In recent years the significance of free schools like Internationella Engelska Skolan has not gone unnoticed outside Sweden. Internationella Engelska Skolan has, for example, recently been in talks with the British government as the UK is particularly interested in discovering what the free school model has to offer the UK.

On September 16 a “Skolval” will be held among IEGS students at Allhelgonagatan. The entire day will be dedicated to debates between representatives of Swedish parliamentary parties and there will also be an election.

Internationella Engelska Gymnasiet school president Christopher Redlund encourages students to join the Internationella Engelska Gymnasiet Skolval Facebook Event Page.

Christopher invites students to get involved!

“Do you have a question that you would like to see discussed? Want to ask a certain party something? Write your question here on this wall or to iegsskolval@gmail.com and don’t forget to sign it with what house your are in and, if you’d only like to adress a certain party, who the question is for.”

Check out Facebook or talk to Christopher for more information.

episode one of the Internationella Engelska Gymnasiet Podcast

As promised, here comes episode one of the Internationella Engelska Gymnasiet Podcast.

Scheduled for release every Monday throughout term time, you’ll get the chance to catch up with what’s happening in and around the only entirely English-speaking gymnasium on Södermalm.

The podcast’s not been accepted by iTunes yet but when it is you’ll be able to download the podcast and listen to it wherever you want (except in school, of course!) on your phone or MP3 player.

In the meantime, you can listen here in the browser.

Episode #1

This week we chat to Mr Hilary Jones, providing a more in-depth look at the recent addition to the staff from Seattle, USA.

This week IEG News talked to Mr Hilary Jones after his first week teaching at the school.

'Swedish students are so mature!'

“I’ve met about 200 or so students this week,” admitted a slightly tired Mr Jones. “But it’s been a great experience. Swedish students seem pretty mature compared to their American high school counterparts. Everyone seems polite and keen to study.”

Why did you come to Sweden?

Mr Jones came to Sweden as a “love refugee” like many people in the international community. Although he’s been here 6 months, he’s already feeling at home.

“I love Stockholm,” he says. “It’s pretty similar to Seattle where I’m from.”

He’s settling in and enjoying life in the heart of the Swedish capital.

“I’ve learned some Swedish and can follow what students say in class if I hear them speaking Swedish. In town I mostly get by in English. Swedes speak English so well.”

A different kind of school culture

Internationella Engelska Gymnasiet is Mr Jones’s first experience of the House system.

“I guess it’s a pretty British thing,” admits Mr Jones. “We don’t really have it in America. I think the first time I heard about Houses was Harry Potter!”

No doubt Mr Jones will soon be initiated into the wonderful Internationella Engelska Gymnasiet world of House competitions very soon. And as a member of Pavlov, the IEG community may find him wearing the Pavlov House school tie before too long!

To find out more about Mr Jones, his thoughts on physics and maths as well as how students can the most out of the coming year, watch out for the IEGS podcast that launches on Monday next week.

If you haven’t started following Internationella Engelska Gymnasiet on Twitter yet, you might want to check out this video. It outlines some of the benefits of using the service.

Twitter Clients:

• TweetDeck (Desktop, iPhone, Android) (Free)
• Seesmic (Desktop, Web-based, Mobile apps) (Free)
• HooteSuite (Web-based) (Paid Service)
• Tweetie (Desktop. Mac Only) (Ad-supported free version)
• Twitter (iPhone Official App)

Make the most of the good weather!

What’s Happening with the IEGS Online Community?

This year we’ve got plenty of things planned.

There will be a new website design up and running in early September. It’s currently being put together by a Spain-based agency in partnership with a Swedish company. For the technically-minded among you it will be a “custom CSS skin” sitting on top with the current Thesis WordPress install.

We’re very excited about the new look which combines that classic, classy international school-feel with a strong flavour of social media goodness.

Bringing the community together – online

At Internationella Engelska Gymnasiet we strongly believe that the Net can be a positive way to bring the community together. So as well as regular updates here, we’ll also be continuing with the Internationella Engelska Gymnasiet Facebook Page that we started last year. If you haven’t joined us there yet, please do.

It’s often a great way to stay up-to-date with what’s happening and a very easy channel for the school’s communications officer to get short and snappy messages out to you at short notice.

What about Twitter?

There’s a video post about Twitter coming up later this week, but in the meantime you really should get an account and follow Internationella Engelska Gymnasiet on Twitter.

Because it’s like a text-messaging service, and works really well with smart phone applications like Twitter, HootSuite and TweetDeck, it’s probably the fastest way to get hold of the school’s communications team. Similarly, all Facebook posts from the Page administrator and all blog posts here get announced on Twitter so you can be sure you’re not missing something when you’re out and about if you follow us.

Formspring.me

A lot of you have been using the Formspring “ Ask us anything” feature on the school website. Since introducing this we’ve had a stack of questions. The one problem with Formspring, however, is that the email notifications that there’s a new question aren’t always reliable. A lot go missing. Besides, we’re often too busy monitoring Facebook and Twitter to check for email notifications.

The Formspring account was set up with prospective students in mind and we’re currently in two minds about whether or not to ditch the service.

What are your thoughts? Do you like being able to ask anonymous questions?

Finally…

This year the Text & Communication class will be chipping in with articles and posts on this website (even if they don’t know it just yet!) and also be launching an Internationella Engelska Gymnasiet podcast. So there will be plenty of online activities to keep everyone updated about what’s happening at IEGS – the home of English education in Stockholm !!!

Watch this post for details!

Låt oss stolt visa vår skola på FRISKOLEDAGEN

Söndagen den 29 augusti kl 12 – 14 i Kungsträdgården

Vi samlas under IEG’s banèr kl 11:30 i Kungsträdgården (vi har en väl synlig skylt).

• Artister (Amy Diamond, Timo Räisänen m.fl.) kamrater, aktiviteter, samtal från scenen (bl.a. med IES grundare Ms Barbara Bergström).
• Manifestation av att friskolor behövs och att många föräldrar och elever försvarar rätten att välja skola!

Friskoledagen ordnas av Friskolornas Riksförbund i samarbete med Svenskt Näringsliv. Det är viktigt, även med tanke på hur friskolor angrips i valrörelsen, att vi är många – elever, föräldrar, personal – som kommer till Kungsträdgården den 29 augusti, till stöd för vår skola.

Ingen förhandsanmälan. Ingen lunch serveras; ta gärna med något lätt.

Uppskattar mycket om så många som möjligt om så många som möjligt av elever, föräldrar, anda anhöriga – alla som vill stå upp för vår skola – följer mig till Friskoledagen, så att IEGS blir den mest synliga och stolta skolan i Kungsträdgården!

Med varma hälsningar,
Dr. Margret Benedikz
Rektor, Internationella engelska Gymnasiet.

There’s often quite a bit of confusion over what we’re called, especially as we’re part of Internationella Engelska Skolan AB. However, we at the school refer to ourselves as either Internationella Engelska Gymnasiet Södermalm or IEGS.

In the foreign press the company that owns the school is also referred to as International English Schools in Sweden. This is to make it easier for foreign nationals to understand the name of the company.

So now you know!

IEGS principal Dr Margret Benedikz has expressed concern that it’s getting harder to get into top British universities.

Getting harder to get into university in the UK

Internationella Engelska Gymnasiet Students Winning Places

Thankfully, the vast majority of Internationella Engelska Gymnasiet students who applied to British universities for entry in September won places.

“I was very pleased to see IEGS students get places at universities like Cambridge, Kent, Hull and Edinburgh this year,” says Dr Benedikz. “We do our absolute utmost to ensure our top students go abroad to study.”

However, Dr Benedikz warned that Swedish students will have to work harder than ever before if they’re going to fulfill their dream of studying in the UK.

“Because of education cuts in the UK and the increased number of British students applying to university our students are going to have to have the very highest grades if they want to get into top universities,” explains Dr Benedikz. “It’s always been competitive but the combination of cuts, increased applications and the downturn in the world economy have combined to make it tougher.”

Despite the news, Dr Benedikz is convinced IEGS students are well-placed to do well.

“Our students work extremely hard, are ambitious and take applying to university abroad very seriously,” she says. “We give them as much support and advice as possible and there’s absolutely no reason for our top students to worry – as long as they keep up the good work!!

The first few teaching staff at Internationella Engelska Gymnasiet were back at work this morning with the new teachers going through their induction day.

“It’s exciting to see the new people joining us,” said school principal Dr Benedikz who, along with Mr Spires and Mr Kouba has been back at work all week.

“We’ve got new teachers from Australia, UK, USA, France, and Sweden,” said Dr Benedikz. “I’m sure the 2nd and 3rd years will enjoy meeting them on August 23.”

For the first years, who start on August 19, everyone will be new!