The International School of Helsinki is an independent, co-educational, international school in Helsinki, Finland. It was founded as the British Preparatory School in 1963.

ISH is an International Baccalaureate World School, with IB programs offered from Kindergarten to Grade 12. The school was first authorised to offer the IB Diploma program in 1993. Instruction is in English, with the school divided into a Lower School (Kindergarten through Grade 5) and Upper School (Grades 6-12).

The school has a full-day program. Its school years run from early August to early June.

Structure

The school has approximately 415 students of whom some 28% are Finnish nationals. The rest of the school’s population is made up of different nationalities. The school is divided into two sections:

ISH Lower School

• 1 Programme: Primary Years Programme (PYP), 4 years old – 11 years old.

ISH Upper School

• 2 Programmes:
  • Middle Years Programme (MYP), 11 years old – 16 years old.
  • Diploma Programme (DP) 16 years old – 19 years old.

All three programmes share the same campus.

Administration

The school is administered by a Board of Governors elected by the ISH Parents Association to two-year terms.