If you have children in elementary or middle school age (6-16yrs), and are planning on staying in Trondheim for more than three months, your child has a right to a place in the school it belongs to based on your address.

When you come to Trondheim, you will have to find out which school the child belongs to (The local school). 

Contact the local school and they will inform you about the Norwegian school system. You do not have to wait until you have your personal ID number/D number before you contact your school. The child can either attend his or her local school or a school with reception classes (schools that provide extended Norwegian learning programs for minority language speakers for year 3-10). The local school can help you decide what is the best solution for your family.

All public schools are free of charge and follow the same state curriculum. Here you can read the core curriculum. You can find more information about the school system on the government's website.

Primary and secondary school for newly arrived students

Students in grade 1 and grade 2 that have recently arrived in Norway start school in their school district. The municipality of Trondheim can offer students between Year 3-10 a place at a school with reception classes and an intensive Norwegian language program. Minority language students can keep a place in a reception class for up to two years. If you want the child to attend such a school, ask your local school to apply for a place on your behalf. Applications are processed by the Department for Education and Early Development.

Trondheim has nine schools with reception classes for newly arrived minority language students, six primary schools (Berg, Bispehaugen, Huseby, Ila, Lilleby, Kattem) and three secondary schools (Huseby, Rosenborg, Åsheim).

Adapted education in Norwegian

Your child is entitled to adapted education in Norwegian until he or she has good enough skills in Norwegian to follow the curriculum in an ordinary class. Adapted education in Norwegian means that the child is provided a course in basic Norwegian. In some cases it may also mean mother tongue instruction or a combination of learning subjects in both Norwegian and the mother tongue. Students are screened continuously at school in order to assess whether they have sufficient skills in Norwegian to follow regular education at a local school. As soon as the pupil’s Norwegian skills are sufficient, the right to adapted education in Norwegian for language minorities lapses.

Schools screen students’ Norwegian skills cf. Education Act § 2-8, in order to assess whether the child needs adapted education. If the school finds that your child needs adapted Norwegian education, an individual decision is made. An individual decision describes how the education is to be organized and the amount of hours per week your child will be offered.

Reading and writing instruction in mother tongue Year 1-3

If the child has good language skills in his or her mother tongue, it can utilize the mother tongue as a resource to improve Norwegian skills. This means receiving mother tongue instruction in order to become better in Norwegian. The right to reading and writing instruction in the mother tongue follows the right to adapted education in Norwegian. This means that your child is not entitled to instruction in his or her mother tongue unless he or she also receives adapted Norwegian education. Reading and writing instruction in mother tongue takes place after ordinary school hours in Year 1-3. The instruction can take place at a different school than the child normally attends.

Bilingual subject education Year 4-10

The municipality offers bilingual subject education for Year 4-10 students. This type of education usually takes place during ordinary school hours. Bilingual subject education implies that the teacher utilizes both the mother tongue and Norwegian as a means to assist the child’s learning process in various school subjects, including Norwegian. The municipality of Trondheim has bilingual teachers in many languages. If the municipality does not have qualified teachers with your mother tongue, your child will receive extra hours with adapted Norwegian education instead.

Resources online

Various online material developed by the municipality of Trondheim (Norwegian page)