Norway offers a genuinely rare combination in this series: elite academic results delivered almost entirely through a free public system, with the country's own IB Diploma access running primarily through municipal schools rather than fee-charging private institutions. Oslo's newspapers have tracked school-by-school exam averages for decades, giving families a genuinely long-running, publicly reported measure of which schools consistently perform best, and the Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training now publishes school-level results directly through its Skoleporten portal.
This ranking is merit-based across both: Oslo's highest-scoring videregående schools by grade average and admission cut-off, alongside the country's strongest public and private IB and international schools, rather than filtered to one system alone.
How Norway's School System Actually Works
Norwegian upper-secondary education, videregående skole, runs for three years and leads to enrolment qualification for Norwegian universities, with admission to the most sought-after schools in Oslo determined by grade point averages from lower-secondary school. That competition is intense at the top: the strongest schools in recent admission rounds have required entry averages above 49 out of a possible points scale, while several schools at the other end of the spectrum admit every student who applies. A genuinely distinctive feature of the Norwegian system is that several of the country's top IB Diploma programmes are delivered entirely free of charge through public municipal schools open to Oslo residents, rather than requiring enrolment at a private international school.
Running alongside this free public system is a smaller private and international school sector serving Oslo's expatriate community, offering British, American, German, French, and additional IB pathways. Families weighing that international option against Norway's own strong public system may find our IB vs Cambridge comparison guide useful background.
| School | Location | Type | System | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oslo Katedralskole | Oslo | Public | Norwegian national (videregående) | "Katta" — historically Norway's top exam average school |
| Elvebakken Videregående Skole | Oslo | Public | Norwegian national (videregående) | Highest admission cut-off in Oslo (studiespesialisering) |
| Nydalen Videregående Skole | Oslo | Public | Norwegian national (videregående) | 2nd-highest admission cut-off in Oslo |
| Ullern Videregående Skole | Oslo | Public | Norwegian national (videregående) | Consistent top-4 admission cut-off |
| Blindern Videregående Skole | Oslo | Public | IB DP + MYP (free, no fees) | Oldest IB school in Norway (since 1978) |
| Bjørnholt Videregående Skole | Oslo | Public | IB DP + vocational tracks (free) | Free IB Diploma for Oslo residents |
| Oslo International School (OIS) | Oslo | Private, international | IB (PYP through DP) | Founded 1963; CIS/NEASC accredited |
| The British School of Oslo | Oslo | Private, international | British curriculum | Largest English-medium int'l school in Norway |
| Asker International School | Asker, near Oslo | Private, international | IB (PYP, MYP; DP from 2027) | ~600 students, 40 nationalities |
| International School of Stavanger | Stavanger | Private, international | Cambridge + IB | CGC Founding School; 60+ co-curricular activities |
1. Oslo Katedralskole
Oslo Katedralskole, affectionately known as "Katta," has historically posted the highest exam grade average of any school in the country, the only school where students' average grade in Norwegian, English, and Norwegian second-language exams exceeded four points on the national scale. Its rector has attributed that consistent excellence specifically to a culture built around grades and deliberate work toward strong results, noting that students draw from 52 different lower-secondary schools across both the east and west sides of Oslo, with one in three students coming from an international background. For families researching what actually separates a school performing at this level from a strong national average, our piece on what drives strong exam outcomes covers similar underlying factors around sustained institutional culture.
2. Elvebakken Videregående Skole
Elvebakken currently holds the highest admission cut-off of any school in Oslo for its general studies track, requiring a grade point average of 5.12 out of 6 for entry, and its accepted students post the highest overall class average among Oslo's studiespesialisering programmes. That combination of the strictest entry bar and the strongest average grades among admitted students confirms Elvebakken's position as Oslo's most competitively selective general academic school.
3. Nydalen Videregående Skole
Nydalen consistently ranks second among Oslo's videregående schools for admission cut-off, trailing only Elvebakken in recent years. Its sustained position near the very top of Oslo's competitive admissions landscape places it firmly alongside Elvebakken and Oslo Katedralskole as one of the three schools families most actively compete to enter.
4. Ullern Videregående Skole
Ullern has moved into the top tier of Oslo's videregående schools in recent admission cycles, at one point overtaking previous top performers to claim third place by admission cut-off with a threshold of 50.5 points. Its rising trajectory reflects genuine year-on-year competitiveness among Oslo's strongest public schools rather than a fixed, unchanging hierarchy at the top.
5. Blindern Videregående Skole
Blindern has delivered the IB Diploma continuously since 1978, making it the oldest IB school in Norway by a considerable margin, and it remains a fully public school offering the programme entirely free of charge to eligible students. It combines the IB Diploma Programme with the Middle Years Programme and serves a genuinely diverse international community within a municipal setting, including the option to study Visual Arts as part of the Diploma Programme. Families weighing this genuinely rare free-IB pathway may find our curriculum comparison guide useful groundwork.
6. Bjørnholt Videregående Skole
Bjørnholt is a public upper-secondary school offering the IB Diploma Programme taught entirely in English, with admission open to Oslo residents at no IB-specific fees and small class sizes led by IB-qualified teachers. Beyond the IB track, its campus includes a drone hall and flight simulator, a school garden as part of a green-school initiative, and NoMa, a dedicated Norwegian and mathematics learning centre, giving it a genuinely broad, technology-forward identity alongside its free IB offering.
7. Oslo International School (OIS)
OIS, founded in 1963, is accredited by both the Council of International Schools and NEASC, and offers a full continuum from the IPC in younger years through to the IB Diploma Programme, with results that frequently exceed international standards. Its facilities include a 300-square-metre library with 15,000 books and an Innovation Space equipped with a laser cutter and 3D printer, giving Oslo's private international school families genuinely strong resources alongside its more than six decades of institutional history.
8. The British School of Oslo
The British School of Oslo is the largest English-medium international school in the country, serving as the natural first choice for British families and many others seeking a familiar, English-language educational environment. Its scale and established British curriculum give Oslo's international community a genuinely dependable option, similar to the network continuity we've described among British-branded schools in our Turkey schools guide.
9. Asker International School
Asker International School, based just outside Oslo, serves around 600 students from 40 nationalities across the IB Primary Years and Middle Years Programmes, with first Diploma Programme teaching planned for August 2027. Its MYP curriculum spans mathematics, English, Norwegian, sciences, humanities, physical education, performing arts, design, Spanish, and Mandarin, giving students genuinely broad subject exposure ahead of eventual Diploma-level specialisation.
10. International School of Stavanger
The International School of Stavanger offers both Cambridge and IB curricula in English for students aged 3 to 18, backed by more than 60 co-curricular and athletic opportunities. As a CGC Founding School holding multiple international accreditations, it gives families in Stavanger, a major hub for Norway's energy industry, a genuinely strong international option outside Oslo entirely.
What This List Reveals: Free Public IB Access, a Genuine Rarity
The clearest pattern in Norwegian education is that the country's oldest and most established IB programmes, at schools like Blindern and Bjørnholt, are delivered entirely free through the public system, a genuinely rare model even among the strong Nordic public education systems covered elsewhere in this series, including Sweden's own tuition-free friskolor. That contrasts sharply with the ultra-premium boarding and international sector we found researching Switzerland, where IB access is concentrated almost entirely in schools charging well over CHF 100,000 a year.
Videregående, Free Public IB, or Private International: What the Choice Actually Means
For families planning to remain in Norway long-term, the videregående system, particularly a top-tier school like Oslo Katedralskole or Elvebakken, remains the most direct and entirely free route into Norwegian universities. For internationally mobile families or those specifically wanting the IB Diploma, Blindern and Bjørnholt offer that pathway without any tuition cost at all, a genuinely unusual advantage worth understanding before assuming a private international school is necessary. Families still weighing this decision can work through the specifics in our Cambridge IGCSE parent guide.
Supporting Students Across Norway's School System
Whether your child is working through Norway's videregående system at a school like Oslo Katedralskole or Elvebakken, or pursuing the IB Diploma at Blindern, Bjørnholt, or OIS, focused subject-specific tutoring outside school hours can make a genuine difference, particularly for students balancing an international curriculum with life in Norway. If you're unsure whether your child needs that kind of targeted support right now, our article on early warning signs is a useful starting point regardless of which system they're in.
Mathrone Academy provides one-on-one tutoring across Cambridge IGCSE and A-Level and the full IB Diploma, delivered online to students anywhere in the world, including international families at Norway's IB schools.
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