Stiftung Louisenlund

Louisenlund is the only boarding school in northern Germany offering the IB Middle Years Programme (final two years) followed by the IB Diploma Programme, both taught in English. MYP students study languages, integrated humanities, sciences, mathematics, arts, design and physical education. In the DP, students choose six subjects, including English and German literature, Economics, History, Business Management, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics and Visual Arts, alongside Theory of Knowledge, the Extended Essay and CAS. Thanks to NEASC accreditation, students can also earn a High School Diploma, and the German track leads to the Abitur.

Louisenlund covers the full school career. A day elementary school takes the youngest children. The Gymnasium runs from Grade 5 to Grade 13: the junior years (Grades 5 to 7) are a day school, the middle school covers Grades 8 to 10 with boarding available, and the upper school (Grades 11 to 13) leads to the Abitur. Alternatively, students can enter the IB World School for MYP 4 and 5 and the two-year IB Diploma, or the vocational Gymnasium for agricultural economics.

Louisenlund aims to personalise education, starting from the individual student rather than the system. Teachers act as mentors who support, encourage and challenge young people, and boarding life is seen as round-the-clock learning through shared meals, projects and friendships. Inspired by Kurt Hahn, the school stresses servant leadership, social responsibility and future skills such as critical thinking, creativity, collaboration and self-leadership. Its motto, Learning, Achieving, Living, summarises this balance of academic work, character and community.

The campus combines an 18th-century castle and park with new buildings. The learning and research centre has open learning spaces, seminar rooms, physics and chemistry labs, an S1 biotechnology lab and a rooftop observatory, and the school operates the research vessel Kurt Hahn. A private sailing harbour with a dock houses a fleet of sailing boats and cutters. Sports facilities include a sports field, a modern gym and four tennis courts, with beach volleyball and bouldering on offer. Art, pottery and theatre take place in the Kunst- und Kulturhalle, and boarders live in renovated houses and the award-winning circular Akazienring residence.

Every student is assigned a mentor who meets them weekly to plan learning and coordinate between family, school and boarding house. Individual support measures and diagnostic advice are available when needed. Meals are freshly prepared from largely regional produce and served buffet-style in two dining halls, with special diets possible on medical advice. A fee-based Lund Shuttle serves regional day students, and a weekend bus links the campus with Schleswig station.

Boarding starts in Grade 8. Students live in house communities of up to about 20 pupils supervised by house parents, in single or double rooms. Older students live in the circular Akazienring, while the renovated Wald and Gilden houses near the castle take younger boarders. Louisenlund runs a two-week rhythm: after a week with Saturday classes, an organised active weekend follows, while on the alternate weekend many students go home. Trips to Berlin, Hamburg and the Harz help international students discover Germany.

The afternoon programme is organised in guilds, services and open activities that mix year groups. Sport focuses on team games such as hockey and football, with beach volleyball, bouldering, tennis and fitness also available. Sailing is central given the school's own harbour, and a regatta group trains in the ILCA class with professional coaches. Other options include theatre productions, painting and pottery, an orchestra, the Lund Pop Singers and instrumental lessons, a debating society, biotechnology and agroforestry projects, and the Technical Relief Service (THW). Alternate weekends feature an organised activity programme.