The International School of Schaffhausen (ISSH) is a place where students feel at home away from home. The international day and boarding school is renowned for its family-like atmosphere. It is located in the northern part of Switzerland, 35 minutes from Zurich airport. The ISSH strives to develop young people to their full potential. Lifelong learning, confidence and open-mindedness are not just words but values and attitudes which stay with ISSH students for life and provide a strong foundation for their success. Schaffhausen is a small, safe and charming city with much to offer to students and their families.
Over 40 nationalities are represented in our student body, which encompasses children of 3 months through young adults graduating from our Diploma Programme. This diversity of cultures, languages, faiths and experiences creates a learning and living environment which is extremely rich in perspectives and where care and respect for one another are fundamental. In addition to its expatriate and boarding students, the ISSH also has many students from the local community, who appreciate the school’s international offering.
We take pride in being able to cater to individual needs and to meet particular parent or student requests.
Our teachers are well-qualified, experienced and highly enthusiastic and passionate about their specific subjects and the school experience in general.
The small class sizes allow more time for individual attention, enabling our staff to build strong relationships with each student and to cater to different needs.
The facilities at ISSH are first class. Classrooms, laboratories, media centres, sporting and cultural venues are equipped with the latest technology.
Classrooms are spacious and friendly and fully networked with laptop computers and iPads for students to use.
There are excellent sports facilities on campus and in the surrounding Schaffhausen community. The spacious grounds include all-weather surfaces and a well-equipped, full-size gymnasium.
The laboratories for biology, physics and chemistry support hands-on experiments.
As an IB World School the ISSH has a long-standing history with the International Baccalaureate programmes that will open doors to universities across the world. The two-year IB Diploma programme is acknowledged as one of the world's leading educational programmes and is recognized by over 60 countries worldwide. The IB is designed to meet the needs of international students, both mother-tongue English and EAL (English as another Language). Students can choose subjects from a range of alternatives, ensuring breadth of knowledge so that their options are open in choosing the right university or professional career later on. The IB diploma graduates develop the skills and attitudes they need for both academic and personal success. Their understanding of languages, cultures and exploration of globally significant ideas and issues is what makes them stand out from their fellow students with a national curriculum background. The IB diploma not only opens the doors to universities worldwide but also focuses on the development of the whole person through one of the core requirements called CAS (Creativity, Activity, Service). CAS encourages students to be involved in artistic pursuits, sports and community service, thus fostering their appreciation for life outside the academic arena. Our values 'Take Responsibility', 'Be Unique' and 'Achieve Potential' are represented in every aspect of our school, especially in our residential programme.
We arrived in Schaffhausen from Mexico in 2016, where Magdalena completed grade 10 at a renowned private school in Colima. Our intention was for her to get assistance from an integration school to attend the local Kantonsschule. Because of the lack of French and limited German, the local school was a struggle, and we looked for alternatives. After visiting some International schools in the area, we decided on the International School of Schaffhausen. Magdalena liked the friendly environment and started to thrive. Although she attended an excellent school in Mexico, the quality of preparation for the future at ISSH is a lot higher. Despite having to work very hard to reach the desired results at grade 11, she enjoyed attending classes, especially because of the quality and professionalism of the teaching. Her favourite subject was Math due to the very clear and practical set-up of the classroom, and although Maths was never her strongest subject, Magdalena achieved well in this. Her main focus was biology because her dream is to study Marine Biology, and her biology teacher motivated her to progress and gathered an in-depth understanding of the topic. The school focuses on deep analysis and investigation, and the level of education is so much higher than in a Mexican school. After her graduation in 2020, Magdalena applied to universities worldwide, and all her applications were accepted. Currently, she is studying at a university in the UK and is getting excellent results due to her strong knowledge base. She even received a partial scholarship. Magdalena feels proud to be part of the ISSH community, and we can wholeheartedly recommend this school to any student from Mexico or around the world.
- Adriana pour ISSH International School of Schaffhausen
My name is Maira, I'm 18 and have been living in the boarding house for 2 years. I was looking for an international school in Switzerland and saw ISSH on a website reviewing Swiss private schools. The reason why I chose it was because it offered an opportunity to 'win' a full scholarship.
Even though my parents are not very familiar with the international educational system/IB, they expected from the school to understand and respect the cultural differences of the students. As for me, I wanted to have a good experience in an international school that will help to get into a university. Since there were quite a few newbies in my class, making friends was super easy (and people were really nice). Regarding the activities- I'm not sure how to answer this one. There was not a lot of clubs that the school offered, and they were mostly for middle school students. That's understandable, since we, as the DP students, had to dedicate the majority of our time to school. But I wish there had been more interesting activities for us. My time at the boarding house was fun. I'm glad that Mr Russell considered our ages, subject choices and interests before moving us. I guess there was no particular thing I liked about the boarding house. It all depended on the supervisor, the day of the week,etc. But I definitely enjoyed it when we had our meetings with all the borders together because it also helped me to get over my homesickness. My English has definitely improved thanks to the balance between academic/formal language spoken at school and more 'everyday' English in the boarding house. Lastly, I would definitely recommend boarding ISSH to people who want to experience a different kind of boarding life! ISSH boarding is not like other boarding schools, it has a special family-like atmosphere. People are very supportive. Caretakers were on the same wave with us!
- Maira pour ISSH International School of Schaffhausen
My name is Veronika and I’m from Russia. I have been at ISSH for only 2 years, but it was enough time for me to feel there like home, and make lifelong friends. I have relatives in Schaffhausen and they told me about ISSH. I have always wanted to study abroad, and when I found out about the school I knew from the start it would be the place where I could fulfill my potential and get new experience. My goal was to get a better education and improve my English, which I have accomplished by being at ISSH and the Boarding house. As it is an international school English is a primary language both at school and at the boarding, which gives everyone an opportunity to learn and/or improve their language skills with support of staff and other students. Being miles away from home for such a long period of time can be a bit difficult sometimes, but all the staff members are trying their best to make all students feel comfortable and provide whatever support and help they might need. Living at the boarding house is an unusual experience that teaches you to be more responsible and independent. But the main thing that I have learnt, from living with other students all from different countries, is to be understanding and accepting towards each other. It gives an opportunity to learn from others and become more open and social with people. When I was there we had several events, like an “open house party” which included dinner. We have sent invitations to our neighbors and school friends, so they can come over to the house and see how it’s like to live there. Also, we had an interesting trip to Geneva organised by the head of the boarding, Mr.Russell. We had a tour at the Swiss chocolate factory and the well known collider. Besides that, with other boarding house students we spent a lot of time together, either baking desserts after dinner or by organizing movie nights. Boarding house in general has a very friendly environment, and it is an experience worth getting.
- Veronika pour ISSH International School of Schaffhausen
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