Education and child care

- Investing in schools and education is one of the strategically most important steps that we can take to develop Sandviken municipality, says Svante W. Nordh, the municipality´s chief executive officer. In Sandviken´s pre-schools, compulsory schools and upper secondary schools (high schools) our aim is to ensure that every child and young person can influence his or her own situation and acquisition of knowledge.

Sandviken municipality has 22 compulsory schools, one of which is an independent school, 26 municipal pre-schools and 4 parent co-operative. In addition there are after-school recreation centres and other open activities. Some of the pre-schools and compulsory schools in Sandviken have their own special focus, such as Reggio Emilia, nature, open air activities, equality, internationalization, sports and health.

There are special schools for children with different types of learning disabilities. These schools have a special basic compulsory school class or training class. Children are placed in the schools after a special evaluation and a request from their parents.

Sandviken´s upper secondary schools (high schools) offer a wide choice of national programmes - 13 of the 17 programmes. For the 2007/2008 school year all upper secondary level activities will share a common campus in the Bessemer area.

Sandvik AB, together with the municipality, are responsible for running the Göranssonska skolan (an upper secondary school named after the founder of Sandvik AB), which has a focus on pure and applied science subjects.   

Adult education

In our area there are also two university colleges within comfortable commuting distance: one in Gävle and the other in Borlänge. There are also folk high schools in Storvik, Österfärnebo and Gysinge.