The Christian folk high schools are built on Christian values. They are owned by, or associated with, Christian organizations or denominations. They encourage students with different interests and beliefs to apply.
Food: Vegetarian
Most schools will accommodate food allergies and other dietary needs. If you have questions, please contact the school directly.
Environmental certification:
Fairtrade
Location: Birkenes Kommune
Study tour for the course: Italy, Kenya
Study tour for the school: Havglimt, School trip to Denmark, Valgfri tur: Danmark - København, Valgfri tur: England, Valgfri tur: Ecuador og Galápagos
Do you like to travel, exercise, be active, and cook delicious food? Then this is the program for you! Join us on exciting trips to Africa and Italy that will give you experiences of a lifetime!
Experience is the perfect combination of three great things in life:
Travel: Idyllic countryside, UNESCO World Heritage cities, and culinary culture are the ingredients for a fantastic trip to Italy! We will also experience African magic through an incredibly exciting trip to beautiful Kenya! You can also choose to join the school on trips to Ecuador, England, or Denmark.
Exercise: In a good training community, you will get in better shape. The school has a well-equipped gym, a large new multi-purpose hall, and a swimming pool. Strength and cardio are the focus.
Food: We have a wonderful school kitchen that invites cooking and culinary enthusiasm! We focus on healthy dishes while also indulging in delicious desserts. We get to know food from many different cultures - and food will naturally be a focus when we travel, just as exercise will be.
This is, in other words, a program full of great experiences and varied content.
Two trips: Italy and Kenya
Language
You should expect most of the teaching to be in Norwegian. We do offer to join the Norwegian class one day a week. You should be motivated to put some efford in to learn the Norwegian Language on your own.
Italy
Mandatory: Yes
Price: Included in course price
Duration: Ca. 5 dager
Meals included per day: 3
We get to know the idyllic town of Lucca - a city with narrow streets and alleys. The city wall around the town is the best-preserved in Europe - Lucca was once a gift from Napoleon to his sister Elisa.
Exhibitions, concerts, cafés, and other cultural offerings characterize this beautiful city we will get to know better.
We stay together in apartments located in the city center, with immediate access to the city’s facilities - not least easy access to many of the city’s pizzerias.
Winery visit with cooking class and lunch
Together with a professional Italian chef, we make Italian food. We have the winery all to ourselves this day - the farm has a great view over the entire Lucca Valley. We will prepare a four-course menu together: appetizer, pasta dish, main course, and dessert. It’s exciting and fun to make pasta from scratch!
Other activities
We will also go on a bike ride through Tuscany’s beautiful landscape – where we will experience olive groves and charming small villages. This is truly a wonderful experience to look forward to. And of course – we will also enjoy one of Italy’s many specialties: Gelato!
There will be a lot of good food on this trip! We will eat delicious Italian food at places with great food and unique atmospheres.
The trip also includes a visit to Cinque Terre - where we will experience the beautiful towns clinging to the cliffs. The place is incredibly beautiful and is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site. This is something you can really look forward to!
Kenya
Mandatory: Yes
Price: Included in course price
Duration: 2 uker
Meals included per day: 3
We are traveling to the country that inspired The Lion King. Kenya has over 54 million people and is 50% larger than Norway. The equator runs through the country. It stretches from the Indian Ocean in the east to Lake Victoria in the west. The country is known for its savannas with rich wildlife and mountain peaks like Mount Kenya. Here, you will find modern cities, with Nairobi as the capital. It has the world’s highest-paid parliamentarians and vast slum areas.
Inspiration Days
In Nairobi, our guide Martin will take us into the world he grew up in. Martin is a Kenyan living just outside Nairobi. He attended a folk high school in Norway and is familiar with our culture and language. Martin grew up in the Mathare slum and still volunteers for projects in the slum. We will meet the people he knows well and cares deeply about, gaining a unique insight into a different culture and life situation. There are many inspiring people here, individuals with a burning passion for those who have the least.
We will also experience the tourist life in Nairobi. This includes feeding giraffes, visiting markets, an elephant orphanage, and enjoying African food and scents.
Safari and Coast
The African savanna with the animals from The Lion King. Starry skies, lion roars, elephants, giraffes, zebras, hyenas. We will also travel to Lamu archipelago with its unique culture, food traditions, beaches, sailing boats, donkeys, and snorkeling.
I ukene før påske har vi også våre valgbare skoleturer. Dette er ulike turer som pågår i samme tidsperiode. Turene har ulike destinasjoner og ulike priser. Du velger skoletur etter at de blir presentert i oppstarten av året.
Pris og destinasjon kan bli endret til skolestart.
Optional trip: Copenhagen, Denmark
Price: Included in course price
This is one of the 3 group trips you can choose from. It takes place in March/April. You choose the trip after you have started school (The cost is included in the school fee - so this trip does not cost anything extra).
Copenhagen is a vibrant capital with a European flair. There are many opportunities here!
Lonely Planet named Copenhagen the best city in the world to visit in 2019. If you choose to join us to the “King’s City,” you might understand why.
We stay very centrally, within walking distance to most of what the charming capital is known for: bustling street life, cozy cafes, happy people, peaceful parks, magnificent architecture, beautiful streets and alleys, exciting art and cultural life, shopping, and Tivoli.
The Copenhagen Card is included, giving you access to free public transport and about 80 attractions and sights. Some activities we do together, some in groups, and some you can choose freely. Together, we create a program that is educational, exciting, and unique.
Since the price for Copenhagen is included in the school fees, this is a budget trip. But you will see and experience that it is entirely possible to have a rich and unforgettable trip without it costing too much.
Optional trip: England
Price: 10 000
This is one of the 3 group trips you can choose from. It takes place in March/April. You choose the trip after you have started school (This trip costs an additional 10,000).
Join us on a rich journey you will not soon forget! We travel across England. From the port city of Liverpool to the capital London. Experience musicals, Stonehenge, Oxford University, Silverstone Racetrack, and the city of London itself! This is a trip for those who want to see and experience a lot!
We start the trip in Liverpool, where we visit the Beatles Museum, the Merseyside Maritime Museum, and try to schedule the trip on a match day so that those who wish can get tickets to a Liverpool match at Anfield! We then travel to Birmingham, where we both explore the city and attend a musical together.
Next, we travel to Silverstone, a renowned Formula 1 track, where we visit the motor history museum. Here you have the opportunity to book a drive on the track in beautiful supercars! (This is paid for by the student if desired).
We then visit Oxford University, where we get a tour from local students, before traveling to see perhaps the world’s most talked-about mystery: Stonehenge. The trip ends in London, where we have plenty of time for sightseeing, shopping, and exploration.
This is a fantastic opportunity for those who want to experience the best of England!
The trip may vary slightly from year to year. This outline is based on the trip in March 2025.
Optional trip: Ecuador & the Galápagos Island
Price: 33 000
This is one of the 3 trips you can choose from. The decision you make after arrival at the school.
Join us on an exclusive journey in beautiful Ecuador! A trip of a lifetime. High mountains, jungle, and lush nature on the mainland, before flying 100 km out into the Pacific Ocean to the world’s most exotic place: the Galápagos Islands. On this trip, you will experience unique encounters with local people and see parts of the world that are difficult to visit.
Do you want to experience being 4000 meters above sea level? Meet people who live in the Amazon? Meet monkeys and wild animals? From high mountains, to jungle, rivers, and an incredible coast.
Here is a bit of what you will experience if you choose to join the trip to Ecuador:
The Andes - the world’s longest and South America’s highest mountain range
The Amazon jungle - a walk in the forest to see insects and plants is something entirely different here
The Galápagos Islands in the Pacific Ocean - here there will be sun, sea, and snorkeling
Swimming with sharks, iguanas, and giant tortoises
Wonderful people
Great contrasts
The beautiful city of Cuenca
Rafting and cycling in Baños
Jogging at 4000 meters altitude
The magical coast of Ecuador
The big city of Guayaquil
Beautiful architecture
Indian market
Different, lush nature
Ecuador is a fantastic and varied country! It just has to be experienced!
We have ourown guide and bus driver whowilltakeusaroundthe country. We will travel a lot and get many impressions!
We have three different kind of trips:
Linjeturer: Trips with your class. Mandatory, and is included in the price you pay.
Fellestur: Trips with the whole school. Mandatory, and is included in the price you pay.
Valgbar skoletur: You chose between three trips. The choice is made in the beginning of the year. The students joining the trips are mixed from all classes.
Copenhagen. Is included in the price
England. Additional cost.
Ecuador and Galapagos. Additional cost.
Price and destination for school trip is opt for change before the school begins.
Havglimt
Mandatory: Yes
Price: Included in course price
Duration: 2 dager x2
Meals included per day: 3
We travel to the archipelago of Southern Norway for overnight stays and fellowship twice a year. The first time is at the beginning of the school year to get to know each other better, and the second time is at the end of the school year to reminisce and enjoy good times together.
School trip to Denmark
Mandatory: Yes
Price: Included in course price
Meals included per day: 3
The first overseas trip of the year is a group excursion where friendships are forged, laying the foundation for an amazing year ahead!
At the beginning of the school year, we travel to Rønbjerg Holiday Center in Denmark. There, we mainly stay in cabins grouped by our respective classes, but much of the program is communal and cross-line. As part of the mandatory activities, you can choose from an activity menu based on your own interests and preferences.
During the four days of this getting-to-know-you trip, we bond together. In many ways, we lay the groundwork for a safe and strong community, which in turn contributes to making the year at Folkehøgskolen Sørlandet great!
We are a comprehensive school. We are proud of that.
By comprehensive school, we mean:
A wide variety of course offerings
A wide variety of staff expertise and backgrounds
A wide variety of facilities, and thus opportunities for leisure activities
A diversity of courses attracts a diversity of students
A diversity of expertise allows for a variety of elective subjects
We have a well-maintained school. We are proud of that too.
Even though the school started in 1912, we have a well-maintained school that has been well-run for many years.
By well-maintained, we mean:
We have two skilled caretakers who constantly maintain and refurbish rooms and buildings
The student rooms are of high standard, with showers and toilets attached to the rooms. In the dormitory, there are common rooms and kitchens
We have a well-equipped gym, a large new sports hall, and our own swimming pool with a sauna
In addition to wireless and wired internet in the dormitory, we have our own LAN room for connecting with your own computer
We have our own café, car workshop, football room, billiards, table tennis, garage, arts and crafts room, barbecue hut, and large common room. Everything is set up for a fulfilling school year and varied leisure time!
The school is centrally located in Birkenes center. Here, it is a short distance to shops and eateries, a lighted trail, an artificial turf field, and hiking trails in the nearby nature. Public transport is our nearest neighbor. Buses go to Kristiansand and Lillesand from here. From Kristiansand, there are trains and buses to Stavanger and Oslo. Only 20 kilometers away is Kjevik airport.
The Christian folk high schools are built on Christian values. They are owned by, or associated with, Christian organizations or denominations. They encourage students with different interests and beliefs to apply.
