Our students tell us that they want to have a different year, to get to know new people, finally be able to choose interests and subjects that they like, and have an "amazing" year with people they love. Watch the following film :-)
Our international students say they have chosen Valdres because they need a "Gap-year" between compulsory school and what they will study later in life. All this happens here!
Where are we?
Northern Europe's highest mountain massif
The school's fortunate location at the foot of Northern Europe's highest mountain range, Jotunheimen, gives you access to one of Norway's most beautiful and wildest natural areas for joy and strong experiences. It is a world of pure nature that just gives and gives. If you can thrive among the highest mountain peaks, the bluest glaciers, the clearest rivers and water, the whitest snow - then this could be the place for you!
Climate for a happy outdoor life
Jotunheimen is located as a screen from the rain from the west. This gives us many hours of sunshine. Valdre's high location means that precipitation mostly comes as snow in the winter. This gives you excellent opportunities for nightlife in the fall, winter and spring. Especially in the winter (snow from October to May) you can enjoy top trips, on the slopes with skis or snowboards, or long walks on 1200 km of groomed cross-country ski trails.
Cycling adventure
Valdres has countless trails and mountain roads in the mountains. This provides great opportunities for mountain biking, trail biking, fat biking in the winter or just mountain biking at 1100 meters above sea level.
Valdres Folk High School is idyllically located by the Strandefjord, in central Southern Norway. Distances: 180 km to Oslo – 330 km to Bergen – 380 km to Trondheim.
Facilities
Exercise/strength room with equipment and slings for basic training
Spinning room with 20 good spinning bikes and good music system
Valdres Storhall within walking distance of the school with an indoor sports facility of 120 x 90 m including a large climbing wall with a height of 16 m
Sand volleyball court
Own rail park with floodlights
122m2 Bouldering facility! Professionally built in complex 3d structureGymnasium
Clay court/football
Ice rink for hockey
Climbing area
Ceramics, textiles and handicrafts hall
Ski stables and prep room
Short distance to cross-country ski trails and downhill skiing
Who are our students?
Valdres folk high school has an even distribution between boys and girls. The average age is 19.5 years and the minimum age is 18 years. The school has room for around 140 students. In recent years, the school has been completely full, so it is recommended to be with the first intake, which starts on February 1. Most live in double rooms in their own dormitories.
Drug-free environment
Valdres Folkehøgskole has zero tolerance when it comes to alcohol and other drugs when you are a student with us. This is something we have very good experience with. We also get good feedback from our students on this. We believe this has also contributed to Valdres Folkehøgskole being known for having a very good social environment among the students. In order to accept a place at the school, you will also have to sign that you accept these regulations in the admission letter.
Christian offer
The school has a voluntary program where you can participate in evening meetings and discussion groups. The discussion groups discuss existential questions, and share thoughts about faith/doubt and life. Here, students with different opinions meet. Many students find this meaningful and nice. This year, there is a turnout of 80-100 students in both the discussion groups and the meetings.
Physiotherapist/manual therapist
We are an active school with physically active students and we want to give them competence and preventive treatment so that they become more skilled and stronger. Therefore, we have attached a physiotherapist/manual therapist to the school so that you will receive high-quality guidance.
What do the students say?
The rating agency EPSI Norway has conducted a national survey of folk high schools in Norway, and for all three of the last three years we have been on the podium among folk high schools. We are proud of that!
"It's just magical! Who says no to having what is probably the best year of their life?"
"It was the best year of my life, so far! I hope to live on this year for many, many years to come, everything was beyond all expectations! Valdres Folkehøgskole was/is fantastic! Keep up the good work you've done so far, and the school will last forever! Thank you for everything!"
"This has been the best thing in my life. My choice of folk high school has been the best choice of my life so far. I would never have done without it."
"Valdres Folkehøgskole is absolutely the "most amazing" school I have ever attended. This is a year (possibly 2, if you're lucky) that cannot be described in words, and that has no price limit when it comes to costs. Simply perfect IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WINTER ADVENTURE."
"Valdres Folk High School is amazing, and it changed my life for the better! I would have loved to go there again and again and again and again!"
Competence
Professional development
For the past three years, student satisfaction with the school offering has been investigated by the independent analysis agency EPSI. The results have also been compared with similar surveys for other higher education, and the folk high school scores best on almost all indicators. Students give good feedback on the academic content and even better on the competence of the teachers. The students have chosen both the school and the subjects themselves. This naturally provides good motivation as a starting point for learning.
Read the EPSI surveys about folk high schools and other types of higher education
Joy of learning
The opportunity to choose subjects based on interest, together with the absence of grade and exam pressure, provides a safe and stimulating learning environment. Towards the end of the last school year, a survey was conducted among students at 25 folk high schools in Norway. Approximately three out of four respond that they have gained a more positive attitude towards learning, and an even higher number say that they gain “a lot of new knowledge” in the subject.
Collaboration skills and social competence
In 2010, NTNU Samfunnsforskning AS conducted research on students' benefits from folk high schools. The report particularly highlights self-confidence, social competence and "expectation of mastery" as effects or benefits of the folk high school year, these are qualities that are in demand in the workplace. The Folk High School Act requires that schools have boarding houses, that the vast majority of students should live there and that the boarding house should be "integrated into the overall school work". Boarding house life is more than a practical solution for board and lodging, it is a learning arena.
Read the survey from NTNU Social Research on students' benefits from folk high schools
Social understanding and democratic participation
According to the NTNU survey, folk high school students are more active in society than others. The folk high schools' academic and pedagogical freedom provides good opportunities to involve students in decision-making processes that can concern both academic priorities and interaction and development of the community in a school life that is 24/7. Democracy is not primarily something that you learn about, but something that you must be invited to and practice.
Democracy as a way of life and a standard of civilization must be won for each rising generation. In light of the trends of our time, the words of the British author GK Chesterton: " Nothing threatens democracy more than the belief that it is secured ", have become a wake-up call for many.
Valdres Folkehøgskole has the status of a 3D guidance school. This means that we have the expertise to facilitate the further development of our students with a focus on: strong qualities and abilities, choice of values, relational skills and a secure self-image. We have our own guidance counselor at the school with whom you can talk about what is important to you.
A completed year of folk high school gives 2 additional points towards higher education.
As a student, you are responsible for submitting your diploma to Samordna opptak after the end of the school year.
