Our History

Founded in 1962, originally to meet the needs of the English-speaking community, the English School of Lausanne opened with seven pupils in the Rehearsal rooms of the Municipal Theatre of Lausanne.

The following year, the School was renamed The Commonwealth-American School and moved to Pully, on Avenue Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz.

Within five years, the School had grown to over 100 pupils from 9 different countries.

In 1977, despite a precarious financial situation due to the oil crisis, the School added a new construction on its site, known as the Magnolia Building, in honour of the tree that it was built around.

John Curtis became Headmaster and remained at the School for ten years.

He was succeeded by Robert Landau, who took up the position from 1988 until 1997, when Simon Taylor was appointed as the Director of the newly renamed International School of Lausanne.

In over forty years, the School has grown not only in size, but also in scope. In order to serve an increasingly mobile international community, the curriculum gradually took into consideration the practices and requirements of a number of different systems, not only British and American.

The addition of the International Baccalaureate in 2000 has further influenced the multicultural outlook of teachers and students. More than 50 countries are currently represented in the student body.

Despite the purchasing of an additional building on Chemin de Chamblandes in 1995, the rapid expansion since then, with enrolment doubling to 450 students in 2003, has obliged the school to continually seek new premises.

In 1998, the ISL Board created a task force to locate land and commission the design of a new purpose-built campus. More than twenty different locations were considered before Le-Mont-sur-Lausanne was finally chosen the following year. With the generous help of our sponsors, the project has reached its final stage of planning in September 2003.

Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, as its name indicates, is situated above Lausanne at an altitude of 580 to 815 metres above sea level. The commune covers an area of approximately 10 km², of which 15% are forests. The current population is around 5’200 and is expected to double over the next ten years.

Situated only 2 km from the Lausanne Cathedral, the site of the new school is 660 metres above sea level.