A Swedish dream in Brussels

It all begins in 1972. Ingrid Hanell Karlsson wants to open a Swedish school in the Brussels area; the Swedish authorities encourage her, but require a local organization to take responsibility for it. In 1973, the non-profit École Reine Astrid and the Svenska Klubben are thus founded. A nursery section opens at Château Sainte-Anne, then in a rented villa in Kraainem; after a stay in Wezembeek, the school settles in October 1976 in Rhode-Saint-Genèse, “under the high protection of the King of the Belgians.”

The move to Argenteuil

By the late 1980s, the Rhode-Saint-Genèse buildings become too cramped. In 1988, the school rents a few classrooms at the Argenteuil estate in Waterloo, where a Belgian technical school is closing down; by 1991, it occupies most of the school building. Chairman Lars Malmros (CEO of Volvo) then asks the Belgian State whether it would be possible to buy the school building. The answer comes in 1992: yes, but only together with the entire estate — a château and 147,000 m² of parkland. Thanks to the support of the Wallenberg Foundation and the Swedish Ministry of Education, the purchase is signed in August 1993 before a notary in Waterloo. The Reine-Astrid Fund becomes its official owner, to secure the school’s future on the site.

A long-delayed European project

In 1994, Sweden and Finland’s accession to the European Union raises hopes of opening a Nordic section at Argenteuil. The Commission opposes the idea: Swedish and Finnish pupils will instead join the existing European Schools in Brussels. Yet the dream does not die. In 2009, the official European School system authorizes the creation of “accredited European Schools,” which follow the European curriculum without being funded by the Commission. All that remained was to find a Belgian partner.

Lycée Molière

This partner institution was born in 1956, when Paul Dechamps (1934-2021) founded the École des Devoirs, designed to support pupils after school hours — a model that would later spread throughout the French Community. Convinced by the method, parents soon asked for daytime classes to be offered as well, in strict compliance with the official curriculum. In 1964, the first generation of pupils completed their final year: Lycée Molière became a fully-fledged school, officially recognized by the Belgian government and authorized to award the CESS — the first non-subsidised school to do so. In 2012, Paul Dechamps handed over leadership to Félix de Merode, who brought together a team of enthusiastic teachers: together, they preserved the essence of the school’s founding project while leading a genuine educational renewal. The following year, the school moved to Avenue Franklin Roosevelt, opposite the ULB.

The meeting

It was Kari Kivinen, Secretary-General of the European Schools, who brought about the decisive meeting: in 2015, he introduced Ingrid Hanell Karlsson to Félix de Merode. In 2016, the latter founded, in partnership with the Scandinavian School of Brussels, the Accredited European School of Brussels-Argenteuil (EEBA), on the Château d’Argenteuil campus. Following the success of the European section, Lycée Molière in turn joined the Scandinavian entity on this exceptional site in the summer of 2021.

Today

Our pupils now follow a coherent multilingual programme, from nursery through to the end of secondary school, leading to two internationally recognized diplomas: the European Baccalaureate and the International Baccalaureate. Half a century after Kraainem and the École des Devoirs, two stories continue under the same roof.