Lundsberg sought silence clause after student reported bullying

Swedish boarding school Lundsberg asked 18-year-old Ida Höglund to sign an agreement with a confidentiality clause after her family sought a refund when she left because of bullying, SVT reports.

Höglund had lived abroad with her family and studied remotely before returning to Sweden in autumn 2025 to complete her final year of upper secondary school at Lundsberg. She said that after a few enjoyable weeks, other students began calling her “tarm” and “etta” despite her being in her third year. She said she was excluded daily and was afraid to go to the toilet at night.

“Everything, everything, everything was a risk,” Höglund said. “Tarm” is what the school’s younger students are called.

Her family reported the bullying to the school, but Höglund said the problems continued. When she became too exhausted to get out of bed, her parents decided to withdraw her and asked for the boarding fees to be returned. The school agreed, provided she signed an agreement stating that the parties would not share information about the settlement or the circumstances with outsiders, except when required by a court or authority. Höglund refused.

Lars Jonsson, the school’s operations director, described the wording as standard in a financial agreement between parties going their separate ways. He said the school had offered to remove it and that it was intended to protect everyone’s privacy.

“It is completely outrageous that they want to silence a student,” Höglund said.

The Swedish Schools Inspectorate is due to visit Lundsberg next week for a targeted inspection. After the agency issued strong criticism of the school in spring 2025, its leadership began work on changes.

Petter Sandgren, a senior lecturer in education at Stockholm University, said the agreement did not suggest a change in the school’s culture and conflicted with the openness it promoted elsewhere.