Susanne Billesø strides briskly through the cafeteria on the eighth and top floor of Ørestad School, trailed by a group of children. It’s just days before summer vacation, the school day is different, the older students are on a trip, but those left at school are about to have lunch together, as they always do. There’s room for both packed lunches and a communal meal prepared in a small kitchen behind the windows.
Today, students are grabbing trays of hash and bowls of beets, but it seems tricky to manage. Two boys are crawling on all fours, trying to mop up the purple veggies and pickling juice from the floor with lots of paper towels. They’re having more fun than being effective.
Susanne Billesø – known simply as Sus to everyone – quickly gets the children seated at the long table so lunch can begin. She has gentle eyes, a neat gray bob, and a kind voice, but also many years of school experience, so her third-grade class clearly understands what they need to do.
There are 24 children in the class. Five have two parents of Danish origin, some have one Danish and one foreign parent, while the majority have parents who are both from abroad.
»It’s completely outdated to talk about bilingual children. We have kids here in Ørestad whose mother might be Chinese, father from an African country, they met at an American university, had children, worked in, say, the Netherlands for a few years before ending up here in Denmark. We’re talking about many of our children knowing 3-4-5 languages, besides Danish«, she says.
Unnoticed, the new neighborhood Ørestad on Amager has in 20 years evolved into Denmark’s most international area.
In the new condos and expensive private rental apartments in the densely built high-rises on Amager, you’ll find a significant portion of the international workforce. This influx is the direct reason why Finance Minister Nicolai Wammen (Socialdemokratiet) recently announced an additional DKK 58 billion for the state budget by 2030.
»Some call Ørestad little New York«, says Susanne Billesø.
More immigrants in Ørestad
For decades, Denmark has had such low fertility rates that the proportion of people of Danish origin shrinks every year, but the large-scale immigration to tens of thousands of new jobs has ensured that Denmark has just surpassed 6 million inhabitants.
Immigration helps Danish companies and the welfare society, which lacks employees. And on Monday, the government presented a proposal lowering the threshold, making it easier for foreigners from 16 countries to come to Denmark to work.
Nowhere is the impact of the significant labor immigration to Denmark more evident than in the rapidly growing Ørestad, which had only 100 residents in 2004. Today, nearly 26,000 people live in Ørestad Parish alone, covering the area from Bella Center in Ørestad City, through the region around the Field’s shopping center and Royal Arena, and south to Kalvebod Fælled, where Ørestad South ends with the renowned 8Tallet building.
A little over half of all residents in Ørestad Parish are foreigners, evenly split between Western and non-Western immigrants and their descendants.
»We get a lot of kids from abroad who arrive on Monday and start with us on Tuesday. But we prefer to have them directly, as they learn the language quickly, especially in the lower grades where it happens really fast,« says Susanne Billesø, who has been a teacher at Ørestad School for 11 years.
In a recent interview with Politiken, Minister of Integration Kaare Dybvad Bek (S) described it as »concerning« when areas become dominated by residents of non-Danish origin. It would weaken the social cohesion and support for the welfare society, he pointed out.
»I don’t want a New York where Turks live in Brønshøj, Swedes live in Vesterbro, and Indians live in Søborg.«
At Ørestad School, there are about 750 children from 65 nationalities – from the Nordics, nearly all European countries, the USA, Korea, China, India, Iran, African countries, even states that the school leadership needs to look up on a world map to locate when new children enroll.
The average grade at Ørestad School is higher after the final exams in the ninth grade than at other schools in Copenhagen on average. More students also go on to pursue secondary education than the average in both the municipality and the rest of the country.
Most foreign children share the common thread that nearly all their parents are educated, many highly educated, and have come here as sought-after specialists or skilled workers helping Maersk, Novo Nordisk, Nordea, or other major pharmaceutical, IT or financial companies, many of which have their headquarters in Ørestad.
The household income is also higher in Ørestad compared to the rest of Copenhagen Municipality.
»Many of the foreign kids are really talented. And their parents often invest much more in their children’s education; they’re ambitious and have goals for them. Some Danish parents could definitely learn a thing or two from that,« says Susanne Billesø.
Wonder about everything
Anna Pisarska, 9, has been in Denmark for two years but speaks fluent Danish. Both her Polish mother and father were brought here and work as IT specialists at Nordea’s headquarters in Ørestad, close to the family’s apartment. They’ve kept their home in Poland, where the family will soon go on summer vacation.
»My apartment also looks different from the one in Poland, here it’s more white. In Poland, it’s more colorful, we have pink curtains. So it’s fun to try something different«, she says.
»I like Denmark, I have many friends, and you don’t rush so much at school, and the teachers aren’t so strict«.
According to Susanne Billesø, it also requires some explanations to new parents so they understand what a Danish public school is.
»They are pretty much puzzled by everything we do that’s not just sitting at a desk learning. That’s what they’re used to,« says Susanne Billesø.
She explains that parents are surprised that third graders don’t have homework, can call teachers by their first names, hug them, and hold the teachers’ hands.
»They don’t really understand why we’re not more authoritative. I sometimes get told, ’you can hit him if he doesn’t listen’, but I always have to reply that teachers aren’t allowed to hit in Denmark, just like parents aren’t either«, she says.
New church
From the cafeteria at Ørestad School, there’s a sweeping view over Ørestad and metro line M1 to and from Vestamager, which serves as a lifeline connecting the new international district with the old capital.
Ørestad’s growth meant that last year, the southern part became Ørestad Parish, separated from the northern part of Ørestad, which still belongs to Islands Brygge Parish.
In 2027, the neighborhood will get its first church, but for now, children are baptized and services held in a small, high-ceilinged concrete room in the renowned building by Bjarke Ingels Group – 8Tallet, where residents of over 40 nationalities live in the urban village of steel and glass.
Parish priest Rikke Weissfeld gives a tour of the church, explaining how they aim to bring together the rapidly growing international community through church gatherings.
The church will eventually hold a monthly service in English.
»As a church, we want to connect people across nationalities in communities here in the local area, and language shouldn’t be the most important«, she says.
The kingdom is colorful
A little girl with Indian parents rocks on a small red plastic horse in the common room at the daycare center Kongeriget. About 100 of Ørestad’s children go here, and around half have foreign roots.
Inflatable cushions and mattresses are laid out so the little ones can jump and climb around. A Polish and an Icelandic boy throw foam balls and hope the teacher catches theirs, while the Indian girl rocks next to two Iranian twin girls in pink and white tracksuits.
The staff speak Danish to all children, even those who don’t know the language yet.
According to Kongeriget’s leader Marie-Louise Ibbo, there are often »a lot of interesting cultural encounters« when foreign parents need to understand what a Danish daycare is.
Many foreign parents need to learn, for example, that children in Danish daycare centers get dirty because they play outside. Preferably in all kinds of weather.
»So maybe a fur coat looks nice on your daughter, but it’s impractical in a daycare center. Just like boots with heels aren’t very smart in rainy weather when you go to the forest«, she says.
A mother from India recently came in feeling guilty and apologized for dropping off her daughter at 8:30. She thought the kids had to be dropped off at 7 because ’classes’ started. She hadn’t realized that drop-off and pick-up times in Denmark are flexible.
»They’re really concerned about their children’s well-being, so we often have to explain why the little ones shouldn’t be taught so much already at a young age, as they might be in their home countries. We focus more on play, creativity, and socialization«, says Marie-Louise Ibbo.
She sometimes has to emphasize to parents that it isn’t necessarily in the child’s best interest to be in daycare every day from 7 to 5.
»But our parents are incredibly busy, work really takes up a lot of space. And they don’t necessarily have a grandparent who can pick up earlier some days. Many are here just 1-2 years, and then mom and dad have to move to a new country and work«, she says.
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