In 1997, SEV Primary school was founded to provide a quality primary level education in grades K-8. SEV Izmir has two sister schools in Turkey: Üskudar SEV in Istanbul and Tarsus SEV in Tarsus, in southeastern Turkey. 
The Saglik ve Egitim Vakfi (SEV), or Health and Education Foundation, is the governing body. SEV oversees the high quality of education from kindergarten through high school. In addition to the educational branch, the SEV Foundation administers a hospital and publishing company within Turkey.

At SEV, at least one fourth of the faculty is international. Those who are married to Turkish nationals live throughout the city of Izmir, while those recruited from overseas live in furnished apartments in a middle-class Turkish residential area adjacent to the school campus. Daily living and shopping, enjoying local tourism and entertainment, forming friendships with neighbors and Turkish colleagues as well as other international teachers all make for a rich cross-cultural experience. 
SEV is a Turkish school for Turkish children operating strictly in accordance with the Turkish national school system. Unlike education systems elsewhere, the Turkish Ministry of Education is very centralized and governs not only the curriculum, but also rules and regulations pertaining to all aspects of education including student discipline, dress code (student and teacher), examination systems, grading etc. 
Today, there are over 850 students in Grades K-8. The izmir campus is shared by the high school and SEV Elementary School. The languages of instruction are English and Turkish. The teaching staff includes the Turkish faculty (75% plus), many of whom speak English, and the English-speaking international faculty (25%). The international faculty currently includes teachers from the USA, Canada, Great Britain, Ireland and Norway. All of our foreign educators are certified educators in their home countries.

Classes generally run 24-26 students in the SEV Elementary School. For English lessons, classes are split to reduce the student: teacher ratio.
SEV is proud of their extra-curricular activities, sports programs, clubs, and strong service-learning program. SEV has a long history of service-learning and working with disadvantaged groups from Multiple-Sclerosis Society, senior-citizens, street children, the poor, and blind. Many groups and individuals benefit from the schools’ service-learning programs. SEV has a sister school in rural Eastern Turkey whom it helps. Students in the SEV elementary and middle school are introduced to service learning activities through both active participation and fundraising campaigns. In the past 10 years, SEV Elementary School has developed an elementary school service-learning program which is unrivalled in Turkey. 
SEV Elementary School is also fully accredited by CIS school.

The SEV calendar year is set according to the Ministry of Education rules for student contact hours and consists of two semesters with the length of each semester being approximately 18 weeks. School generally begins in late August with teachers reporting around the third or fourth week. The schools officially open in early to mid-September. The first semester finishes at the end of January followed by a two-week semester break at the start of February. The second semester begins in mid-February with classes generally finish mid -June. In the second semester, teachers and students have a spring break in April. Teachers stay until the end of June for the many end-of-year duties which are a part of the Turkish educational system. The school calendar includes 180 contact days of instruction.