A Dream School?

In business studies Mr G showed us a school based in the UK which most of us would think would be a dream school.

Summerhill School is a democratic, self-governed boarding school in a small town called Leiston. This is a small school with only 78 students from the age group of 5-17 years old. The school has embraced a different philosophy to education, similar to the Laissez-Faire. It is based on the idea that the pupils should be free to decide how they want to spend their time at school. The philosophy of the school is to allow freedom for the individual, each child being able to take their own path in life and find, through experience, the things that they want to do and the person they want to be.

Three times per week a school meeting occurs, which every student has an equal vote. A school meeting are used to create, confirm and amend the laws which formt the stucture of the expectations for the community of staff and pupils.

In Summerhill School the pupuils choose what teachers and staff are appointed to the school. In Summerhill School every subject is an option, every students pick exactly what subjects they want to participate in. In Summerhill School you can choose how you spend your day. For example if you want to do P.E all day, you can do P.E all day. And if you want to spend your entire day dreaming, YOU CAN!

The Summerhill School website says :

Imagine a school...

Where kids have freedom to be themselves...

Where success is not defined by academic achievement but by the child's own definition of success...

Where the whole school deals democratically with issues, with each individual having an equal right to be heard...

Where you can play all day if you want to...

And there is time and space to sit and dream...

Could there be such a school?