Description
Summerhill is as unlike a conventional school as it could possibly be. Founded one hundred years ago to provide a space where children can grow in a ‘free-range’ environment.A.S. Neill, founder of Summerhill, set out to make a school that would fit the child rather than forcing pupils to do what parents and educators thought might be best for them.“Summerhill is a real place, not a utopia. Living in a community of around one hundred people is not always easy. Everybody is learning about themselves, and on a bleak January day, with the east wind blowing things are sometimes not wonderful! But Summerhill in summer time is lush, green and not unlike never-never land. It is more of a family or a tribe than a school — full of companionship, laughter and real feelings. For many Summerhill pupils it becomes the most meaningful experience in their lives.”
Facilities
Learning
While at Summerhill children have personal freedom to follow their own needs, a professional staff of around fourteen house-parents and teachers provide, what is in effect, a bespoke education. The pupils have absolute freedom to attend classes or not.They can prepare for and sit GCSEs (the UK national examinations) or concentrate on other passions such as art, woodwork, science, music or just play outside in the rain.There is a conventional and accepted way that children throughout the world are schooled. They all know this process for most of us have been in an ordinary school. What we have discovered at Summerhill, over the last hundred years, is that learning need not work the way society expects it to work.
Features
Things to note
The specialist teachers are given a lot of independence in their classrooms, in terms of teaching methods but objectives and certain requirements must be fulfilled by all teachers, at least until they have settled in enough to make changes. There is support for all staff in the regular staff meetings.Senior teachers are expected to be able to teach their subjects up to GCSE level. (The General Certificate of Secondary Education is an academic qualification taken by students aged 14 - 16 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland) They do not send reports to parents unless they are needed for college or school recruitment. Children will be involved in this process.
Extra Curricular
Please check the school website link for details.
12.06 miles
