Democratic Meetings 1
Democratic Meetings are the essential part of democratic schools.
Design A School 4-2: Age Range Podcast
We discuss the Age Ranges in our school. Is there an essential Age Range? A Lynch pin?
Design A School 4-1: Age Range Intro
We write about Age Ranges and Size in democratic free school design.What are they? Where will we begin ? It’s not an easy topic.
Design A School 3-3 : Our Mission Statement Summary
Here we provide a concise description of what we would like to see in a simple Mission/Vision Statement. It is not definitive! We will come back and edit it as we go through this design process.
Design A School 2-1: Vision/Mission Statement Intro
In Design a School Week 2 We Blog and Podcast about Vision or Mission Statements Leonard I’m not comfortable with the word Vision or the Phrase Mission Statement. To me, a Vision is something you see in a state of heightened unawareness. Up there in the clouds. And then you fall backwards and babble, shake…
The Reduced Curriculum II: Against Bloating
The second of three posts on the reduced curriculum. Here we look at the phenomenon of bloating in the curriculum: how to avoid it. Create a better curriculum in a free school.
A Democratic School Critic
Working Within the System “Democratic schools are just groups of privileged kids playing at equality,” says Ted. “That’s not really democracy. You can’t learn about good governance by shutting yourself away from the world.” “What do you mean?” I ask. “What’s wrong with giving children choices?” Children Born Into a World of Choices “Ha,…
JABSUM 4 : Free Choice
Giving Choices: the Invisible Teacher It doesn’t matter how nice you are, how exciting you are, or how well-meaning you are, if your basic instinct is to reduce choices you shouldn’t be working in a democratic school. This is a tricky issue. You might be a real believer, for example, convinced that you have the…
Keeping it Simple
I am going to tell a story. And I am going to tell you the moral of the story first: keep it simple. It should inspire you when you are battling out with your management team what your school is really about. Jon Steel has sat through an elaborate presentation of all the many wonderful…
Thursday Thoughts: More Options, Less Choice
Roy was exasperated. He was trying to engage kids in his classroom and had a timetable so that they could come for scheduled lessons, but another adult had taken over the Café- an open access space with colourful furnishings, bean bags and free coffee. He found that the kids were more drawn to the social…
