Sudbury Schools - Environment

We're really curious about Sudbury Schools. Having gone to a strict boarding school where we marched into meals, the thought of a Sudbury School delights us - the anarchy!

But would we want to work in one, and most importantly - would we want to send our daughter to one, or even more importantly, would she want to go to one?!

So, why are we hesitating?

Before we discover any more about Sudbury Schools, what are our preconceptions?

Environment

We are absolutely onboard for grown ups stepping back but the environment and how it is set up is a powerful source of learning - does anyone control the environment in a Sudbury School?

For example, do kids come in on a Monday morning to find a milking cow in the grounds, or a million ping pong balls piled up in the rec room? (Or have we just come up with a brilliant new concept school!)

What resources are the kids given? What provocations?

This photo from the newly opened La Rosa de los Vientos Sudbury School near Madrid made us wonder - not to say that kids couldn't do a lot already with this space but would it keep them going for 7 years? What else does Sudbury add, or is that the brilliant point - they don't, the kids do?

We were blown away during our ISN project with the many different ways in which the children were exploring the relatively small amount of big and small loose parts (see below) that we'd made available to them. We know that they were not getting those learning opportunities before we put those loose parts there because we watched they play before and after. That said, we know that even in the most barren playground, children will find something to do. Our parents argument today is of course 'When I was a child, you had one stick and were told to come back when it got dark'. Where is the happy balance? Also, the ISN kids didn't bring the loose parts in themselves - small ones yes but big ones no. Do Sudbury kids arrive at school on Monday morning with cartwheels and car tyres? And if so, how brilliant!

Caine's arcade - what kids will do with a resource rich environment

I was amazed when I first saw Caine's arcade, but not surprised - kids are amazing and with access to the right resources, they have a chance to show us that. Caine's story made me wonder whether the fact that his Dad just left him to it (because he was working) was key? If his Dad had designed and built with him, whilst it could have been great bonding, would Caine have run with this like he did? But we know (from Sugata Mitra's work as a good example) that encouragement can play an important role. Was that the role his Dad played that made this the perfect recipe for Caine? What else played a part?

Pill pots

One of our favourite resources. Taking these transformed walks, and as usual Indigo would see so much more than us, finding amazing things to form collections and fill her pots with. They can be used as observational evidence of a child's interpretation of how things can be grouped or how things change, for example different sizes/ages of the same seed pod found under a tree. Find them in your local discount store.