The world’s Oldest Continuous Democratic School Turns 100!
(and 1!!) Suffolk, England, UK. 5-10th August 2022.
(και 1!!!) Suffolk, Αγγλία, Ηνωμένο Βασίλειο. 5-10 Αυγούστου 2022.
This Festival will be a community and family event for those interested in alternatives
to the mainstream education system with its emphasis on test scores and exam
results and its associated impact on the well-being and mental health of children and
young people.
The Festival will celebrate 100 years of Summerhill School and the
inspiration that its founder A.S.Neill has given the world. The event will focus on
childhood itself, on children’s rights, freedom of the individual, responsibility to
community and free play. It will explore how children’s innate creativity, curiosity and
desire to collaborate and communicate has been suppressed by coercive anxiety
inducing education systems. It will consider in depth how important it is for the
future of our species and our planet that this process is reversed. There will be many
children at the event to show us what can be done!
What to expect? There will be talks by inspirational education pioneers, researchers
and innovators, some of who are already working for change in mainstream
education systems in several countries. There will be DJs, comedy, bands,
collaborative art projects and creative activities for the young and young at heart.
There will be something for everyone and there will be a lot of fun with the serious
purpose of facilitating the rediscovery of the potential of childhood.
Plans are in place to welcome several thousand British and international families,
educators and innovators to the festival at Peakhill Farm, Theberton, Suffolk, where
they can reminisce, network, and share ideas, experiences and practices celebrating
childhood.
Το Summerhill School είναι διεθνώς γνωστό για την προώθηση της συναισθηματικής ειλικρίνειας ως απαραίτητη προϋπόθεση για την κοινωνική συναισθηματική ανάπτυξη και ένα πιο ανθρώπινο κόσμο. Υποστηρίζει την αυτοδιαχειριζόμενη μάθηση σε ένα δημοκρατικό και κοινωνικό περιβάλλον. Θα υπάρξουν ομιλίες από εμπνευσμένους πρωτοπόρους της εκπαίδευσης, ερευνητές και καινοτόμοι, ορισμένοι από τους οποίους εργάζονται ήδη για την αλλαγή στην κυρίαρχη εκπαιδευτικά συστήματα σε διάφορες χώρες. Θα υπάρχουν DJs, κωμωδίες, συγκροτήματα, συνεργατικά έργα τέχνης και δημιουργικές δραστηριότητες για τους νέους και τις νέες.
There will be something for everyone and there will be a lot of fun with the serious
purpose of facilitating the rediscovery of the potential of childhood.
Plans are in place to welcome several thousand British and international families,
educators and innovators to the festival at Peakhill Farm, Theberton, Suffolk, where
they can reminisce, network, and share ideas, experiences and practices celebrating
childhood.
Summerhill School is internationally renowned for its promotion of emotional
sincerity as an essential condition for social emotional development and a more
humane world. It supports self-managed learning in a democratic and rights
respecting context. A.S. Neill founded the school in 1921 in Dresden, Germany as
part of the international Neue Schule. By 1923, Neill had moved to the town of Lyme
Regis in the south of England, to a house called Summerhill. In 1927, Neill moved the
school to the present site at Leiston, Suffolk, taking the name of Summerhill with
him. During his lifetime, Neill published several books about life and work at
Summerhill including “Summerhill – A Radical Approach to Education” (1962). It
became an instant bestseller and a classic volume on education for an entire
generation.
For many Summerhill pupils it becomes the most meaningful experience in their lives.
Zoë Neill Readhead, Principal, Summerhill.
