Freedom english academy

Summerhill School was founded in 1921 in Hellerau near Dresden, Germany by Neill as part of Neue Schule ("New School"). However, Neill was dissatisfied with Neue Schule's ethos, and so moved to Sonntagberg in Austria. Due to the hostility of the local people, it moved again in 1923 to Lyme Regis in England. The house in Lyme Regis was called Summerhill, and this became the name of the school. In 1927 it moved to its present site in Leiston, Suffolk, England. It had to move again temporarily to Ffestiniog, Wales, during World War II so that the site could be used as a British Army training camp.[1]

After Neill died in 1973 it was run by his wife, Ena, until 1985.[1]

Today it is a boarding and day school serving primary and secondary education in a democratic fashion. It is now run by Neill's daughter, Zoë Neill Readhead.[2]

Although the school's founding could arguably be dated to other years, the school itself marks 1921 as the year of its establishment.[1]
Philosophy
See also: Philosophy of A. S. Neill
Summerhill is noted for its philosophy that children learn best with freedom from coercion. All lessons are optional, and pupils are free to choose what to do with their time. Neill founded Summerhill with the belief that "the function of a child is to live his own life – not the life that his anxious parents think he should live, not a life according to the purpose of an educator who thinks he knows best."[3][4]

In addition to taking control of their own time, pupils can participate in the self-governing community of the school. School meetings are held three times a week, where pupils and staff alike have an equal voice in the decisions that affect their day-to-day lives, discussing issues and creating or changing school laws. The rules agreed at these meetings are wide ranging – from agreeing on acceptable bed times to making nudity allowed around the pool and within the classroom. Meetings are also an opportunity for the community to vote on a course of action for unresolved conflicts, such as a fine for a theft (usually the fine consists of having to pay back the amount stolen).

In creating its laws and dealing out sanctions, the school meeting generally applies A.S. Neill's maxim "Freedom not Licence" (he wrote a book of the same name); the principle that you can do as you please, so long as it doesn't cause harm to others. Hence, you are free to swear as much as you like, within the school grounds, but calling someone else an offensive name is licence.

It is upon these major principles, namely, democracy, equality and freedom that Summerhill School operates.

Classes are voluntary at Summerhill.[5] Although most students attend, children choose whether to go of their own accord and without adult compulsion.[5] Children who do not attend are regularly criticized by their peers for hindering class progress.[5]
Academics

Neill wrote that students who elected to prepare for university entrance exams were able to finish the material faster than students of traditional schools.[6] Inspector accounts assert that this was inaccurate, and that interested students were disadvantaged by their dearth of preparation.[6]

The Summerhill classroom was popularly assumed to reflect Neill's anti-authoritarian beliefs, though their classes were traditional in practice.[7] Neill did not show outward interest in classroom pedagogy, and was mainly interested in student happiness.[8] He did not consider lesson quality important,[8] and thus there were no distinctive Summerhillian classroom methods.[9] Neill also felt that charismatic teachers taught with persuasion that weakened child autonomy.[7] Leonard Waks wrote that, like Homer Lane, Neill thought all teaching should follow student interest, and that teaching method did not matter much once student interest was apparent.[9][10]

In a review of an algebra lesson taught by Neill as recounted through Herb Snitzer's Living at Summerhill, Richard Bailey described Neill's teaching technique as "simply awful" for his lack of student engagement, inarticulate explanations, and insults directed at students.[11] Bailey criticized Neill's absolution of responsibility for his pupils' academic performance, and his view that charismatic instruction was a form of persuasion that weakened child autonomy.[12]
Reception and legacy

Summerhill received most of its public attention in two waves: the 20s/30s and 60s/70s. Richard Bailey linked this increased interest to milieux of social change (progressivism and the counterculture, respectively), though he added that Neill was not driven by his reception.[13] The 1960 best-seller Summerhill made the school a beacon of possibilities for a wide public, and led to an American movement with copycat schools.[14]

Richard Bailey wrote that the freedom and motivation to learn is not enough to introduce children to interests that they do not know to exist,[15] and that otherwise, children are subject to the interests of the era.[16]

The media tended to cover aspects of Summerhill such as casual teacher–student relations and lack of compulsory classes instead of the weekly meeting.[17] Media coverage also showed Summerhill's students as unrestricted and anarchic, which was unlike its reality.[18]
Conflict Resolution

There are two main methods of resolving conflicts at Summerhill.
Ombudsmen

In the first instance, one should go to an ombudsman to resolve a conflict. The ombudsmen are an elected committee of older members of the community, whose job it is to intervene in disputes. One party will go and find an ombudsman and ask for an "Ombudsman Case". Often, all the ombudsman has to do is warn someone to stop causing a nuisance. Sometimes, if the dispute is more complex, the ombudsman must mediate. If the conflict cannot be resolved there and then, or the ombudsman's warnings are ignored, the case can be brought before the school meeting.

In special cases, the meeting sometimes assigns an individual their own "special ombudsman", an ombudsman who only takes cases from one person. This usually happens if a particular child is being consistently bullied, or has problems with the language (in which case someone who is bi-lingual, in English and the language of the child in question, is chosen as the ombudsman.)