Sudbury school A Sudbury school is a type of school, usually for the K-12 age range, where students have complete responsibility for their own education, and the school is run by a direct democracy in which students and staff are equal citizens. Students use the ...

s practice a form of schooling in which students individually decide what to do with their time, and learn as a by-product of ordinary experience rather than through classes or a standard curriculum. Students have complete responsibility for their own education and the school is run by a

direct democracy Direct democracy or pure democracy is a form of democracy in which the Election#Electorate, electorate directly decides on policy initiatives, without legislator, elected representatives as proxies, as opposed to the representative democracy m ...

in which students and staff have an equal vote. The 'Sudbury' name refers to

Sudbury Valley School The Sudbury Valley School was founded in 1968 by a community of people in Framingham, Massachusetts, United States.Greenberg, D: Announcing a New School, The Sudbury Valley School Press, Ma 1973. In 2019, several schools stated that they were ba ...

, founded in 1968 in

Framingham, Massachusetts Framingham () is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. Incorporated in 1700, it is located in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middlesex County and the MetroWest subregion of the Greater Boston ...

. The Sudbury Valley School has been the inspiration for numerous schools many of which refer to themselves as 'Sudbury schools.' The Sudbury Valley School formally rejects the idea that there can be an official definition or official list of Sudbury schools and in 2016 ended its earlier practice of linking to other schools which claimed to operate in a manner similar to them. Daniel Greenberg, one of the founders of the Sudbury Valley School has written that there are two things that distinguish a Sudbury Model school: everyone is treated equally and there is no authority other than that granted by the consent of the school community.

Current Sudbury schools

Germany

Neue Schule Hamburg Neue Schule Hamburg () is a private Sudbury school in Rahlstedt, Hamburg, Germany, established in 2007. History The school was founded by Philipp Palm, who was the school's principal, his partner the German popstar Nena Kerner, Silke Steinfadt and ...

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

United Kingdom

* East Kent Sudbury School,

Dover Dover ( ) is a town and major ferry port in Kent, southeast England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies southeast of Canterbury and east of Maidstone. ...

United States

The Circle School The Circle School is a self-directed democratic school located in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, founded in 1984. It is operated similarly to the Sudbury Valley School (Framingham, Massachusetts) and Hudson Valley Sudbury School (Kingston, New York). ...

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Harrisburg ( ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the seat of Dauphin County. With a population of 50,099 as of 2020, Harrisburg is the ninth-most populous city in Pennsylvania. It is the larger of the two pr ...

* The Clearwater School,

Bothell, Washington Bothell () is a city in King and Snohomish counties in the U.S. state of Washington. It is part of the Seattle metropolitan area, situated near the northeast end of Lake Washington in the Eastside region. It had a population of 48,161 reside ...

* Fairhaven School,

Upper Marlboro, Maryland Upper Marlboro, officially the Town of Upper Marlboro, is the county seat of Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population within the town limits was 652, although Greater Upper ...

The Highland School The Highland School is a democratic education, democratic school for day and boarding students in Ellenboro, West Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1981 by Charlotte and Steve Landvoigt. The school was inspired by the Summerhill School ...

Ellenboro, West Virginia Ellenboro is a town in Ritchie County, West Virginia, Ritchie County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 222 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. The town is located at the junction of U.S. Route 50 in West Virginia, U.S. ...

Philadelphia Free School The Philadelphia Free School also known as Philly Free School or PFS, is a Democratic Free School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Philly Free School operates on the democratic education or ''Sudbury school'' model. The school opened in the fall of ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

Three Rivers Village School Three Rivers Village School is the first democratic school in Pittsburgh, PA. It operates on the Sudbury school model of democratic education. Three Rivers Village School opened in the Fall of 2013 and accepts students from Kindergarten through ...

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

References

External links

Self-Directed Democratic Schools
List of schools that self-identify as democratic or Sudbury {{DEFAULTSORT:List Of Sudbury Schools Democratic education