...where kids have freedom to be themselves...

To allow children to experience the full range of feelings, free from the judgement and intervention of an adult. Freedom to make decisions always involves risk and requires the possibility of negative outcomes. Apparently negative consequences such as boredom, stress, anger, disappointment and failure are a necessary part of individual development.
Summerhill policy statement.

Summerhill was the most important years of my life, as close to the bone as who your mother and father were, having a round face and being a girl.
Hylda, ex-pupil

Summerhill is a real place, not a utopia. Living in a community of around 100 people is not always easy. Everybody is learning about themselves, and on a bleak January day, with the east wind blowing, things are sometimes not wonderful!

But Summerhill in summer time is lush, green and not unlike Never-Never Land. It is more of a family or tribe than a school – full of companionship, laughter and real feelings.

“For many Summerhill pupils it becomes the most meaningful experience in their lives.”
Zoë Neill Readhead

At Summerhill I am not bullied and I am safe and I have freedom of speech. I am given responsibility, I have the opportunity to look after myself, choose how I want to learn. By being given these opportunities, I can be what I want. Which is perfect and every child’s dream.
Alex C. – pupil

The function of the 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 the educator who thinks he knows best.
A.S. Neill

I’m only 14 and I know so much more, like I know how to stand up for myself and say ’Hey, I don’t like this!’ And a child which is going to a state school would not do such a thing because they’re scared to. Here people don’t have to be scared to say anything.
Vita – pupil

Where success is not defined by academic acheivement but by the child's own definition of success...>