A.S.Neill Summerhill CIC

05/05/2026

Hi Everyone,

It's been a while - exam season has, as always, been a tad chaotic. Lots of kids wanting last-minute help and revision for GCSEs.

I always feel mixed about this time of year. I'm genuinely proud of the progress students have made - some of them have come on leaps and bounds over the past years/months. But, and this is the Summerhill bit, I can't help thinking about all the kids who've been pushed through a system they never consented to. A system designed for the "standard kid" - not the brightest, not the ones who struggle most. Just the middle.

Some come out feeling they weren't good enough. Others come out never having been stretched, never reaching their true potential.

At Summerhill, every student has ownership of their own decisions. They choose to study Science, or English, or whatever it may be. They've always been in control of their own lives. Not to mention that the teaching is genuinely bespoke, every lesson adapted to accomodate each and every student.

What I see more and more now, especially with 16-18 year olds, is young people who have never once been asked "What do you want?" or "How do you feel?" There's an energy in them they don't know what to do with.

They don't understand why they spent 10+ years in a system that taught them to sit still, not be creative unless directed to be - and now they leave with a pocket full of paper saying they can read and write, but no real understanding of themselves or the world around them.

As A.S. Neill wrote: "They know a lot; they may shine in dialectics; they can quote the classics - but in their outlook on life many of them are infants. For they have been taught to know, but have not been allowed to feel."

The system goes on, separating the head from the heart. And it's the young people who pay the price...

28/04/2026

Hi Everyone,

We just wanted to help spread the word!

Henry Readhead, alongside a number of other inspiring speakers, will be taking part in the International Symposium on Anarchist and Libertarian Principles of Education, hosted by the University of Burgos.

This online event offers a space for dialogue, reflection, and exchange on alternative educational practices, bringing together voices from across Europe and beyond.

-7 May 2026
- 16:30–19:30 CET
- Online via Zoom
- Free to attend (certificate included)

If you are interested in freedom in education, child-centred learning, democratic schools, or new ways of thinking about education, this looks like a really worthwhile event.

Please see the poster for registration details, and feel free to share with anyone who may be interested.

14/04/2026

Some lovely teaching positions available at Summerhill School. Only 10 days left to apply.

13/04/2026

Well worth a listen! For parents, educators, or anyone working with young people, it offers a powerful reflection on how we, as adults can so often, without meaning to, shape, guide and at times limit the unfolding of a child’s natural self.

Barefoot in November is available as an audiobook on Amazon, Audible and Apple Books 🧡 Read by the author, Zoë Neill Readhead 📚

Zoë writes: ‘I love parents. I love seeing them out with their children at supermarkets, in the park, at the zoo. I have such respect for the fact that people are ready to change their whole lives for that little scrap of a person who arrives with such a flourish of trumpets and proceeds to take over everything!

‘Summerhill is a happy place to live ... If we can look closely at what Summerhill does and how it does it, then perhaps we can transfer some of what it offers into our homes, into our parenting.’

This book’s stories and conclusions draw on Zoë’s experience in the school and her family. She suggests that some aspects of the Summerhill way of bringing up children and young people are highly relevant for family life today and adds unequivocally: ‘Remain on the side of the child.’

09/04/2026

We’ve just reached the end of our first Role of the Adult course of 2026, and, as always, the closing brings a bit of sadness. After ten weeks spent learning, questioning, and reflecting together, our group begins to feel less like a course and more like a small tribe, a community formed through shared conversations, honesty, and common values.

Saying goodbye is never easy, but it’s also a reminder of what becomes possible when people are given the time and space to think deeply about their role alongside children.

This was a small group: two people already running their own schools, one courageously preparing to begin a new educational journey, and a university professor of education.

Working in a smaller circle allows there to be real time for listening, reflection, and thoughtful conversations about each person’s setting, challenges, and hopes.

The course became less about instruction and more about shared exploration: what children truly need from adults, and how we can create environments where happiness and fulfilment are not ideals, but everyday realities.

These gatherings always remind us that meaningful change in education begins through relationships, honesty, and the willingness to rethink our role alongside children.

Our next course begins in a few weeks.

If you are a parent, carer, teacher, school founder, or simply someone drawn to the idea of supporting happier and more fulfilled childhoods, you are warmly welcome to join us.

You can sign up via the website - we’d love to see you there.

Acting as ambassadors of A.S.Neill’s world famous philosophies and Summerhill School’s 100-years of practice in educating the whole child, our aim is to facilitate and support innovative initiatives…

24/03/2026

A little piece of Summerhill magic…

This iconic pegboard at Summerhill was created by the children and teachers themselves.

It serves as a living register: every child and adult moves their own hand-painted peg to show where they are - in school, in town, or out exploring.

No registers needed… just trust, responsibility, and autonomy.

Surprising to some, but it works!

The pegboard rules are respected and faithfully followed by both children and staff whenever they leave the school.

In many ways, it’s a living symbol of freedom with responsibility, or freedom, not licence, as Neill would have said.

It even featured in the CBBC drama Summerhill, directed by Jon East, capturing the moment the community stood up for the right of children to direct their own learning and their own lives.

At Summerhill, happiness and emotional wellbeing come first — and learning follows naturally when children feel free and respected.

https://www.asneillsummerhillcic.co.uk/april-2026-course/

22/03/2026

Our course is not only about us, A.S. Neill, or Summerhill.

The second half is dedicated entirely to you and your setting, whether that’s home education, an alternative provision, or a mainstream school.

It focuses on how you can apply the principles we explore in ways that genuinely work in your real environment, making daily life easier and more sustainable while embedding them naturally into your practice.

We work closely alongside you to identify the real barriers to implementing approaches that support true happiness and wellbeing in children’s lives, and importantly how to work with those barriers rather than against them.

18/03/2026

If the emotions are free, the intellect will look after itself.

When children feel safe, respected, and unpressured, curiosity naturally wakes up.

Learning stops being something imposed and becomes something chosen.

Real education begins with emotional freedom, not control.

16/03/2026

How can we make parenting easier, less demanding, and more rewarding?

As a parent of two daughters and someone who spent many years living and working at Summerhill School and supporting countless families navigating education, exams, and everyday life, I’ve learned that the biggest shift happens the moment we stop squeezing so hard or trying to control things.

We often feel we must control the situation - be the responsible adult, line up every opportunity, push for the “right” path and essentially be the "good parent."

Of course, we want to support genuine intrinsic motivations… but when that support turns into pressure, comparison, and fixed expectations, we’re no longer helping. We’re squeezing.

I heard a quote recently that says it perfectly: it’s like trying to hold water in your hand by squeezing it tighter. The harder you grip, the faster the water slips away.

That well-meaning urge to “give them the best” by controlling experiences and outcomes doesn’t deliver the confident, happy child we long for. Instead, it creates resistance, anxiety, and a distance that leaves both parent and child exhausted.

What if we let go - just enough?

What if we trusted our children the way Summerhill has trusted them for over a century?

Happiness and emotional intelligence placed firmly before grades or curriculum.

At Summerhill, children choose their own path every day - whether that means going to a lesson they love or spending the morning barefoot building something in the woods.

They learn to take responsibility for their actions because the freedom is real.

They grow into self-aware, emotionally intelligent young people who know who they are and how to navigate the world.

Parenting the Summerhill way isn’t about stepping back and doing nothing. It’s about stepping back so they can step forward.

The pressure lifts. The joy returns. Parenting becomes lighter, deeper, and far more rewarding because you’re no longer fighting the current; you’re flowing with it.

Places are filling up for our April course.

The Role of the Adult in Facilitating a Happy and Fulfilled Childhood
(Over 50 certified hours - live sessions, workshops, and rich resources designed for educators, caregivers, psychologists, and anyone who works with children.)

This isn’t just theory, it’s the lived philosophy of A.S. Neill, brought into today’s world so you can apply it at home, in the classroom, or wherever children are growing.

13/03/2026

Friday reflection:

At what point does mental health become more important than grades, exams, measurements, and schooling?

The thing that drew me to Summerhill was that it places the child’s happiness at the very forefront of life; everything after that is secondary in importance.

How different this world would be if we were all taught to prioritise our own genuine happiness, over surface-level happiness; the media are much to blame - advertising emotions, ‘ buy this and you will be happy’, ‘ join this course and you will be fulfilled’. (Obviously, that does not apply to the role of the adult, which genuinely will help you!)

But maybe even more important than that is that kids brought up with freedom, autonomy, and happiness don’t fall for this thin marketing tactic; kids who know true happiness know where it’s found, and that’s within, not from some external source.

https://www.asneillsummerhillcic.co.uk/april-2026-course/