Summerhill School Newsletter, Autumn 2010

Apologies for this the rather late 11th edition of the Summerhill Newsletter.

During the last few months, Kate and I have been on an epic rollercoaster of failed house selling,

being given our notice by our Landlord and having to find somewhere else to live and work. It’s been

a very trying time whilst also supporting all our clients on their journey to wellness.

We are not out of the woods yet, but with some help from the

banks, we are hoping to buy a house in Leiston so that our son

can have a town life during the school holidays, and we can be

just around the corner from Summerhill.

In this newly revised edition you can read about Chae-eun’s

experience of Summerhill, discover why Jon Showstack is

passionate about Summerhill, catch a glimpse of last term’s

“Parents camp over” and read about the lives of two

ex-Summerhillians and how they influenced the lives of

others around them.

Have a great autumn, whatever the weather!

Editor

The A.S. Neill Summerhill Trust is a registered charity no 1089804

Founded in 1921, Summerhill School is a

co-educational boarding school in Suffolk, England.

It is the original alternative ‘free’ school and continues

to be an influential model for progressive, democratic

education around the world.

Summerhill School Newsletter, Autumn 2010

My experience at Summerhill by Chae-eun Park

I went to Summerhill at the age of 7 and I left when I was 16 - spending nine years there. There is so

much about Summerhill, or democratic education for that matter, that has given me a unique life.

I suppose first of all, being at Summerhill with all the freedom gave me a happy childhood. I could

choose to do whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted and wherever I wanted to do it. I wasn't forced

to do anything but I did plenty. Running around, playing games, hanging off the arms of big kids and

climbing trees. Eventually I grew out of those activities, started going to lessons and began taking

some responsibilities in the community, which I did out of pure interest and joy. While I was at

Summerhill I took everything I did for granted.

Chairing a meeting, not going to lessons or going up to ask a teacher to teach me history was just a

part of daily life. Naturally, I always knew exactly what I wanted and how to approach it solely under

my own initiative. As a bigger kid who took much responsibility for the community (chairing

meetings, problem solving in minor to large disputes, organising events etc..) I became more

confident.

Summerhill being a boarding school made the community closer. The pupils and the teachers were

like family members rather than just people I knew at school. Living with friends could bring about

personality clashes, but now I feel that it was all part of the lessons I needed to learn in life - to work

and live with people. We had a great relationship with the staff. The teachers were more like friends

and family and it felt easy to approach them. And because it is a small school I felt they could

customise the classes or any outside activities to suit me and others who required them.

Also, because we were equals and there wasn't a clear formal barrier between students and staff

members, we could share friendly intimacy and talk about anything. I personally found it fascinating

talking to staff members because I could hear about their life experiences before Summerhill. I still

keep in touch with some even after having left Summerhill almost 2 years ago.

At Summerhill I learnt responsibility, the confidence to take action independently and the ability to

work and live with people. The value of these lessons has been especially evident in the past year of

my life in London, in a state education system as well as a flat full of different people. I have found

that such a transformation of independence from Summerhill to London life has been relatively

smooth because I had been well prepared from my time at Summerhill. By the end of this year I will

have the same qualification as every other 18 year old in England, and I will proceed to university,

even after all that time I spent at Summerhill not preparing for the next exam. Summerhill has not

only given me an opportunity to explore in my childhood but it also gave me a good base of friends

who are like family and a sense of independence and self-sufficiency that I will have with me for the

rest of my life.

Summerhill School Newsletter, Autumn 2010

If you’ve ever had a ‘Summerhill moment’ and imagined how it

would be to have gone there yourself (or perhaps you did), then

you will have begun to understand how Summerhill can positively

change a child’s life forever.

Each month, several people make regular donations to the A. S.

Neill Summerhill Trust by way of cheque or direct payment.

Every donation, no matter how large or small, makes a big

difference in promoting the work of Neill and to the lives of kids at

Summerhill today.

Last term, Jon Showstack, an ex Summerhillian, made a substantial donation to the Trust. Jon is 64

years old and lives with his wife Ellen in the San Francisco Bay Area, USA. He has two adult daughters.

He is a retired Professor of Medicine and Health Policy after almost 40 years at the University of

California, San Francisco (UCSF). He currently does independent consulting as well as continuing

research at UCSF.

I asked Jon what led to him attending Summerhill and what motivated him to make a donation to the

Trust. Here’s what he said….

"It's a great irony of my life that I’ve spend most of it in a

university. Academia as a career was about the furthest

thing from my mind when I was a teenager. Similar to many

others, adolescence was a very turbulent time for me. The

basic cause of the turbulence is still not entirely clear to me,

other than the “normal” teenage angst, confusion, and

surging hormones. I had no problem learning (from books,

newspapers, etc.), but I was allergic to high school; I

basically didn’t attend high school and to this day do not

have a high school diploma (or a reunion to attend!)."

Picture: Jon and A. S. Neill in 1968.

Fortunately, my parents were understanding and

supportive. My father was a psychiatrist who had

very progressive ideas about childrearing. In the early

1960s, a friend of the family recommended Neill’s

recently published “Summerhill: A Radical Approach

to Child Rearing.” The book was startling on many

levels, not the least of which was the similarity of

Neill’s description of Summerhill with the

“democracy” of our household. My father

corresponded with Neill, and I ended-up spending the

1962-63 academic year at Summerhill.

Picture: From left to right, Tony Readhead, Jon Showstack and

Zoe Readhead in 2004

Ever had a…Ever had a…Ever had a…Ever had a…

Summerhill moment?Summerhill moment?Summerhill moment?Summerhill moment?

Summerhill School Newsletter, Autumn 2010

One of the key elements of Neill’s philosophy is that children will only learn at the appropriate time

and place, which might be defined as a “readiness” to learn. This was true for me in spades. My

adolescent head was already too full of – who knows what – to be able to participate in, let alone

concentrate on, a structured school program. I was much more interested in photography and in the

world around me. I read voraciously, but could not countenance the slow structured pace of

classrooms, lectures, and weekly assignments. To this day, I learn much better from reading than

from lectures, and am still very visually oriented - perhaps explaining, in part, my expertise in graphic

display of complex data, a great boon to my academic career.

I urge others to support Neill’s ideas through a contribution to the A. S. Neill Summerhill Trust

I point out these possible reasons that high school and I were a bad mix because I think they illustrate

a probably common, but often unrecognized, set of issues faced by many children and adolescents;

that is, their internal needs (cognitive, emotional, etc.) and their external circumstances (social,

language, economic, etc.) simply do not match the linear requirements of structured schooling.

Not only is it important to recognise, but also to allow and promote, the idea that failure at school

does not necessarily equate with an inability or reluctance to learn. Suffice it to say that Neill had it

right – our education systems will never be successful until they are (un)structured to allow and

address the differing needs, cognitive styles, emotional age and health, and abilities of individual

children.

My contribution to Summerhill is a way of supporting Neill’s philosophy and of helping to sustain a

place where children can be children; where adolescence is seen as a “normal” (if often unattractive)

passage; and, most importantly, where the needs, abilities, desires, and circumstances of persons

(whatever their age) are recognised, respected, and addressed.

I urge others to support Neill’s ideas through a contribution to the A. S. Neill Summerhill Trust and/or

through other activities that help make our educational systems more responsive to children of all

ages.”

Please help us to make a difference today

Make a single donation by clicking the link below http://www.summerhillschool.co.uk/store/products.php

Give shares By making a gift of shares to the Trust it is

possible to make a substantial tax saving on

your income tax. Changes in the March 2000

budget mean that it is easy to make a tax-

efficient charitable gift.

Leave a Legacy to the Trust Leaving a gift to the trust is a special way to remember Summerhill and to ensure that others too can

enjoy a healthy childhood full of great memories. Although most of us prefer not to think about

death, it’s simply a fact of life. If you make a will you know that your wishes will be respected. You

should obviously look after family and friends first but your will could also help us to continue to

support those kids that otherwise couldn’t afford to go to Summerhill.

HALF-TERM CAMPOVER

Each year the school invites parents to camp

This years was perhaps the best ever attended

but the weather was most likely

activities to enjoy including the sale, auction, bar

The auction

which raised

£643 for the

community

fund

Get the

ball

through

a hole

and you

win a

prize

Summerhill School Newsletter,

TERM CAMPOVER

school invites parents to camp in the school grounds during summer half

was perhaps the best ever attended with parents coming from as far as Japan and Korea,

the worst! However, spirits remained high and there were lots

activities to enjoy including the sale, auction, bar-b-q, swimming and football.

Zoe Re

Summerhill School Newsletter, Autumn 2010

in the school grounds during summer half-term.

with parents coming from as far as Japan and Korea,

there were lots of

Zoe Readhead - Principal

The jam stall which raised £141

A bespoke bag

sold at auction