Reviews of Sudbury Valley School (School)

Emma Flood

I love it:)

Beekeeper Mike

A paradise for children, parents and staff alike. And, an excellent school concept to maximize human potential and learning.

Dwight A. Ernest

Remarkably innovative un-school. Dedicated staff, beautiful grounds, remarkable student body.

Andreea Dersidan

Hi all, On the eve of the school's 50th year, we wanted to offer our reflection on our one year experience at SVS. For reference, our kids are 9 and 7 and they both attended SVS during the 2016/17 school year. We have mixed feelings about SVS and it took us a great deal of thinking to come to this conclusion. We have decided to make our voice heard so other parents can hear our family's perspective. We are extremely grateful for the fact that this school was started in 1968 and, moreover, that its philosophy took hold, made roots and spread seeds all over the world. Our kids were both worried and excited to start last September. They were worried about whether they would manage to make new friends and excited to be free to make their own decisions about their education. It was not an easy task to find their freedom, but they came out stronger and more confident in their own capabilities, in the end. It was not easy for us either, but it was an amazing experience to go through the ups and downs of this process together with them and separate from them. We are also extremely disappointed with the fact that the staff at the school no longer seem to uphold and respect the school’s original philosophy. They are very inflexible in their thinking and adopt a cult-like attitude in their words and actions. They misuse the Judicial Committee's purpose to serve their own agendas, disempowering the kids and creating an environment where our kids felt scared to make a mistake for fear they would be reprimanded. Here are a few examples of some very disappointing staff interactions we or our kids experienced: A) When a unilateral decision from the staff was questioned by the students, and they asked if they could write a motion for the School Meeting to protest, they were told they could try, but that they would not succeed, because the staff in question, who was talking to them, was the head of the decision committee and the motion would not be approved. When they asked again the following day if the staff could reconsider their decision, they were point blank disrespected ("How can someone become stupid in 24 hours?"). B) Again, when the students did write a motion and presented it to the School Meeting, on a matter as benign as asking for their one week absence for a family trip that had been planned a year before, be considered excused, the staff objected and told them they were traveling too much (having travelled twice before the time in question), therefore, their absences should not be excused! The students' defense statements were disregarded as not relevant and the staff ensured that the motion was denied. C) When we brought up our challenges and concerns about the way our kids reported feeling at school, we were gaslighted and shamed into thinking it was our fault for not supporting the school's philosophy wholeheartedly. We do believe the school has amazing potential, but until the staff decides to start listening to input from students and parents, go back to its original philosophy of respecting everyone and considering all to be free and equal, we see the school going down on a dangerous path of student disempowerment and disrespect. Our kids felt just that and decided to leave the school after one year.

Trelawney Grenfell-Muir

My two children, ages 4 and 6, started at SVS in September 2014. I put them in this school because 15 years ago, it transformed my brother from a miserable high school drop-out to a happy, confident honors college graduate. My children initially experienced great benefits from being at this school. At their old school, they did not get enough time outside, they were often forced to endure collective punishment (where the whole class is denied recess because of a few rowdy kids), and they always had to work on whatever the teacher directed. Thus, my oldest child went from absolutely LOVING math to deciding she didn't like math, because the teacher was always forcing her to do it when she wanted to be doing something else. Studies show that students who are taught math every year from first through sixth grade do no better, and sometimes worse, than students who receive one year of math education in sixth grade. At first, at SVS, my children thought they were free to learn what they chose to learn, and their innate love of learning resurfaced. Instead of having to force them to do homework at night, they voluntarily did hours and hours of homework every night. They don't think of it as homework. They taught themselves to read by writing letters to their cousins. They learned math by counting days on the calendar until holidays, or planning their allowance purchases. They came up with every imaginable kind of creative project - science projects about dinosaurs, gardening, outer space, the sea, wilderness skills; carpentry projects; elaborate physics projects with balls and swings and slides; Baking and cooking projects are teaching them fractions and chemistry; they asked for books about historical figures and ethical issues, write stories, act out plays, make up songs to sing and play on the piano - their desire to sit and watch TV was far lower than it had ever been. Also, they became much stronger - the six year old went to the park and competed in some informal races. She won every race, even against boys who were two years older than she. Today's children have far less "core strength" than is considered healthy, because they sit all day. My children are strong and healthy; they move their bodies all day, except when they choose to sit and become absorbed in some sort of project. Yes, some kids will go through phases when they just want to play video games. Then they usually realize there is much more to life. Some staff at SVS are caring, compassionate, and incredibly conscientious about the safety and well being of students. Other staff are manipulative, deceitful, and shame students terribly. Some students are also very caring and conscientious - they look out for each other with great empathy. Other students are terrible bullies. Sometimes the school protected my little ones from bullies. Other times, it did not protect my children from bullies, and my children became terribly stressed by the relentless bullying and the staff denial. We left the school due to the repeated inability of the school to protect my young children and their friends from several vicious older bullies. There are 50 years worth of data to back up the success of self-directed education. And there are many options available now for models of self-directed learning. SVS had a great idea, and it used to be fantastic. Unfortunately, it has changed quite a bit and lost sight of its vision. Thus, many families have left the school in recent years-- not because they do not understand self-directed learning, but because they do. But this school still works well for some kids. I recommend it to anyone who is savvy enough to avoid criticizing the staff or the judicial system of the school, because that will not go over well. But if your child can handle bullies without help or support, does not want any mentoring or much interaction with staff, or keeps to herself/himself and never needs much, s/he might have a great experience here.

Chicklassique !!

Went 4 a week. Not engaged at all.

Yolanda Delacruz

Very impressed with the philosophy of this school, with staff, and with overall Sudbury model. Mother of 9 and 11 year old who have been in this model school since the age of 4. Moved 1,000 miles up North to go to the founder school of this model in Massachusetts, and think this has been the best decision I've made so far. Too bad, there are people out there making such negative comments about the school out of anger, lack of knowledge or maybe as simple as not being able to trust their kids. Thanks for reading.