Small Alternative Schools

There are currently thirty three small alternative schools associated with Human Scale Education. These schools are all very different, reflecting the priorities of the people who have set them up. The common strands that they subscribe to are:

• parental involvement in setting up/running the school
• democratic principles in the running of the school
• environmentally sustainable values and practices
• mixed age learning
• cooperation rather than competition
• links with the whole community

The key characteristic that links them all is that they are small varying from 6 to 60 pupils.

All these schools emphasise the importance of the human scale. It makes possible the close relationships between teacher and learner that are fundamental to 'good learning'. By good learning the schools mean holistic learning encompassing the creative, emotional, moral, physical and intellectual potential of each child.

Because these schools are all alternative schools they stand, reluctantly, outside the state sector. Their founders feel that the educational values which led to the setting up of the schools in the first place would be compromised by inclusion in the state system which demands strict adherence to the National Curriculum, SATS and League Tables. Such schools would like to join the state sector if they were able to retain their own educational values. At present they are compelled to charge fees in order to survive. Any fees charged are kept as low as possible and in some cases schools receive payment in kind rather than money. Much energy has to be spent on fund raising.