Learn How to Set Up a School
If you dream of setting up your own school, to create something outside of the conventional, authoritarian education system, this is your chance to ask an expert who has been there and done it!
Following the success of our ‘Ask the Expert’ webinars for start-up part-time learning communities for home educated young people, Limitless podcast host, Alex O’Neill and Progressive Education founder, Jo Symes have teamed up again to launch a new webinar series. This time we’re focusing on full-time registered schools:
Wednesday 4th October
Lucy Stephens, founder of The New School, an independent non-fee paying democratic school in London.
The New School believes that democratic schooling promotes social justice and equity in education, and they are sharing their outcomes to create a wider conversation about education in the UK. They believe that education can, and should, be at the forefront of promoting social change.
Their founding principals include democratic governance, student voice, respectful relationships, authentic learning, inclusion and community.
Register here to meet Lucy Stephens and ask her your questions.
Wednesday 1st November
Maz Wilberforce and Tomlin Wilding, co-founders of the Hawthorn Small School in Hampshire.
They have just opened as a part-time home education hub, and plan to open a full-time alternative to mainstream primary and secondary schooling in September 2024.
Their mission is to create sustainable progressive, human scale education that nurtures and develops students; facilitating personalised learning as a foundation for lifelong learning.
Register here to meet Maz and Tomlin and ask them your questions.
Tuesday 5th December
Fran Wilby and Melissa Kendall, co-founders of the first Lumiar school in the UK.
Lumiar UK is a progressive primary school based on a working farm in Stowford, Wiltshire. The Lumiar education model was devised in Brazil 15 years ago by a group of pioneering educators. Their intention was to transform how and what children learn, to empower them to create the future, rather than just keep up with it. It is recognised by Unesco, Stanford University and Microsoft as one of the 12 most innovative education systems in the world.
After setting up the UK Lumiar school with Melissa, Fran took on the role of Head of International Implementation and Support at Lumiar International. She has also founded the education consultancy, Eames Educational Solutions, and now works full time at Rethinking Assessment
Since co-founding Lumiar, Melissa has gone on to set up Griffin Club, which is a child-led community education project for 10-14 year olds in Wiltshire.
Register here to meet Fran and Melissa and ask them your questions.
About the Webinars
The sessions will take an open Q&A format with a chance to create some next steps if you want to take your school start-up idea further. You will be provided with a worksheet in advance to take notes and a chance to share your thoughts and next steps at the end of the session (if you want to).
If you have questions for the speakers but can’t make the live events, you can sign up and send your questions to alex@limitlesscommunity.co.uk – they will get asked in the session and the recording will be sent to you afterwards.