Is it possible to open up your own school

Shoebox1926

Just out of pure curiosity is it possible to open up your own primary or secondary school? Particularly with a focus on an alternative style of education? Or for example, a school specifically for students who are victims of bullying?

If it is possible, what would the process be?

drunkmonkey

There's private secondary schools owned by individuals. Funding is your issue I'd assume.

Not sure why you'd want to go to to a school full of bully victims can't imagine it would be a great environment, there still would be bullying.

evolving_doors

Sure,
This lot have done it.
https://wicklowsudburyschool.com/
It's all privately funded though. Fees and donations etc.

Mardy Bum

evolving_doors wrote: »

Sure,
This lot have done it.
https://wicklowsudburyschool.com/
It's all privately funded though. Fees and donations etc.

That website is like a bingo card for educational woo.

byhookorbycrook

You won't get govt. funding in the initial stages, if at all. How would you pay for such a school?

dingding

Mardy Bum wrote: »

That website is like a bingo card for educational woo.

https://wicklowsudburyschool.com/our-school/our-staff/

Doesn't look like any of the staff are trained as teachers.

km79

dingding wrote: »

https://wicklowsudburyschool.com/our-school/our-staff/

Doesn't look like any of the staff are trained as teachers.

That's perfect for all the non teaching experts who often visit the forum.
No training needed .
Off ye go there now and report back to us next year

wexie

How does this work?

Is there not some legal requirement for children to attend a school with some form of curriculum?
What are the odds of attending a 'school' (is it really a school? maybe a club?) like this and then getting into any kind of further education?

I'm pretty confused I have to say?

EDIT : just had a read over their legal FAQ....sounds a bit wishy washy of you ask me.
I certainly think there's room for improvement in the education system here....but....
Just not sure I'd consider this to be an improvement really

Shoebox1926

Thanks for the link Evolving doors, that looks interesting. Looks like its based on the philosophy of John Dewey and pragmatism - its proven to be a very effective way of educating adults and children.

Ive just noticed that none of teachers are trained, one of them is a 'blogger and a parent', are there no regulations at all to setting up your own school?

km79

" Bernard completed an undergraduate degree in Journalism in Griffith College and a Masters in Equality Studies from UCD. They have worked in a public school in Spain as a teacher’s assistant and as the arts program coordinator for Clare Language Center, running activities like graffiti, video editing and comic making with young people from mainland Europe. They’re interested in social justice issues and creating a fairer, more democratic and caring society."
That's from the website. It's a bio of ONE of the teachers.

Clearly the English language is not a priority in this school.........

Out of interest where would students go once their education in this school ceases ?????

gozunda

drunkmonkey wrote: »

There's private secondary schools owned by individuals. Funding is your issue I'd assume.

Not sure why you'd want to go to to a school full of bully victims can't imagine it would be a great environment, there still would be bullying.

What an odd comment. Imo most students who were bullied would be delighted to get from bullying behaviour to a place where bullying is not tolerated. Remove the bullies and those students have a chance to do well and enjoy school for a change ...

drunkmonkey

gozunda wrote: »

What an odd comment. Imo most students who were bullied would be delighted to get from bullying behaviour to a place where bullying is not tolerated. Remove the bullies and those students have a chance to do well and enjoy school for a change ...

Where is bullying tolerated, no matter what way you play it your going to end up in animal farm, deal with the bullies in the current school not create a school of bullying victims.

evolving_doors

Id reserve judgement for another few decades. Established school isn't for everyone anyway. Shur we know that with the insanity of everyone and anyone feeling that they must send little Johnny to college to do a degree, even if they do drop out in 1st year.
Would I send my own kids to an 'alternative' school? maybe, if I were very financially secure and living off the land or family business with good network contacts etc... Like those Happy Pear dudes.

gozunda

drunkmonkey wrote: »

Where is bullying tolerated, no matter what way you play it your going to end up in animal farm, deal with the bullies in the current school not create a school of bullying victims.

Unfortunately bullies and their behaviour are rarely dealt with. And a lot of children who are bullied end up moving schools to get away from bullying type behaviour. Time that type of behaviour is properly dealt with imo and not just dismissed or ignored which is so often the case.

For those who have experienced bullying, a school with a positive anti bullying ethos and supports could work well. Your 'animal farm' sounds very like the typical 'sure nobody can do anything about it' type attitude. Well there's someone with a proposal which may work well. Why so immediately dismissive of the idea?

nice_guy80

great to see other forms of schools being established

the greater variety the better imho

Shoebox1926

nice_guy80 wrote: »

great to see other forms of schools being established

the greater variety the better imho

Completely agree but I think its important the teachers are trained to teach, the kids still need to effectively learn things.

beertons

That wicklow school is registered as a charity too.

drunkmonkey

I would have assumed all schools wouldn't tolerate bullying when brought to their attention, it's a long time since I was in school but I remember a group of bullies being arrested but that was proper physical bullying. I assume your referring to feelings.

Just on animal farm my point was what ever the environment your going to have people bullying you in someway if you let them, when they leave school and enter the work place or even play with other kids after school they might and probably will experience bullying and need to be able to deal with that not run from it.
The fat kid still won't be picked first if you nominate 2 captains to pick 2 teams for a game of ball, what would this school do make the fat kid captain, the fit guys won't be happy about being on their team as he'll still be the weakest link. When is comes to emotional bullying there's usually a stand out reason probably physical when we're referring to kids which can't really be changed if it's age related like spots, puberty, crossed eyes, stutter etc we can't just ship all those kids off to the one school and expect them suddenly to not notice each others differences.
It's running from the problem which we shouldn't be encouraging in kids. Suppose we have a different take on it your from the run and hide school of thought while I'm from the stand up and fight school.

That school in Wicklow doesn't in any way appear to be for victims it seems more for the kids of artists, free thinkers, hippy kind of kids, not somewhere i'd send my kids as I'd be a little concerned about the academic value but I like the idea and have no doubt some of these kids will become very talented people. Ordinary school looks very regemintal, dress the same, look the same, think the same, it's not the best environment for kids either. There's a happy medium somewhere.

gozunda

drunkmonkey wrote: »

I would have assumed all schools wouldn't tolerate bullying when brought to their attention, it's a long time since I was in school but I remember a group of bullies being arrested but that was proper physical bullying. I assume your referring to feelings.

Just on animal farm my point was what ever the environment your going to have people bullying you in someway if you let them, when they leave school and enter the work place or even play with other kids after school they might and probably will experience bullying and need to be able to deal with that not run from it.
The fat kid still won't be picked first if you nominate 2 captains to pick 2 teams for a game of ball, what would this school do make the fat kid captain, the fit guys won't be happy about being on their team as he'll still be the weakest link. When is comes to emotional bullying there's usually a stand out reason probably physical when we're referring to kids which can't really be changed if it's age related like spots, puberty, crossed eyes, stutter etc we can't just ship all those kids off to the one school and expect them suddenly to not notice each others differences.
It's running from the problem which we shouldn't be encouraging in kids. Suppose we have a different take on it your from the run and hide school of thought while I'm from the stand up and fight school.

That school in Wicklow doesn't in any way appear to be for victims it seems more for the kids of artists, free thinkers, hippy kind of kids, not somewhere i'd send my kids as I'd be a little concerned about the academic value but I like the idea and have no doubt some of these kids will become very talented people. Ordinary school looks very regemintal, dress the same, look the same, think the same, it's not the best environment for kids either. There's a happy medium somewhere.

And thats the point - bullies are 'let' bully by others. Animal type behaviour is no reason to excuse it on the grounds of 'sure it's going to happen anyway'

I am referring to very real effects of pyschological bullying that can destroy someones life. It frequently has elements of fighting, harassment and yes even physical intimidation and assault and no It is 'not just 'feelings'...

You stated earlier that:

drunkmonkey wrote: »

...
Not sure why you'd want to go to to a school full of bully victims can't imagine it would be a great environment, there still would be bullying.

Well Chxst it couldn't have any worse environment than in that which they were bullied as opposed to a school set up specifically to deal with the effects of bullying!

I disagree that everyone us a potential bully. In my experience those who regularly bully have serious behavioural issues which unfortunately are often ignored or not dealt with.

Many students who are bullied have to leave school because of the very real mental and physical effects of bullying with suicide being a very real danger for those affected. This relates to the exact same rule which applies to poor workplaces and toxic relationships - get out and don't waste time or energy on trying to fix others people's behaviour. That job is for those responsible.

Ya in a perfect world maybe we should all get all on fine or beat the crap out of bullies to teach them a lesson. But that and half meaningless and often non applied anti bully policies are less than useless at the individual level for the student who is being bullied...

Personally I think the OPs idea in principle is a good one and potentially something that could work with the right setup

drunkmonkey

There being bullied for different reasons, spotty John might still pick on fat Freddy. I don't think putting them all together solves anything that couldn't be fixed in an ordinary school.
In principle it's a nice idea much like the beach and we all know what happened in paradise.

gozunda

drunkmonkey wrote: »

There being bullied for different reasons, spotty John might still pick on fat Freddy. I don't think putting them all together solves anything that couldn't be fixed in an ordinary school.
In principle it's a nice idea much like the beach and we all know what happened in paradise.

I get the impression you don't really understand what bullying is or the effects it can have on a person. As I said I disagree that everyone is a potential bully. In my experience those who regularly bully have serious behavioural issues which unfortunately are often ignored or not dealt with.

Unfortunately believing bullying is just "feelings' is part of the larger issue. So I reckon any further discussion is going to be pointless...

endacl

dingding wrote: »

https://wicklowsudburyschool.com/our-school/our-staff/

Doesn't look like any of the staff are trained as teachers.

What could go wrong...

Saint_Mel

This is great ...

Even though her two sons (12 & 8) are having a good experience in their Educate Together Primary School, Sonja believes children are well capable to design and follow their own learning path.

So is she saying her kids aren't capable to design and follow their own learning path, or that they are but prefer to be in a different school ... or does she not believe in her own school.

Jogathon

km79 wrote: »

" Bernard completed an undergraduate degree in Journalism in Griffith College and a Masters in Equality Studies from UCD. They have worked in a public school in Spain as a teacher’s assistant and as the arts program coordinator for Clare Language Center, running activities like graffiti, video editing and comic making with young people from mainland Europe. They’re interested in social justice issues and creating a fairer, more democratic and caring society."
That's from the website. It's a bio of ONE of the teachers.

Clearly the English language is not a priority in this school.........

Out of interest where would students go once their education in this school ceases ?????

I saw this, and wondered if he self-identified as they? Or else they just have no writing skills!

evolving_doors

I think the outcomes from other UK Sudburys would yield more answers than looking at a new Irish Sudbury school.

There's another initiative called the Think Global School... again though, just for kids of wealthy parents.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyQXxUwb3yE

drunkmonkey

gozunda wrote: »

I get the impression you don't really understand what bullying is or the effects it can have on a person. As I said I disagree that everyone is a potential bully. In my experience those who regularly bully have serious behavioural issues which unfortunately are often ignored or not dealt with.

Unfortunately believing bullying is just "feelings' is part of the larger issue. So I reckon any further discussion is going to be pointless...

I do understand I know someone who suffered badly from it and was never the better from it, he got it from all sides students and teachers the principal even beat the crap out of him one day as he knew his parents wouldn't do anything, he doesn't have behaviour issues or never did, his spirit is broken to this day though you can see it in him.

Things were different back then though it was ok to hit kids we even had a class nurse at one stage as one particular teacher either beat us or got us to beat each other and rather than us come back into class we had to go out to one of the lads to nurse us, looking back it was plain nuts.
Its funny looking back and we can all laugh about it, feelings weren't a thing back then it just toughened you up.
I think the leather was banned just as we were leaving the Christian brothers primary school we were the last class of it as far as I remember.

We do put too much weight on feelings these days, we were brought up with the sticks and stones will break our bones but names will never hurt us attitude which I think is true. Everyone is offended or feeling victimised way to much it's rampant through Irish society right now.
We can't start segregating minority kids they need to learn to adapt and overcome with the support of parents and teachers. Today's teachers are nothing like the ones that went before, I'd be confident any of my teacher friends wouldn't leave a kid to suffer if they were aware it was happening.