Summerhill School

Summerhill School
Established	1921
Type	Independent Boarding School
Principal	Zoë Neill Readhead
Founder	A.S. Neill
Location	Westward Ho Leiston Suffolk
Ofsted number	yes
Staff	approx 10 teaching, 5 support
Students	78 students
Gender	Co-educational
Ages	5 to 18
Publication	The Orange Peel Magazine
Website	http://www.summerhillschool.co.uk
52°12′40″N 1°34′22″E / 52.211222°N 1.572639°E / 52.211222; 1.572639

Summerhill School is an independent British boarding school which was founded in 1921 by A.S. Neill (Alexander Sutherland Neill). He believed the school should fit the child, not the other way around.

Summerhill is run as a democratic community. Decisions are made in school meetings, which anyone, staff or pupil, may attend, and at which everyone has an equal vote. These meetings serve as both a legislative and judicial body. Summerhill is the oldest "children's democracy" in the world. It is probably the most famous alternative or 'free' school.

Members of the community are free to do as they please, so long as their actions do not cause any harm to others, according to Neill's principle "Freedom, not Licence". This extends to the freedom for pupils to choose which lessons, if any, they attend.

The school is not large. It varies 60–80 boys and girls with ages ranging from 5 to 17. The school is now owned by Zoë Readhead, the daughter of A.S. Neill.