The Sudbury Model

For over 40 years, the Sudbury model of education has proven that trusting children’s innate drive and intelligence works. A number of schools around the world follow this model, which rests on a few basic principles:

• Children are born with an intense drive to understand and manage their environment.
• Learning happens all the time, in whatever we do.
• Children need lots of time to play and be outdoors.
• The best way for children to learn responsibility is for them to be given responsibility.
• Individuals should have a voice in decisions that affect their lives.
• Growing up in a mixed-age community gives children a beneficial blend of backgrounds and perspectives.

Like Sudbury schools around the world, Alpine Valley places great value on:

• Responsibility. By making decisions and respecting the rights of others, students come to see connections between actions and consequences, and they develop good judgment and character.
• Individuality. By learning in the manner most appropriate for them, students discover who they are and how to get what they want.
• Initiative. By initiating their own activities, with support from the school community, students figure out what needs to be done and then do it.
• Empowerment. By learning to speak up and take action, students improve their lives and surroundings, instead of being passive or getting frustrated.