Imagine a School... Summerhill

So begins an extraordinary documentary about an exemplary school in England, in which the students, the staff and a few formidable barristers take on OFSTED (Office for Standards in Education) and Tony Blair's Labor Government to fight for its existence and the lifeblood of alternative education throughout the world. It was a fight that not only saved the prestigious institution, but proved the very educational principals on which the school was founded. In the process, some remarkable young people were given a chance to see how they had grown within Summerhill's unique democratic system and an up close lesson in modern government. 

Summerhill, the famous coed alternative boarding school, was threatened with closure by the British Labor Government because it refused to compromise its educational and social philosophy. Attendance in classes is voluntary, and children can play all day if they feel like it. The school runs as a free and completely democratic society. Rules are developed and adopted in weekly meetings, in which every member of the school community, from a five-year old child to the headmistress, has an equal vote. At Summerhill, the emotional development of children comes first, lessons second. 

Imagine a documentary... 

The filmmakers hand three camcorders, to be shared amongst the community, over to 11-year-old students with the instructions: here are the cameras - now shoot. At first the students don't even know how to work the equipment. Over time they are documenting their daily lives, capturing the life of Summerhill from an unfiltered and authentic child's point of view. Over the next six years, the filmmakers film and interview students, staff and alumni and chronicle the chain of circumstances that end in a most unexpected turn of events. 

The film follows a number of students from the ages of eleven to sixteen as they grow up and make important decisions about life and their education at the same time that they become involved in the legal and political fight to save their school. We watch them work and play and see them develop as they take on the increased responsibilities that come with age and experience in a self-governing community. The film follows the same children who sneak out of their dorms at night and dance to The Spice Girls at the end of term party as they go on to help run the democratic processes of their school, give a press conference at the Houses of Parliament and, finally and triumphantly, turn the high court into an unprecedented and historical Summerhill general meeting to decide whether or not to accept the terms of the British government.