Reboot Education with Self Directed Learning

We are building a new school.  After five years of self-directed, democratic school provision, we are building on our successes and entering the second growth and development phase of our project.  Our school has attracted families and self-directed students from around Ireland and Europe and has served as a learning hub for student teachers, university interns, educators and school founders.  Our current building and site has served us well over the past five years but with growing demand and increasing student numbers, we need more space.  We also need to develop our facilities and site so that we can continue to provide for a wide variety of students’ interests.  Our pioneering school is providing a much needed service in our area, putting Sligo on the map and raising awareness nationally for Self-Directed Education as a viable and future fit model of Education for all. 

Over the past 2 years we have been actively working towards our goal of growing our school and have succeeded in completing phase 1 of our project, including purchase of an additional 5 acres of land adjacent to the school and a small cottage. This was funded partly through gifts and donations from within our community and partly through securing a short-term loan.

We are getting ready to launch phase 2 of our project this month when the planning application will be submitted. Our goal is to begin construction in December 2023 with completion of project and handover scheduled for September 2024. 

Thank you for your support on our journey. By contributing to our school, you have become a part of this amazing community and help us ensure that every child has access to a unique educational model that fosters creativity, autonomy, and self-awareness.

We are now seeking additional sponsors to be part of this exciting development to make a difference and empower our children to become the change-makers of tomorrow. 

Being a self-directed learner and having the freedom to explore means that students can dedicate themselves to projects that are relevant to them, developing persistance, and learning through real life experience. Summer is a creative entrepreneur who wanted to combine her interests and have some fun in the process. Ethan is a musician, composer and performer who wanted to customise his bass guitar. Here are their accounts of their most recent projects. 

• I put in a proposal for a School market day so the Students could come together and create their own produce and have chance to sell it and feel what it was like to have a stall and interact with other people whilst selling their goods.  Summer

• I stripped all the parts off and sanded it to bare wood. Then I sprayed it with primer and sanded it again. Holes and cracks in the wood grain were filled before spraying it again with primer, and giving it a final coat of paint. The final piece was to solder back the electronics and restring it.  I feel amazing. It was a lot of work and I made loads of mistakes, but I learned a lot and it was worth it. I pretty much got a new guitar.  Ethan

Thank you for your continued generous support. You are helping to make democratic self-directed education available to more and more children, and inspiring others to trust in self-directed learning. The movement is growing. The 3rd Democratic Education Ireland Annual Conference was held in November this year. Trustees, founders, staff and students from all of the Irish Democratic Schools, and members from start-up groups from all around the country attended to share their experiences and strengthen the voice of democratic, self-directed learning in Ireland.