A small school offers a learning environment that is safe, respectful and trusting, where everyone knows each other well. A small school also allows for a flexible curriculum and an adaptable timetable, features that characterise the ways in which teachers and students work together. In a small school, parents, as well as financing and fundraising for the school, are also involved in its day-to-day operation and in long-term planning.
South Downs Small School relies on parents playing an active role in the establishment and ongoing development of the school. This includes advertising, financial management, curriculum planning, staff and student recruitment, and, when appropriate, teaching.
As an independent school, we do not want to rely on the state to dictate how our children are educated. It is therefore up to us, as parents, to make things happen. All parents hope for the best for their child's education: at South Downs Small School you have the opportunity to make that dream a reality.
South Downs Small School in Context
South Downs Small School exists to offer and promote diversity and choice to parents and their children. It does not exist to oppose whatever is happening in the state sector, but merely to offer an alternative way of schooling: learning on a human scale, learning that respects the individuality of the child, and learning that sustains their natural desire to learn. Also, South Downs Small School is inclusive on various levels: children of different ages learn and socialise together; members of the community are invited to contribute their skills and experience to the learning process; and teachers and students regard themselves as active participants in national and global democracy.
Whenever possible, South Downs Small School supports its immediate local community and economy, inviting local people to act as teachers and support staff, and buying goods and services from local enterprises. Also, as part of its commitment to sustainability, South Downs Small School hopes to eventually construct or move into premises built on sound environmental principles.
Our Aim and Our Objectives
The aim of South Downs Small School is to provide a learning environment in which relationships between children and adults are valued, and where learning is active and participatory, supporting children in making responsible choices about their own education.
To achieve this aim, the objectives of the school are to offer a holistic education giving due attention to each child’s intellectual, emotional, physical and spiritual development; to develop creative and practical skills whilst also pursuing academic goals; and to see all learning in the global perspectives of social justice and environmental sustainability.
The school will offer learning opportunities that are relevant to its students by catering to the variety of interests, abilities and learning styles in a group and within the individual child as they grow. We also encourage parents to be involved in their child’s education by inviting them to contribute to the school’s development.
Teach Local, Learn Global
As far possible, learning at South Downs Small School takes place through encounters with the real world, from studying the lines, shapes and angles in a learning space, to writing to world leaders about global issues. Learning is practical, too, from cooking the school lunch to fieldwork beyond the classroom.Learning will also have a range of dimensions, from, for example, local environmental initiatives to national and international issues.
Our Curriculum: Teachers following one step ahead
The ever-evolving curriculum at South Downs Small School addresses the intellectual, emotional, physical and spiritual aspects of each individual child. The curriculum includes the main subject disciplines found at GCSE level, but, in our small school, students have the scope to study beyond the requirements of an examination syllabus, including the search for holistic connections between apparently discrete subjects.Also, the curriculum has space and time to accommodate subjects and topics students want to study for their own personal interest and development.
The intellectual development of students is served by teaching that stimulates and challenges. All students, regardless of age, explore and are exposed to a wide range of knowledge and understanding, and their explorations are underpinned by critical and creative thinking. One distinctive method of teaching and learning at South Downs Small School is the setting of questions: by teachers of themselves, by teachers of students, by students of teachers, and, most importantly, by students of themselves. In this way, all members of our learning community will grow in knowledge and personal understanding.
The safe and supportive environment of the school allows staff and students opportunities to recognise, manage and, if appropriate, discuss their emotional responses to others and to situations. Our two-fold aim in all our relationships is non-aggressive communication leading to mutual understanding and acceptance.
The physical development of students is seen in broad terms, and includes physiology, nutrition, health, fitness and sport. Our “Bodyworks” programme is a clear example of holistic education, adopting an interdisciplinary approach to the study and use of the human body.
South Downs Small School is not founded on any specific religious or philosophical belief, but we do regard the spiritual development of young people as an important element in their growth. Faiths and ethical systems are studied, and each day begins and ends with Circle, incorporating a short period of silence for reflection or meditation. Above all, we try to cultivate a growing care and sensitivity towards the needs of others, and to the natural world.
Teaching and Learning: Children discovering themselves
At South Downs Small School, young people “discover themselves” in two senses.
Firstly, as natural and instinctive learners, students take a significant degree of responsibility for their own education. Indeed, they have taken a major step in this already by choosing South Downs Small School! Students taking responsibility for their own learning may include personal projects and the necessary research, but goes much further than this, and permeates all of our teaching and learning: our staff are “teachers”, not “trainers”, and this requires a shared, co-operative working relationship. In this, South Downs Small School is already ahead of both Ofsted, who are saying that “schools should do more to develop pupils’ initiative and independent learning” (English at the Crossroads”, June 2009), and the government, whose national policy stresses the need for students to develop independence and responsibility through personalised learning.
Secondly, South Downs Small School offers students a wide variety of situations and experiences through which they can explore and develop various aspects of their selves: intellectual, emotional, physical and spiritual. In the safe and supportive environment that a small school provides, students will be able to grow naturally, exercising a responsible freedom that helps them to become increasingly valued members of both their immediate community and the wider world.
Some classes take the form of brief, intensive skill sessions, while others take up a substantial part of a day for extended exploration of a topic; there are also more conventional lessons of an intermediate length. At various times, students may work individually, in age groups and in mixed age groups, as appropriate. For older students, GCSEs are available and they may also want to join portfolio groups, where they formulate their own programme of work leading to either a nationally recognised qualification or South Downs Small School’s own accreditation.
South Downs Small School will only offer a place to a student if they have a genuine desire to share in and explore our ways of teaching and learning. We are not a refuge from personal responsibility; nor are we a school where freedom means licence. As a small school, it is vital that students come with their own self-motivation and some degree of self-discipline: we are here to learn, in the widest possible sense of the word.
"Teachers open the door, but you must enter yourself" Chinese Proverb
