School choice

Democratic / Sudbury or Faith-based?

The difference between Democratic / Sudbury and Faith-based is mostly one axis: where the curriculum comes from. Democratic / Sudbury sits firmly toward it emerges from the children; Faith-based sits toward a fixed body of knowledge, set in advance. They agree, more than most people expect, on technology at school and what the family can put in. Neither is the correct one. What follows is what each asks of a parent, and where the difference actually shows up on a Tuesday.

Democratic / Sudbury

The most thoroughgoing position available. There is no curriculum and no timetable; children do what they choose all day, and lessons happen when a child asks for one. The school is run by a meeting in which every child and every staff member has one equal vote, including on rules and on staffing. The claim is that motivation cannot be manufactured and that a child left to find their own will find it.

What it asks of you

  • Genuine nerve, sustained over years, with no reassuring milestones
  • Accepting your child may not read until nine, and being able to live with that
  • Explaining the choice to family, and eventually to admissions systems
  • Fees, since almost none of these are state-funded

Faith-based

Education inside an explicit religious frame, where the worldview is not confined to a lesson but runs through the day, the year and the community. For families who hold a faith this resolves something no other option does: the school is not neutral about what matters, and is not neutral in the same direction as the household. The cohort is usually more homogeneous, which is both the attraction and the cost.

What it asks of you

  • Accepting a narrower range of families than your area actually contains
  • Clarity about what happens if your own beliefs shift, or your child's do
  • Involvement in a community, which is usually part of the arrangement rather than optional
Side by side

Where they differ

Democratic / Sudbury is the filled marker, Faith-based the hollow one. Widest difference first.

L4Where the curriculum comes from
it emerges from the childrena fixed body of knowledge, set in advance

Democratic / Sudbury sits firmly toward it emerges from the children; Faith-based sits toward a fixed body of knowledge, set in advance.

E1Mixed ages
classes of the same agemixed-age groups

Democratic / Sudbury sits firmly toward mixed-age groups; Faith-based sits toward classes of the same age.

L1Who directs the day
the child chooses what to dotimetabled, and directed by adults

Democratic / Sudbury sits firmly toward the child chooses what to do; Faith-based sits toward timetabled, and directed by adults.

L5What a teacher is
a guide who steps backan authority who instructs

Democratic / Sudbury sits firmly toward a guide who steps back; Faith-based sits toward an authority who instructs.

L3Measuring it
no grades, no testsgraded and tested regularly

Democratic / Sudbury sits firmly toward no grades, no tests; Faith-based sits toward graded and tested regularly.

L2When formal academics start
when the child is ready, and late is fineearly, and ambitiously

Democratic / Sudbury sits firmly toward when the child is ready, and late is fine; Faith-based sits a little toward early, and ambitiously.

V1A view of the world
school should stay neutralschool should teach a view of the world

Democratic / Sudbury sits between the two; Faith-based sits firmly toward school should teach a view of the world.

V3What it is for
childhood is the pointit should set up university and a career

Democratic / Sudbury sits firmly toward childhood is the point; Faith-based sits between the two.

E2Outdoors and the body
learning happens at a tableoutdoors and hands-on is the point

Democratic / Sudbury sits toward outdoors and hands-on is the point; Faith-based sits toward learning happens at a table.

C2Money and distancewhat your life allows
free and local, or it is not an optionwe can pay, and we can travel

Democratic / Sudbury sits toward we can pay, and we can travel; Faith-based sits toward free and local, or it is not an option.

V2Who else is there
a broad, mixed intake matters mosta community that shares our values matters most

Democratic / Sudbury sits a little toward a community that shares our values matters most; Faith-based sits firmly toward a community that shares our values matters most.

Where they agree

Usually more than the argument between them suggests.

  • Technology at school. Both sit between the two.
  • What the family can put in. Both sit a little toward being in it, daily.

Neither of these is the correct one

Which fits depends on what you value and on what your week actually allows — and the second of those is the half nobody writes about. The questionnaire scores both.

See which one you are already doing