School choice

Democratic / Sudbury or Mainstream state?

The difference between Democratic / Sudbury and Mainstream state is mostly one axis: mixed ages. Democratic / Sudbury sits firmly toward mixed-age groups; Mainstream state sits firmly toward classes of the same age. They agree, more than most people expect, on technology at school. 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

Mainstream state

A national curriculum, same-age classes, regular assessment, and an intake drawn from whoever lives nearby. It is the default rather than a philosophy, which is exactly why it belongs on this list: choosing it deliberately is a different act from ending up in it. The mixed intake is a real feature and, for many families, the main argument in its favour.

What it asks of you

  • Accepting that you get the school you get, and that teaching quality varies inside it
  • Being willing to supplement at home where the school is thin
  • Sometimes, moving house — which is how selection works in a system without fees
Side by side

Where they differ

Democratic / Sudbury is the filled marker, Mainstream state the hollow one. Widest difference first.

E1Mixed ages
classes of the same agemixed-age groups

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

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; Mainstream state sits toward a fixed body of knowledge, set in advance.

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; Mainstream state sits toward timetabled, and directed by adults.

L3Measuring it
no grades, no testsgraded and tested regularly

Democratic / Sudbury sits firmly toward no grades, no tests; Mainstream state sits toward graded and tested regularly.

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

Democratic / Sudbury sits firmly toward a guide who steps back; Mainstream state sits toward an authority who instructs.

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; Mainstream state sits firmly toward free and local, or it is not an option.

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; Mainstream state sits a little toward early, and ambitiously.

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

Democratic / Sudbury sits firmly toward childhood is the point; Mainstream state sits a little toward it should set up university and a career.

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; Mainstream state sits toward a broad, mixed intake matters most.

C1What the family can put inwhat your life allows
school has to run without the parentsbeing in it, daily

Democratic / Sudbury sits toward being in it, daily; Mainstream state sits toward school has to run without the parents.

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; Mainstream state sits a little toward learning happens at a table.

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

Democratic / Sudbury sits between the two; Mainstream state sits toward school should stay neutral.

Where they agree

Usually more than the argument between them suggests.

  • Technology at school. Both sit a little toward built in from the start.

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