School choice

Bilingual / international or Democratic / Sudbury?

The difference between Bilingual / international and Democratic / Sudbury is mostly one axis: mixed ages. Bilingual / international sits toward classes of the same age; Democratic / Sudbury sits firmly toward mixed-age groups. They agree, more than most people expect, on who else is there, technology at school and a view of the world. Neither is the correct one. What follows is what each asks of a parent, and where the difference actually shows up on a Tuesday.

Bilingual / international

Teaching runs in two languages, often with a national curriculum on one side and another on the other, in a cohort assembled from several countries. For a family that has moved, may move again, or wants a heritage language kept alive at school rather than only at home, it resolves something no local school can. The academic programme is usually conventional and demanding; the language is the differentiator.

What it asks of you

  • Fees, and usually a commute
  • Accepting slower early progress in both languages before it compounds
  • A cohort that turns over as families relocate, and friendships that go with them
  • Supporting the weaker language at home, which lands on the parents

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
Side by side

Where they differ

Bilingual / international is the filled marker, Democratic / Sudbury the hollow one. Widest difference first.

E1Mixed ages
classes of the same agemixed-age groups

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bilingual / international sits toward early, and ambitiously; Democratic / Sudbury sits firmly toward when the child is ready, and late is fine.

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

Bilingual / international sits a little toward a fixed body of knowledge, set in advance; Democratic / Sudbury sits firmly toward it emerges from the children.

L3Measuring it
no grades, no testsgraded and tested regularly

Bilingual / international sits a little toward graded and tested regularly; Democratic / Sudbury sits firmly toward no grades, no tests.

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

Bilingual / international sits a little toward an authority who instructs; Democratic / Sudbury sits firmly toward a guide who steps back.

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

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

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

Bilingual / international sits a little toward school has to run without the parents; Democratic / Sudbury sits toward being in it, daily.

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

Bilingual / international sits firmly toward we can pay, and we can travel; Democratic / Sudbury sits toward we can pay, and we can travel.

Where they agree

Usually more than the argument between them suggests.

  • Who else is there. Both sit a little toward a community that shares our values matters most.
  • Technology at school. Both sit a little toward built in from the start.
  • A view of the world. Both sit between the two.

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