School choice

Democratic / Sudbury or Academically selective?

The difference between Democratic / Sudbury and Academically selective is mostly one axis: measuring it. Democratic / Sudbury sits firmly toward no grades, no tests; Academically selective sits firmly toward graded and tested regularly. They agree, more than most people expect, on 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.

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

Academically selective

A demanding academic programme with an entrance examination, a cohort selected for ability and for the families willing to prepare for it, and university as the explicit aim throughout. The teaching is usually excellent, the peer effects are real, and the measured advantage shrinks dramatically once you account for who was admitted in the first place.

What it asks of you

  • Preparation for entry, which for most families means tutoring and a year of it
  • A child who can carry sustained academic pressure, which not all can and few can predict
  • Fees or a move, and often both
  • Being clear-eyed that you are buying a cohort as much as a school
Side by side

Where they differ

Democratic / Sudbury is the filled marker, Academically selective the hollow one. Widest difference first.

L3Measuring it
no grades, no testsgraded and tested regularly

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

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; Academically selective sits firmly toward timetabled, and directed by adults.

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

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

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; Academically selective sits firmly toward early, and ambitiously.

E1Mixed ages
classes of the same agemixed-age groups

Democratic / Sudbury sits firmly toward mixed-age groups; Academically selective 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; Academically selective sits toward a fixed body of knowledge, set in advance.

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

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

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; Academically selective sits toward learning happens at a table.

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; Academically selective sits 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 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