Welcome to Fairhaven, Maryland’s first Sudbury school.

Fairhaven students ages 5 through 19 are free to decide for themselves how to spend their days. All kinds of learning, all types of intelligence are valued here. Students grow up in a working democracy, entrusted with the responsibility for their own education. Fairhaven graduates see what to do and do it with confidence and integrity. At Fairhaven we prioritize people not test scores. This year Fairhaven celebrates a decade of educational freedom and democracy.

Fairhaven is most often referred to as a Sudbury school, but has also been described as an alternative school, a free school, or a progressive school, where child-led learning and different learning styles are respected. The emphasis on innovation and self-motivation at Fairhaven provides children with the best possible preparation for an ever-changing future in the Creativity Economy of the 21st century. Students of all kinds—intellectually advanced, shy, outgoing, ADD, playful, watchful, children who need to run and leap and do cartwheels, teenagers who need to slow down and de-stress or to care again—all students who are willing and able to be responsible for their own behavior are welcome at Fairhaven.