INSIDE/OUT: Another way to celebrate Fifteen Years

(As we continue our series of posts celebrating fifteen years as a school, here’s one from staff member and parent Beth Williams. Enjoy!)

insideout collageThis collage is from Fairhaven School’s recent participation in the worldwide Inside/Out project. Many students, staff, parents and alumni joined! Follow this link to see a gallery of photos from the remarkable collaboration. Below is the group action statement we provided to the project organizers to describe Fairhaven School:

Fairhaven School is celebrating its 15th Anniversary.  Every summer, our students, ages 4-19, count the days to come back to school instead of counting the days until school lets out!

• As Maryland’s first Sudbury school, we believe education can look different! Without tests, grades, or standardized curriculum, students pursue their own educational paths. Students also run the school, sharing equal votes under a democratic framework.

• We promote self-directed learning.

• We acknowledge that children need time and space to figure out who they are and what they want to become.

• We trust that they will do just that, with adult support but without unnecessary adult intervention.

• Graduates of Fairhaven School are succeeding in a wide variety of colleges and careers.

We want the world to know that education can successfully happen in a different paradigm.

Inspired by the Inside/Out project, we created our own collaborative artwork as a way to dedicate the new Circle Garden. After collecting from School Meeting members what single word best described Fairhaven School, we sifted flour stencils, creating our own impermanent word cloud.

fifteencirclewordsStill celebrating!

Beth Williams

December, 2013

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