MIAMI SUDBURY SCHOOL
A truly unique and powerful school experience
Doing school differently since 2018
alongside Sudbury model schools successfully empowering youth around the world for over half a century
OUR MISSION
STATEMENT
The Miami Sudbury School is a K-12 democracy where young people have human and civil rights.
We give the time and space for young people to learn who they are, what they like, and how to achieve their goals while working authentically within a mixed-age community based on respect, responsibility, and self-direction.
We are an absolutely unique place where ages 5-18 are encouraged to play and literally help run the show, where the driving force is personal growth instead of forced academics.
WE ARE
Miami's only K-12 with
No homework or testing
Students are not divided into grade levels and don't have to follow any kind of predetermined curriculum.
Learning by living & play
In mixed-age community learning happens in a natural, not forced way by self-chosen activity.
Success without stress
Students learn sooner than their peers what really matters and what's needed to succeed in college, business, and life.
WHAT IS A SUDBURY SCHOOL?
Sudbury schools are based on the model first applied in The Sudbury Valley school founded in 1968 in Massachusetts. They now operate in more than 20 countries and build on a 50-year history of success helping young people to learn through curiosity and community. They follow simple but powerful principles:
Trust children
and they learn to trust themselves
Give children choices
and they learn how to choose
Give children a voice
and they learn to speak for themselves
Treat children as capable people
and that is what they will become
Give children their time
and they learn how to use it
LATEST POSTS IN OUR BLOG
WHAT A
SCHOOL
DAY LOOKS
LIKE
At almost any time of day, you can walk into the room and find a free-flowing conversation, game, or project going on that anyone is welcome to join and that can cover almost any topic. Activities can change quickly throughout the day or students can get so involved that the activity can extend into the next day.
There are often meetings called by students to plan activities or to put together a budget request proposal. Learning through play while managing time, social interactions, meetings, and a direct democracy they have a valuable vote in are rare and precious features of a Sudbury school.
Since students can decide how to spend their time (constantly building their executive functioning muscles), it’s hard to generalize about what they do. Here are some common activities that might be observed: talking, reading, making art, playing games, playing sports, dancing, discussing, planning... and all the while learning.
When young people are allowed to follow their interests, they often surprise us all in what they become interested in. They may not even realize that by making choices of what to do all throughout their school day, their “typical day” is a robust preparation for the rest of their lives as confident, independent human beings capable of doing just about anything.
Reimagining Education
Miami Sudbury Co-Founder Christen Parker-Yarnal spoke at Miami's PechaKucha Night January 2022 on "Reimagining Education".
"PechaKucha" talks are like TED Talks condensed into 20 slides of 20 seconds each.
MEET THE STAFF
All of our Staff Members are experienced educators who have strong foundations in Sudbury model philosophy, child development, and youth empowerment
TESTIMONIALS
"I didn’t have a Sudbury education, but as an adult, I do what they’re doing here. As an adult, I’ve gone into two lucrative professions by teaching myself. I taught myself how to read and ended up becoming a head designer at a company that did touch screens for schools. I ended up going to Miami Dade schools and directing people with doctorates but I’m all self-taught. I’m now setting up a laboratory to do micropropogation for clean rooms for tissue culture of plants. All self-directed. At some point you realize you know what you want and then you find out the requirements.”
Dad of Miami Sudbury Student
"All the negativity at [public] school where they are all day and then at home with tutors and iReady... He was lacking things and was taking the rejections personally. He now comes home wanting to learn.”
Parent of an 8 year old Miami Sudbury Student
"He has a sense of belonging there. I can sense he feels safe. Thank you!”
Parent of 7 year old
I have enjoyed watching her grow, claim her voice, explore her interests, and make vital and substantive connections with other students and [staff].”
Parent of teenage student