there's no homework nor is there a curriculum. Plans are underway to open a similar democratic school in Cork City by JJ O'Donoghue
From conception to opening its doors WCSS got going quite quickly, which Jessica says is a testament to the core group [...] who got the school up and running in around two years. Not all in the core group are parents, nor do they all have kids in the school, but what unites them all is a dedication to build the first democratic school in County Cork.
Jessica is at pains to say that they didn’t open in opposition to mainstream schooling, or to criticise it. She says that while main stream schooling works for some, it doesn’t for others.
“But I think for a lot of people they’re questioning what the curriculum aims to achieve - what are we educating for? Because the curriculum was essentially written twenty years ago and we live in a time of accelerated change.”