Leerhuis Brussels
Address:
F. Degreefstraat 5, 1030 Brussel, Belgium
Tel: +32 (0) 2 215 27 15
Email:Website: www.leerhuisbrussel.be
Name of contact person: Sandra Roobaert
Year founded: 2007
Number of students: 6
Age range of student: 4-13
Number of staff: 7
Type of funding: private
Leerhuis Brussel is a democratic school where all learning is self-initiated. Its concept is inspired by Sudbury Valley School, a democratic school founded in 1968 in Framingham, MA in the US.
Students aged between 4 and 18 years are free to choose their activities all day long. They decide what they will learn, when, where and with whom.
Classes are organised only on students’ request.
Age mixing is totally free.
The adults who work in the school are called staff members. Their main task is not to teach but to help and participate in the students’ activities when the need arises.
All decisions about the school and all school rules are made in a democratic process in which every member of the school community has one vote, regardless of age.
Conflicts and violations of school rules that cannot be solved in an informal way are treated by a Judicial Committee that operates twice a week and is composed of at least one student and one staff member.
Leerhuis Brussel’s fundamental premises are:
That people are curious by nature and will learn spontaneously if allowed to do so at their own pace and following their own interests.
That the most profound and lasting learning will take place if it is initiated and pursued by the learner.
That age-mixing among students and staff enhances growth and development in all members of the group.
That freedom is essential to develop personal responsibility in life.
That students have a right to participate in deciding how their school will be run and which rules there are.
Leerhuis Brussel today
Leerhuis Brussel is a small school : it started in February 2007 and now has 6 students aged between 4 and 13 years and 5 staff members. We are not recognised nor funded by any authority. This means that Leerhuis Brussel is a private school and that parents pay school fees. Students aged 6 and older are registered as being homeschooled in order to comply with Belgian law.
The school cannot deliver an official degree nor certificate. If students want to obtain the certificate of secondary education, they have to pass examinations before the ‘Centrale Examencommissie’ (Central Examination Board). The school provides all help they may need to succeed in this process.
Open to cultural diversity
Leerhuis Brussel wishes to be a reflection of Brussels’ cultural diversity. The school welcomes students speaking languages other than Dutch, which is considered the basic language of the school. The weekly School Meeting and the Judicial Committee operate in Dutch. Apart from that, all students are free to interact with eachother and with staff members in the language they choose.
A school for the 21st century
We live in a society of rapid change, unbridled technological development and immense challenges for the future of our planet. At Leerhuis Brussel, we think that a Sudbury-style education helps young people to develop the skills that are needed to lead a life of fulfillment in the 21st century, no matter which path they will choose to follow: problem-solving, creativity, communicative skills and the ability to make deliberate choices.