What does "it's a liberal school" mean to you?

[happygardening]

Just that curious really by exactly what people mean by the term liberal school.
Is it no uniform and calling teachers by their first name or is there more to it than that. I take it it's not mixed dorms and sex on the croquet lawn.

my dc goes to 'a liberal school' which is also a highly selective school, so perhaps we are talking about the same school.
In terms of my dc's school, it means they leave the kids to their own devices as much as possible allowing them to make their own mistakes and learning from the consequences of these to act in a more mature way.
What this equates to is the minimum of school rules. The school opens early and kids can spend time in the morning unsupervised, I am not sure if this is the norm for most comps.
Another example is they might not apply the school uniform rules that stringently, so if you have your shirt hanging out or if you are not wearing a tie they will not give you a detention, they might not even say anything to you. If you are a girl and you roll your skirt up to your knickers, probably wouldnt get a comment. It is quite a good environment for a mature child who wants to be treated as an adult. Teachers treat the kids as grown ups.
If you have a child who benefits from a more disciplined environment then perhaps a liberal school may not be the right place.
In a lot of high performing comps, they have very stringent rules. A local high performing comp near me, makes the kids do a lot of exams early etc, but the liberal school does fewer gcses and all and only in year 11.
The end result of the liberal school is they try to create someone who thinks for themselves and is confident and self assured.
I am not certain but I think this comes through even within the teaching as a proportion of the lesson is discussion based, which can turn into a bit of a free for all.
Politically, more left wing as well, certainly in our case.

To me it would be one where the school operates on trust, so few rules but bad behaviour is definitely punished and as a result isn't repeated. I wouldn't necessarily say no uniform, but I would include calling teachers by their first names. Also an unpressurised environment, where the children are able to speak their minds and express themselves. Strong infulence of arts in the school.
My DN goes to what I would class as a liberal school. They don't push their students but still get excellent exam results. The students are allowed into town at lunchtimes and the teachers operate on trust - if that trust is broken then you lose the privilage to go into town. They also have no uniform and call teachers by first names. Music, art and drama are compulsory until the end of year 9 and all year 7's do thinking skills. Ideally I would love my DCs to be in a shool like this.

S

Also forgot to mention descusion based learning and guardian reading teachers!

I think liberal means different things to different people but overall I believe it is an environment that allows a lot of freedom. My son's school has no uniform - I wouldn't call that liberal. But it let's children dye their hair bright green, have Mohicans, piercings etc, and at break time, children have no boundaries as to where they can go within the school and what they can eat. Of course, if you don't practice music for a minimum length of time each day then they would chuck you out, so in that sense it's not liberal. Fwiw, about three pupils look a bit...different!

Can I just ask whether any of these liberal schools are state, or are they all fee-paying?

And if state are they in a city or a rural area?

Independent but government funded so feels like a state school. Based in a grotty city.

The one I know of is independent, although some state schools do have more liberal ethoses.

One that commits to a 'liberal arts' education. Is independent or state, selective or not. Generally is venerated by grateful parents regardless of kids' appearances. Always hell to get into.

Hmm, friend of mine went to a well known liberal boarding school in the 80s and it pretty much was mixed dorms and sex on the croquet lawn! And compulsory nudie mixed swimming up to the age of 13

Mal,that school wouldnt begin with a B would it....and no I dont mean Bryanston.

Their parents must have checked what sort of 'liberal' it was... as long as everyone's happy with what they bought! :)

In the 70s and 80s even very traditional boarding schools had laxer regulations, shall we say.

where all the teachers make their own shoes, knit their own jumpers, have beards and at least one dreamcatcher earing

propatria bingo.

Wonder what happens in a liberal boys school then! [ahock]

Mal-Well who would have guessed..lol..
Genug,my experience is exactly the opp,Trad schools are much more relaxed now than they were in the 70/80s

propatria - do you mean in manner or in what teachers/kids get away with?

colleger I would have thought that all self-identified liberal schools would be mixed, pretty much by definition. My first year at university consisted largely of me going at the stories of boarding school behaviour told to me by my new friends.

propatria to be fair, she got a first from Imperial and a PhD from Harvard so it worked for her, although most of her old school friends who used to visit us in halls at college seemed to have chosen "inept minor drug dealer" as their vehicle to fame and fortune.

I mean in relaxed atmosphere,formality,weekend clothes,trips to town,exeats,communication with the outside world ,etc etc
Mal.perfectly possible to do well there,but apart from the compulsory nude swimming(now voluntary I believe??) its the same school,only makes the Headlines for the wrong reasons,still you pays your money....

HG has said that Win is Liberal and I see no girls there!

Trips to town? Weekend clothes? Communication with the outside world? Dont all boarding schools allow this?

Even Eton has weekend clothes!

I think liberal means no hand-holding, no herding and no spoon-feeding, respecting of the individual.