La Rosa de los Vientos has just opened its doors for the first time this September in the north of Madrid (Spain), and it has been a wonderful challenge since! Creating a democratic culture can take some time; some people get the concept right away, and some others don’t get it at all… Freedom is often confused with lack of limits and responsibility; nothing further from the truth, as they’re two sides of the same coin. The School Meeting, formed by students and staff members, has been working diligently to adjust our rules and organization to the actual needs of the school, in order to better deal with our everyday life. The Judicial Committee (JC) has been key in this process of establishing a sense of safety and wellbeing at school, as it makes sure that anyone will be held accountable if they break any of the rules approved by the School Meeting. Also, both, students and adults, are in charge of running the JC, which helps students understand that this is their school and that power is shared among all School Meeting members. However, it is taking some time for a few of them to truly take ownership and stop feeling victimized. This seems to be more difficult when they were used to taking that type of role at their previous schools, where they didn’t really have a say in anything.
We have had a very eventful start and now we are left with quite a reduced group of students. One of the biggest challenges is having such a small group, not only because of the financial implications, but also because students have less opportunities to relate to different people and there is not so much diversity. On the other hand, we are bonding faster with one another, as we spend a lot of time with the same people and get to know each other in a short period of time. As they say, there is no recipe for success when it comes to founding a Sudbury school, though the circumstances could definitely be more favorable. But despite the fact that the situation is not ideal, we are doing our best to make it work, and so far it is going well!
The whole experience is being very positive and rewarding in general. We are very clear on our vision, and we trust our students to make one of the biggest decisions in life: do I want to be a free individual, and therefore, take full responsibility for myself? Some of them don’t, some of them are still struggling with it, and some of them are very clear about it and even try to explain it to their peers. Whatever the outcome, just the fact that we are providing a place where people can ask themselves that sort of question is transforming!
Hopefully La Rosa de los Vientos will inspire many other initiatives in Spain, and all over the world, that will contribute to having respectful learning environments for young people to grow healthy and reach their full potential in life.
Paula Quintana, founder of La Rosa de los Vientos
sudburymadrid.com