Philosopher, educator, J. Krishnamurti (1895-1986) founded the school to provide an education designed to awaken self-reflective intelligence, along with academic excellence. Small classes, an international mix, lively student engagement, and a free yet responsible atmosphere, are the results of the founder’s radical vision.
Brockwood is co-educational, fully residential and GCSE free. The school, set in a Georgian manor house in Hampshire, has 65 students from over 20 countries, all aged 14 to 19 years. The younger students take a range of core subjects with a selection of ‘Brockwood Courses’ while the older students choose AS and A Levels from a varied list. The decision to stop offering GCSEs was taken by the school eight years ago, following concerns about examinations dominating the syllabus. There has been no difficulty in placing students in universities since.
The school gives neither grades nor prizes; comparison, competition, punishment and reward, are all avoided as means of motivating students. The emphasis for students is on taking responsibility for one’s own learning, discovering what one loves to do and reflecting on the nature of psychological conditioning as part of a rounded education. The school has the feel of a junior-university, with personalised student programmes that are negotiated at the start of each year, and without the formality of uniforms, bells and detentions.
Following breakfast, students and staff all help to clean toilets, corridors, dining and classrooms, as part of a school ethos that regards sharing domestic chores as an important life skill. The work extends to the organic kitchen-garden and parkland and importance is given to developing an appreciation of nature and an understanding of the pressing global environmental issues. The school is vegetarian and promotes a healthy lifestyle with an array of physical activities ranging from yoga and dance to football and climbing.
“The right kind of education does not merely prepare you to get a job or to climb the ladder of success, but it helps you to think and gives you space for your mind to grow, so that it is not bound by any belief, by any fear.”
J.Krishnamurti
For information and photographs please contact:
Bill Taylor (Co-Principal) or Vicki Lewin (Admissions Officer)
Brockwood Park School
Bramdean, Hants, SO24 0LQ
Telephone: 01962 771744
Email: [email protected]
Website : www.brockwood.org.uk
