In 1883 he joined the radical Fellowship of the New Life in England and decided to establish a school for boys based on socialist principles.

[1] He was influenced by fellow teacher Clement Charles Cotterill, polymath Patrick Geddes, the utopian socialists Edward Carpenter and John Ruskin.

[1] Other influences came from German naturist movement FKK and Walt Whitman who elevated 'the love of comrades' and 'guiltless affection between men' to the level of an ideal of social liberation.

Reddie lived with Carpenter from 1888 to 1889 who helped him found Abbotsholme School in Derbyshire in 1889 with the financial support of Robert Muirhead and William Cassels.

[5] Not only was there intensive study and personal supervision, there was also a programme of physical exercise, manual labour, recreation and arts.

Religious instruction was non-sectarian and covered other religions and philosophies such as Confucianism[1] He ran the first sex education course at a British school.

[6] Reddie believed that being close to nature was important and so the boys worked on the estate providing practical experience on raising animals and vegetables, haymaking, digging, wood-chopping and fencing.

[1] His personality clashes with strong-minded teachers caused the standards to fall because he started employing 'yes-men', and the numbers dropped to 30 in 1906.

[1] Although his fame diminished in England, Cecil Reddie was one of the founders of progressive education throughout the world especially in Europe, Japan and the United States.