[2] It was based on the principles developed by A. S. Neill at Summerhill School, in turn deriving from those pioneered by Homer Lane in his Little Commonwealth.

Rowen House was funded by state education authorities looking for respite care for behaviourally disordered girls from usually socially deprived backgrounds.

Moreover, will learn self-control in an environment free of imposed control, where it is negotiated within a mutually supportive social community.

After this, he applied its principles in an inner city "special" school set up by the Local Education Authority for day pupils.

is the importance attached to personal autonomy, the aversion to systems of reward and punishment, hostility to coercive pedagogy and the fundamental and central belief in [shared responsibility].

Accordingly, Bryn Purdy and his wife bought a former orphanage in Belper to develop as an independent school to which various local authorities might refer children, specifically adolescent girls, who were finding it impossible to progress in more conventional educational settings.

As Purdy puts it "a teacher, through his or her headteacher, will bring the child to the attention of an educational psychologist, who may engage the help of a social worker.

"[5] The "Moot" was the morning meeting central to the school day, where each individual felt free to raise any issues that concerned it.