[3] Started in the kitchen of a parent's house, the school quickly established its own philosophy, building on the progressive principles of Dartington.

This shortening came from the letters written by the school's other founding teacher,[4] David Gribble, to Sean and Sybilla in the spring and summer of 1987.

The school grew from its original size of 17, and within six months had moved to a large town house in Ashburton where it is still based today.

Since 1991 it has been at the forefront of IDEC, the worldwide international democratic education movement, and has partner schools in Israel, Japan, U.S.A and most European countries.

In 2011 the school hosted a combined IDEC and EUDEC conference over ten days with more than 500 people attending from around the world.