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Henry, grandson of A.S.Neill, has been part of the Summerhill School community for 41 years through many different capacities: student, teacher, international ambassador and Deputy Head. He specialises in children’s cognitive, emotional, social and physical wellbeing; establishment of safe, sincere and supportive living and learning environments; educational institution development and management; mentoring and training of education professionals; human resources and business management; parental support and consultancy. Henry has a remarkably broad understanding of the matters affecting children’s healthy development in a global context. He has been travelling the world, connecting with institutions, organisations and practitioners, helping people start their own projects and offering advice and assistance on ensuring a happy, healthy and fulfilled childhood through education and childrearing.

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Short Bio
Twins Nicolas and Jasmine:

Nicolas personally had a hard time in Primary school. Being an out of the box thinker, Nicolas felt like an outcast while interacting with both teachers and other students because of feeling not understood. It wasn’t until the age of 12, when Nicolas was able to transfer to a Charter Middle/High school, that things started to change. The School was founded by a Principal who was inspired to open the School after reading A.S. Neill’s Summerhill book many years before. It offered independent study with generally only one hour a week of required attendance. For the following six years, Nicolas had very kind and supportive teachers who treated everyone equally. Because of this, Nicolas was able to grow and expand unhindered, and through special school programs to enroll in college early at the age of 16.

As a child, Jasmine excelled with studies in school thanks to private tutors who found a way to offer entertaining education. At 9 years old Jasmine told their Mom (who was the daughter of a lawyer) that they no longer wanted to go to school because it’s boring and they are not learning anything new beyond what they already learn through private tutoring. Jasmine’s Mom said that they have to go to school because it is required by law. Soon after, Jasmine’s parents purchased a personal computer and Jasmine took a dive into the world of digital games finding new educational entertainment. Also Jasmine’s Aunt gave Jasmine A.S. Neill’s Summerhill book which became a beacon of light and gave hope that one day Jasmine would go to Summerhill.

Nicolas and Jasmine met through a mutual friend who also shared their interest in alternative education. They felt an instant connection as they both deeply care about the importance of childhood freedom as well as maintaining that lifelong childlike sense of fun so they continued their journey together. By utilizing multimedia, they created ecological and interactive educational events for all ages for their nonprofit project and also interviewed people from over 30 countries around the world after wanting to open a Summerhill-like school in Cape Town, South Africa. Their childhood dreams came true when they traveled to the UK and interviewed Zoe and Henry at the Summerhill School. They are now very excited to be a part of the Summerhill team.

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I live in Greece. I have studied business administration and have been interested in education all my adult life. I am a mother of four, ages 7 to 17 and one of my children attends Summerhill as all kinds of alternative education is fiercely suppressed in my country.
I was part of the organising team of EUDEC2018, EUDEC2021 and now EUDEC2022 and the Summerhill Festival of Childhood.
I passionately volunteer for this amazing event, I strongly support children’s rights and I hope every school in the world becomes as the one AS Neil dreamed of.

Μάρω Τζουμερκιώτη / Maro Tzoumerkioti

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Kata Molnar
I’m a Spanish language and civic studies teacher, a massage therapist, a tourist guide and a mother of three awesome kids.
Freedom and human rights have always been very important to me. Thanks to that my education had some bumpy turns. Although I’ve always loved learning, I’ve never been very keen on the institutions I attended. This made our family relocate to the UK when it was my children’s turn to attend school so we could enrol them at Summerhill School.
I joined the festival team at the very first moment to help make this fantastic gathering come true.
I thought I should mention that I love chocolate, especially the ones with marzipan. And don’t let me go hungry…

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Manu Siqueira
I’m a Brazilian anglophile mother of two unschooled boys, English tutor and Production Coordinator. Always multitasking and passionate about Education, I found at the Summerhill Festival of Childhood a way to unite my skills and talents to contribute towards the goal of changing education and building a better future. A.S Neill has always been a huge inspiration and learning more about his ideas was certainly a key reason to join. However, I feel like I got more than I expected. The festival has introduced me to inspiring people and brought to my life loving and kind friendships that will always be in my heart. It’s a real pleasure to be the Promotion Leader and part of the Overview Team.

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Giles Davis
IT Network, climber, climbing instructor & outdoors guy.

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