School Meeting is a central element of any democratic school. This is the mechanism through which students and staff can have their voices heard and make proposals about how they think the school should be run.

Research* suggests that the best way to create active, engaged and compassionate citizens is to listen to young people and include them in decision-making as they grow up.

Thinkers like John Stuart Mill have talked about democracy as a skill that must be learned, practiced and lived: “we do not learn to read or write, to ride or swim, by being merely told how to do it, but by doing it” and the same can be said for learning to be a democratic community member.

To have a truly democratic society where everyone is empowered and heard, we must learn democracy and the listening it requires from a young age by practicing it.

The school meeting, which gives everyone an equal vote and is structured to encourage discussion and listening, is a key institution within the school which facilitates that process

*Koliba, C. (2000) Democracy and Education: Schools and Communities Initiative Conceptual Framework and Preliminary Findings.

A key part of democratic education is that it is constantly being molded by and adapted to the community. This includes adapting the classes and activities that take place on a regular basis. In WDS, School Evolution Week (SEW) allows students and staff to collaboratively shape the activities and timetable that take place regularly in the school. This includes enabling students to hold or co-hold activities themselves.

Co-creating the timetable involves a proportional voting system, which gives students the chance to directly experience of the voting system used in elections in Ireland.

Brainstorming activities and discussions help to gauge what subjects, topics and skills students are interested in, so staff and students can better help each other work towards collective and individual learning goals.

The timetable can be adapted and iterated on throughout the year via school meeting proposals, but School Evolution Week serves as a grounding event at the start of the year to give everyone a chance to shape our shared routine from the outset and really see and feel that they have the power to shape their experience.

At Wicklow Democratic School, we often say we don’t have a fixed curriculum, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have structure or progression. Learning to Learn (LTL) is our evolving framework that helps students shape their own educational journeys with meaning, depth, and direction. It combines the freedom to choose and create your own learning path with a sense of shared structure, clear milestones, and growth over time. Because we’re a democratic community, this framework is co-created and continually improved by students, staff, and our network of parents, alumni, volunteers and other supporters, so it becomes richer and more responsive every month and every year.

At its heart, LTL focuses on five key areas of growth: 1) Connection and Psychological Safety, 2) Self-Awareness and Care, 3) Self-Authorship and Competence, 4) Compassionate Collaboration, and 5) Building Our Future. These five “keys” represent the areas each person needs to grow in to unlock their full potential. You can think of them as five beacons that light the way toward becoming one’s best self in learning, in relationships, and in life. Each beacon illuminates many possible paths, and students progress through them in their own unique ways, whether by completing challenges, creating projects, shifting mindsets, or helping others.

Each key includes a range of experiences and challenges, from simple acts like helping a new student settle in or learning to name emotions, to larger projects like designing a learning plan, teaching others a skill, or contributing to a community initiative. Some challenges are about helping yourself (for example, creating a self-regulation toolkit), others about receiving support (for example, identifying what you need from peers or mentors), and others about helping others or the wider community. Together, these form a holistic picture of personal and collective learning.

Within LTL, there’s also space for academic curiosity and traditional learning, from exploring textbooks and exam papers to project-based or inquiry-based approaches. Students are supported to find the mix that works best for them and to understand how they learn best. Whether a student is exploring self-care, improving their writing, running a discussion group, or building a science project, they’re engaging with the same core principles of curiosity, reflection, and growth. What matters most is not following one prescribed route but developing the habits, tools, and self-awareness to navigate many paths with confidence and purpose.

Ultimately, Learning to Learn is about more than school – it’s about life. It nurtures the capacity to connect deeply with others, care for oneself, stay curious, collaborate compassionately, and help build a better future. It gives students not just the freedom to learn, but the structure and guidance to turn that freedom into flourishing. In doing so, it reflects the kind of world we want to live in: one built not just on competition, but on care, creativity, courage, and community.

Find more information about Learning to Learn on this page

Many students who join WDS do so because of difficult educational journeys. They might be depressed, anxious or tired. Staff and students in formal or cultural leadership positions help to create an atmosphere of respect, kindness, consideration and playfulness.

From this atmosphere, students who join WDS can feel safety and belonging, which resets their nervous

system and allows them to remember and rekindle who they are and what they’re interested in. Seeing that their voice is encouraged and people care for them, they can start to get back into those things and try new things. They see they have the power to shape their experience and environment, so even if they don’t like some things, they don’t have to put up with them.

Learning and changing things can be bumpy roads, so all kinds of activities, conversations and class designs remind people to see failure as a learning point and to learn for the joy and intrinsic reward of it, rather than for external reasons. This, together with the c

are and curiosity people experience and see modelled all the time, allows them to nurture and tend the spark of wonder and curiosity in themselves.

Eventually, they help other people too, for example, with a thoughtful conversation or by holding a class. This does a lot for their self esteem and confidence, creating a virtuous cycle. This a gentle process that takes time, but then, often in a moment of difficulty (a ‘wobble-tunity’), there is a sudden blossoming.

Of course, many students who join WDS are not depressed or anxious. They often thrive straight away because they can hold classes on their interests; have interesting conversations in a culture focused on curiosity, compassion and understanding; and they can join a wide variety of projects and activities and contribute in a wide variety of ways. Learning is tailored to them, rather than forcing them to conform. Similarly, having the opportunity to contribute to and shape the school’s life awakens students’ agency, which is key to creating active and intrinsically motivated learners.

Democracy is all about communication, listening, and mapping everyone’s ideas and needs to find the best way to collectively and collaboratively problem solve.

Systems like the school meeting and check ins are like the pipes in this democratic plumbing system, through which ideas and needs flow. But, for those democratic systems to function well, we need to learn all kinds of skills in terms of how we listen, express, and see each other, and the mindsets we bring to this communication.

As such, learning soft skills and communication skills, as well as emotional regulation and self awareness, are crucial for a democratic school like WDS to maximise the incredible potential of a community that is based in partnership and consent.

Democratic schools vary in their approaches to conflict resolution. Whatever approach they take, students are involved and have opportunities to develop conflict resolution and communication skills.

In WDS, we have developed a non-punitive approach to navigating conflict and interpersonal issues. The Restorative Cafe (RC) allows students to practice constructive conflict resolution skills, based in Non-violent Communication (NVC) and restorative practices (RP), as well as many other communication and culture-building approaches we have studied and learned from over the years.

The focus is on responsibility through repair, learning and ownership, rather than punishment for its own sake. This allows for conflicts to transform into moments of growth and learning, rather than shame and anger.

The adaptable student-led approach of democratic education means democratic schools have built-in accommodations for any type of student. WDS isn’t a school for neurodivergent people, but neurodivergent students have consistently thrived at WDS, and the school attracts a large amount of neurodivergent students, who have often had quite negative education experiences up until that point.

We believe that this is partly because standardized education is standardized for the neurotypical brain. As such, it is neurodivergent brains who tend to suffer the most in a standardized system.

Because WDS continually listens, discusses and iterates to better learn and meet students’ needs, it offers a tailored system that continually evolves to become better and better at facilitating and enabling all kinds of people.

So often, we have seen students that have been labeled as troublemakers or slow learners become the most engaged, passionate, and compassionate people you could hope to meet – helping with classes, helping other students, helping to shape the culture and seeing their potential explode.

We hope that this realization that progress can go at different paces and that competence can take many forms, can spread and enable neurodivergent students all over Ireland to have these same transformative learning experiences.

Parents play an important role in the community of a democratic school. A synchronized approach between home and school is key in terms of modelling attitudes and communication. Parents also help run classes and activities and come in ad hoc to help students when they have relevant experience.

We are honored to work with our parents and this video shows some of their perspectives on WDS and reflections they’ve had about the impact of WDS on their children and families as a whole.

For more testimonials from parents, students and alumni, visit this page

A common question is about what students can do after gradating from a democratic school. Graduates of WDS have walked down all kinds of paths. We have graduates studying science, interior design, politics, business, computer programming, forensics, sound design, childcare, anthropology and much more, not to mention some who have started their own businesses.

In Ireland, democratic school students can access university without sitting standardised exams. Of the dozens of WDS graduates, almost all chose not to take the Leaving Cert. Instead, they accessed third level education through QQI courses, which allowed them to focus on subjects the were interested in, without the stress of preparing for a high-pressure exam.

The flexibility of democratic schools means alumni can stay connected to the community beyond graduation. In WDS, we are proud to develop a life-long community, committed to caring and democratic learning, with graduates frequently visiting to hold classes, mentor students, speak at open days and even serve on the board of the school.