Admissions
CFL is a cooperative endeavour. Parents and students are not passive “consumers” but partners in the process of education and in the inquiry and exploration that is central to the activity of the school. The admission process attempts to communicate why the school exists, and to articulate the educational philosophy of the school as clearly as possible. We invite the prospective parents to question and to share their concerns. We hope that this process will clarify both to the staff and the parents whether there is a prospect of working together.
As we are a small school (our class strength ranges from 5 to 10), we can only offer spaces to very few students each year. We prefer to open up the younger classes for admission; we feel that, for a CFL education to be meaningful, it is good for children, parents and teachers to work together over several years.
With experience, we have found that children entering the school when they are older do find it difficult to settle into the very different, more open structures and dynamics at CFL. Space constraints also often dictate which classes we open up for admission.
Admissions to CFL are need blind; the ability to pay full fees is not a criterion for admission. We would like to support parents who are serious about a different kind of education.
There are many steps in our admission process. Parents visit the school anytime from mid June to late November to familiarize themselves with the school and its philosophy. During this visit they may pick up an admission form and some literature about the school.
Parents are invited for a two day meeting over a weekend usually in January. Since we receive more applications than we have room for, we regret that not all applicants will be called for the admission meeting. It is crucial that both parents attend this meeting.
The first day is spent in large-group meetings which include a presentation of the school’s educational approach, curriculum and some of the details of life on campus, followed by discussions. The second day is spent talking to individual parents. It is important to us that the parents are “discontented” with conventional schooling and are willing, in an critical way, to set off on a new journey of exploration.
The students are not tested or interviewed for admission. We do ascertain that the students do not have special needs that the school may not be in a position to support, and that the children are capable of dealing with the unique social and emotional demands of our semi-residential, informal environment.