Saint Louis Sudbury School

📚 We are excited to read Peter Gray's new book, Restoring Childhood: How to Set Kids Free in the Age of Anxiety (available in mid September). ➡️ https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/784213/restoring-childhood-by-peter-gray/

🌳 “Restoring Childhood is the book this moment needs. Peter Gray makes an irrefutable case for letting children be children and lays out a clear path to make it happen. This book will forever change how you see your kids and how they see themselves.” — Jennifer Breheny Wallace, New York Times bestselling author of Never Enough and Mattering

🚲 Restoring Childhood is a radical examination of how certain societal trends—from round-the-clock news coverage, to increasing reliance on cars, to the introduction of Common Core, to growing wealth inequality—conspired to create a fundamentally anti-child environment. If we want to raise mentally healthy and resilient kids, Peter Gray argues, we must restore childhood to children. We must, individually and collectively, prioritize adult-free play, and the time for it—in our schools, in our neighborhoods, and as parents.

Saint Louis Sudbury School students are on summer break but that doesn't mean that the learning stops! 🦎 Sudbury students have been taking care of the school gecko (her name is Breakfast) and seeing her shed; navigating new transportation experiences on trips; babysitting; exploring bookstores and finding books about their favorite artists; meeting up with Sudbury friends; trying new foods; playing outside; crocheting; reviewing some possible new school policies with Sudbury staff; connecting with other Sudbury students around the country through the Sudbury Exchange Discord server; going to concerts; drawing; reading novels; and much more. 💙 Sudbury staff are also excited to meet with some of our teenage students in August to talk about their plans as they head towards graduation!

Our brains and hearts are full! ❤️ Saint Louis Sudbury School staff and volunteers participated in the 2026 Global Self-Directed Democratic School Conference in July at Tallgrass Sudbury School in La Grange, Illinois (near Chicago). The conference was a great opportunity for educators from Sudbury schools, Sudbury inspired schools, democratic schools, and Self-Directed Education centers to come together and share their knowledge and experiences. It was such a wonderful time of conversations, connecting, laughter, ideas, some tears, and inspiration. Saint Louis Sudbury School staff and volunteers are rejuvenated from connecting with our community and can't wait to share ideas with our students in September! 🌈

View our blog post featuring photos from the conference; information about the engaging sessions, discussions, organizations who participated; and highlights from a special presentation from author Peter Gray about the importance of Self-Directed Education. ➡️ https://stlsudbury.org/blog/2026/7/28/school-conference

Before the end of the school year, we celebrated summer birthdays! 🎉 Organizing parties at school requires a Sudbury student, staff, and/or volunteer to present the idea to School Meeting for discussion. If there is interest, students and staff decide what games or treats will be offered; who will bring the items; who will clean up; how much it will cost; what time food and drinks need to be at school and where they will be stored; who has allergies or food preferences; if anything needs to be cooked onsite; and much more. If these party planning items don’t get decided in advance, we generally do NOT have the party. So when we do end up having a celebration, it feels so good to have fun, problem solve, connect, and work together! 🥳

A Sudbury parent volunteer and students worked on designing, building, and decorating our new suggestions and kudos box! 🪚🎨😊 Students, staff, or volunteers can fill out a form highlighting ideas or hoorays for a particular person or school committee and put it in the box. Our very first note was about wanting to make cake from scratch at school! 🍰

Sudbury students shared what they found most memorable about their school year! One teenage student said that he really liked making cards for Sudbury community members who were going through hard life changes as well as celebrating birthdays. ❤️ He said that it was challenging to get started making the cards and that he felt good about finishing them. 😊 Making the cards and signing and writing in them were completely optional. We had so many thoughtful conversations about life and humans in these moments!

One of our favorite games to play at Sudbury is Catch Phrase! 🎉 It challenges people of all ages to describe the words or phrases they see on the screen without using the actual words. The person who guesses the words or phrases correctly gets to be the one who describes the next phrase.

Having students, staff, and volunteers of multiple generations and reading abilities makes this game even more amusing! 😂 Playing Catch Phrase together is a great example of how practicing and learning how to read, definitions, idioms, social interactions, history (i.e. “what is a cassette??”), getting to know each other, and much more can be fun and memorable.

We talked, we shared stories, we laughed, and we ate chocolate croissants! 😍 Summer break for Saint Louis Sudbury School staff and volunteers is a wonderful time to regroup, celebrate, and debrief on our very busy and successful school year!

✅ During a recent Sudbury staff and volunteer meeting at a local library, we talked about how it felt great to see the students eat all the food they made in cooking class and build something new in woodshop; how exciting it was to help students bring projects to fruition; how reading and math pops up in different ways throughout the day at Sudbury; how parents like our newsletters; how some students could use more support in job searches; how age mixing works; and how some of the structures and routines among a lot of choice at Sudbury help young people; and much more!

We are so grateful for the many adults at Sudbury who inspire us, bring energy to our community, and make this unique educational opportunity possible for St. Louis! 🥰

What do boundaries mean for you as an adult and how do you view them with young people? Are boundaries related to setting firm lines that are non-negotiables and limits in general or are they more about self-awareness and knowledge, an understanding of personal capacities, and being able to advocate for one’s needs? This is something we consider and explore at Saint Louis Sudbury School with our students and we love what author, Esther Jones, has written on this topic!

In her Substack article she says, “A child who feels deeply safe in relationship is immersed in boundaries. They are learning every day that other people have needs and limits. They are learning that their own feelings matter too, and they are discovering how to negotiate, repair, compromise and care for others, whilst also not losing sight of themselves.”

At Sudbury, we prioritize relationship building among students and staff and a school community culture that has respectful boundaries woven throughout our daily life. And having that sense of trust with boundaries at school makes all the other learning that happens much more enjoyable and memorable!

Read Esther Jones’s article here ✅ https://estherjones.substack.com/p/what-do-we-really-mean-when-we-talk

At Saint Louis Sudbury School, life is learning and learning is life. 🌎 We see and experience learning everywhere, all the time! Through self-chosen activities, active participation in our democratically run school, relationship building, responsibility and care for our school community, age mixing, and mentoring, Sudbury students develop knowledge and vital life skills that are strengthened by personal meaning and purpose. In a welcoming space, students come to know who they are, how to add value to those around them, what they want, and how to get there, all while fueling a lifelong appreciation for seeing life and uncertainty through a playful mindset. Can you imagine that this is what school can be?

Learn more about our school community, resources, the admissions process, how to donate, and much more! We accept admissions applications year round. ✅ https://stlsudbury.org/