Kilquhanity School was one of several free schools to have been established in the United Kingdom in the twentieth century. Others include Sands School in Devon, Summerhill in Suffolk and Kirkdale School in London.
The school was founded by John Aitkenhead (1910-1998) [1] [2] and his wife Morag in 1940. It was closed in 1997. It was located near Castle Douglas in Dumfries and Galloway. The school was reopened in 2009 by head teacher and former pupil Andrew Pyle, with the assistance of a Japanese educational organisation Kinokuni Children's Village Schools (headed by Shinichiro Hori). Initially, the school is to have 15 places.
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The philosophy of Kilquhanity was heavily influenced by the writing and ideas of A. S. Neill, who founded Summerhill School, where Aitkenhead had worked [1]; essentially that children learn best with freedom from coercion ("free-range").