◉About Kinokuni Children's Village

About our school

Kinokuni Children's Village, a co-educational boarding school, is the first alternative school authorised by Japanese MIXT (the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology). The first primary school was started in 1992, after eight years of hard preparation, by Shinichiro Hori and his company, who were inspired by the works of John Dewey, A.S.Neill (Summerhill School, England) and John Aitkenhead (Kilquhanity House School, Scotland).

The school emphasises children's learning by experiences and their intellectual, emotional and social development through working and living together with others.

How classes are formed

Unlike ordinary state school where every classroom has the same number of pupils, children are grouped not according to their age but their interests of activities such as building, cooking, farming, or acting.  Children choose their own class at the beginning of every school year.  Therefore, the number and age group of each class vary.  

We call this class of mixed age project whose activity occupies 50% of the timetable (30% in junior high school). 

Core of curriculum
Unlike the teacher and textbook centred curriculum of state school, ‘learning by doing’ in Dewey’s sense is the centre of our whole learning, not as an additional part to so-called the main subject-matter.  ‘Self-decision and free choice’, ‘respect for individuality’ and 'learning by doing’ are our basic principles and they should be fully esteemed and realised.  At the same time, they must be integrated.

Project is the most important form of learning in our school in which three principles above overlap each other.  Children decide and choose, and individuality and ‘learning by doing’ is fully esteemed and they learn by tackling the problems which they meet in their daily life.  Sometimes they work alone or in a small group, other time they work together.    

Project is not only the comprehensive study of subject-matters but the integration of emotional, intellectual and social developments.

Where we are

Today the school expanded to five Children`s Villages with eleven schools, all being run under the same philosophy and ideas:

- Kinokuni Children's Village Primary School, Junior High School, Senior High School (Hashimoto, Wakayama)

- Katsuyama Children's Village Primary School, Junior High School (Katsuyama, Fukui)

- Minami-Alps Children's Village Primary School, Junior High School (Miami-Alps, Yamanashi)

- Kita-Kyushu Children's Village Primary School, Junior High School (Kitakyushu, Fukuoka)

- Nagasaki Higashi-Sonogi Children’s Village Primary School, Junior High School (Higashisonogi, Nagasaki)

Visiting us

As we have a number of inquiries and visitors, each school sets the visitor’s day every week.  Please ask our offices for vacancies.  Alternatively, please make inquiry for an available day if you are a group visitor.

Contact 

If you know which school you would like to make contact, please make direct inquiry to the Children’s Village which has the school (click the name of the school above for its website).

For general inquiry, or if you are unsure where to ask, please contact Kinokuni Children’s Village which has the role of the central office for all Children’s Villages: 

address: 51 Hikotani, Hashimoto-shi, Wakayama 

phone: +81 (0)736 33 3370

fax: +81 (0)736 33 3043

Email: info@kinokuni.ac.jp