Pupils gain a real sense of achievement from managing their own lives and therefore their self esteem and confidence grows at Summerhill. Noncompulsory lessons ensure that children are motivated to learn for their own reasons and they progress at their own speed. Summerhill provides quality environments, opportunities and support for both formal and informal learning and then allows each child to control their personal learning choices, styles and progress. At Summerhill good progress is defined as a personally chosen developmental narrative that is not obstructed by issues that prevent free choice of action.