The house in Lyme Regis was called Summerhill, and this became the name of the school. Due to the hostility of the local people, it moved again in 1923 to Lyme Regis in England.

Neill was soon dissatisfied with Neue Schule's ethos, and moved his sector of the organisation to Sonntagberg in Austria. Jonathan Croall wrote, 'This, in essence, was the beginning of Summerhill' although the name Summerhill itself came later. Neill's sector was called the 'foreign' school (in contrast to the Thiess's 'German School'). By combining with two other projects, the Neue Deutsche Schule (New German School), founded by Carl Thiess the previous year and an existing school with many international students dedicated to the teaching of Eurhythmics, a joint venture named the International School or Neue Schule Hellerau was launched. On a trip to Europe, which started out as a research visit into progressive schools on behalf of the Theosophical journal New Era, he found the ideal accommodation in Hellerau near Dresden, a village founded on principles based on the Garden City movement in England.

Neill started to search for premises in which to found a new school which he could run according to his educational principle of giving freedom to the children and staff through democratic governance. It is an example of both democratic education and alternative education. Members of the community are free to do as they please, so long as their actions do not cause any harm to others, according to Neill's principle 'Freedom, not Licence.' This extends to the freedom for pupils to choose which lessons, if any, they attend. These meetings serve as both a legislative and judicial body. It is run as a democratic community the running of the school is conducted in the school meetings, which anyone, staff or pupil, may attend, and at which everyone has an equal vote. It was founded in 1921 by Alexander Sutherland Neill with the belief that the school should be made to fit the child, rather than the other way around. fee-charging) boarding school in Leiston, Suffolk, England.

Summerhill School is an independent (i.e.

Alexander sutherland neill summerhill