Bruderhof schools
There are two schools which fit into this category, and both of them are in the south of England: one in East Sussex and one in Kent.
The Bruderhof Community is a network of Christian communities in which families live together and hold all their property in common. It traces its origins to the work of Eberhard Arnold, a German theologian who, disillusioned by the events of the First World War and its aftermath, searched for an alternative lifestyle to that of the older generation. He was very much influenced by his reading about religious socialist movements at the time of the Reformation, especially the Hutterites. In the 1920s he and his wife established a community in the Rhön mountains, and, in order to avoid his movement becoming a new sect, he established contact with Hutterite communities in North America and became an elder in the Hutterite Church. Persecution by the Nazis forced the community to leave Germany and re-establish itself in England, where it existed until the Second World War. However, the government policy of interning enemy aliens meant that the community might have been split up,and in order to avoid this, most of the community emigrated to Paraguay, though a small group stayed on at Wheathill, in Shropshire. During its time in Paraguay, relations with the Hutterite communities in North America became strained and the two groups went their separate ways. The Bruderhof community was re-established in England after the Second World War, and in 1974 the connection with the Hutterites was re-established. There are now two Bruderhof communities in England: the Darvell Community in Robertsbridge, East Sussex, and the Beech Grove Community, which is situated at Nonington, near Dover. They are well known for manufacturing wooden playthings for use by young children.
Both communities have schools to serve the children of the community, although they are willing to take pupils from outside. The schools, which follow a modified American curriculum, provide education from kindergarten to the age of 14, at which point the pupils transfer to local secondary schools. Once they have finished their studies, pupils are required to live elsewhere for three or four years before making a decision as to whether or not they wish to join the Bruderhof as adult members: according to the community, about 90% choose to return.
Eberhard Arnold
Eberhard Arnold was born July 26, 1883. Eberhard Arnold has gained a wide following beyond the Bruderhof who respect his teachings, while believing the community lifestyle is not necessary.
Emmy Arnold
Emmy Arnold was born in 1883 in Riva, Latvia, to a prominent family of academics. As an adult she turned her back on the middle-class milieu of her upbringing and married Eberhard Arnold, a revolutionary public speaker. In 1920 the couple left their Berlin home and founded a rural commune that still exists in the Bruderhof, and as a Christian communal movement in the USA, UK and Australia.
Bruderhof references
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