On behalf of the Schoolhouse Management Committee, I am delighted to confirm that we are going ahead with our planned conference to celebrate International Freedom in Education Day. The event will take place in Arbroath, Angus, over the weekend of 12th/13th/14th September 2008.

We are all especially delighted to announce that John Taylor Gatto has agreed to be our keynote speaker, with other speakers to be confirmed shortly.

A formal conference for individuals and public, private and voluntary sector representatives will run alongside a more family orientated gathering on the Friday, while an informal conference for families and interested individuals
will run throughout Saturday and on Sunday morning.

We will be teaming up with local charity Angus Arts (run by home educators) to put together an exciting and varied programme of activities. We also hope to secure assistance from members of the Arbroath Pageant
Society to cover the historical perspective.

Coincidentally, today (6 April) happens to be the 688th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration
of Arbroath.

"Given at Arbroath Abbey on the sixth day of April AD 1320, the Declaration
of Arbroath was seminal in its eloquent plea for the liberty of man. It
affirmed Scotland’s Nobles’ allegiance to Robert the Bruce as their king and
declared the right of the Scottish nation to self-determination. This
created a tradition in the Scottish understanding of rights which reached
its peak in the Scottish Enlightenment, and the philosophers of the
eighteenth century who set the tone for our modern understanding of human
rights. Many now see it as a precursor to the US Constitution and the UN
Declaration of Human Rights."
http://www.angusahead.com/VisitAngus/AboutAngus/History.asp

All who have already expressed an interest in attending the conference will be sent full details as soon as they are available. We would ask you to please bear with us a little longer while these are finalised as we have
only just received confirmation of the required top-up funding for this event and there is still some number crunching to do.

Please email media@schoolhouse.org.uk if you wish to be added to the mailing list for updates.

We look forward to welcoming home educators and all those with an interest
in education to this international celebration of diversity and freedom in
education.

Alison
for the Schoolhouse Management Committee