Purpose: We discuss and preliminarily evaluate the SCA, a novel educational experiment that takes place in a Greek high school. Drawing on contemporary educational and political theory as well as the rich history of democratic ideas SCA has a twofold aim: to enable students to substantially participate in direct democratic decision-making procedures and to engage them along with their teachers in democratic school governance. Design/methodology/approach: SCA operates under conditions of democratic equality and mutual respect, since all students and teachers have one vote and the same speech rights, and its decisions are binding for the school community. The preliminary results that SCA has yielded so far, are based on the systematic observation of the SCA proceedings and on a structured self-report questionnaire for students. Findings: SCA promotes democratic school governance, improves the school's social climate, contributes to the development of certain democratic attitudes and skills, and helps students to become more responsible and public-spirited citizens.