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Our academic program covers the BC curriculum and is taught by certified teachers. Our educators offer a student-centered approach with flexibility for students to pursue a higher level of academic challenge in any subject area, co-creating a plan that fits each student's abilities and interests. Our students are provided regular opportunities to further enrich their learning through self-directed projects and study time. Whether a student is passionate about STEM or social justice or both, this allows them to spend more time focusing on the areas where they have personal learning goals, or simply areas of study they enjoy.

Many schools are shifting to project-based and inquiry-based learning, which we fully embrace in our high school program, though we take it one step further by incorporating passion-based learning. This idea was implemented at Google in 2007 to give each employee the opportunity to dedicate a percentage of their work week to a project they came up with and that was deeply meaningful to them. Progressive schools around the world have started to adapt this idea of “learning based on one’s passions or interests” into their educational programs with phenomenal outcomes. As one passion-based educator described it: “The students become unstoppable.”

Being a teen can be really stressful! Mindfulness is a powerful way to handle stress, and live life more fully. By teaching our students simple mindfulness skills tailored to teenagers, our aim is to give them a tool to help them feel calmer when they’re stressed and more focused when they have to do something difficult or complicated.

When a teenager engages in the arts, they develop motivation and confidence, and they expand their creative and dynamic ways of thinking. As with our elementary school, we are dedicated to making the arts a regular part of our high school program.

Our school day starts at 9:30am, allowing students to arrive better rested. Researchers such as Dr. JoAnn Deak have proven that teens need on average nine hours of sleep, and that if we want high school students to retain what we have taught them that day, we need them to sleep well that night. Additionally, teens benefit most when they sleep according to their natural circadian rhythms, which means they naturally stay up later and need to sleep in later. The New York Times has published several studies showing that high schools with later start times see behaviour problems diminish and test scores rise.

Our school culture values initiative over compliance, even though it’s harder to measure. Our students feel comfortable – and even rewarded – by taking risks in learning. As Einstein said, “Failure is success in progress.” We respect our students’ opinions, and our educators make space to listen and observe, as well as teach and mentor.

We believe teenagers need to practice both being leaders and working collaboratively with others. We give students opportunities to motivate their peers, take initiative, and make plans and execute them, while also cultivating their teamwork skills so they learn to compete not against each other, but against the world’s most pressing problems. In the working world today, even the most high-powered CEOs are putting aside self-interests and collaborating with rival companies. It’s called “collective impact,” and it’s a growing trend that we foster in our classrooms every day.

Recent research conducted at Stanford University found that high school students who spend too much time on homework experience more stress, physical health problems, a lack of balance in their lives, tension with their parents, and alienation from society. Our homework philosophy is reflected in more and more schools across the US and Canada, suggesting that the best results for a high school student's ongoing academic success and positive mental health come from assigning no more than an hour of homework a night (and only if it’s meaningful work; no uninspiring busywork!), and no more than two to three nights a week.

Inspired by the success of our Monday-to-Thursday elementary school model, we are excited to bring the same schedule to our high school. We anticipate that our students will use their Fridays to pursue passion projects, bond with their classmates outside of school, for activities as a family, or just to have quiet time to be with themselves to lean into that vital teenage task of figuring out who they are. Teachers and students come back on Monday refreshed and focused.

We know that the classroom is only one environment for learning, and the world outside our doors is rich with educational opportunity. Our educators will help connect students with mentors and organizations outside the school to make their learning real. Students might attend performances and exhibits, intern or shadow professionals, launch an entrepreneurial venture, or perform community service. We will also invite community members into the school to teach about their areas of expertise. A common question that high school students ask is: “Does what I’m learning in this subject really matter in the outside world?” When students see their learning applied outside of the classroom, they answer that question with a big “yes,” which has a significant impact on knowledge retention and overall engagement in the classroom.