Our centre

Every Learner meets with a staff mentor for 1:1 meetings to create learning goals, document completed projects, and discuss needs and project timelines. This time is set aside strictly for that Learner. Mentorship is a core piece of the Passages experience.

The staff Mentor’s role is to support and work alongside the Learners, engaging and challenging them and offering other learning opportunities.

Community Mentors, university placement students or parents also offer skills, support, and resources.

We know learning happens everywhere and is rich in meaning when it’s in context to one’s life.

We work with the Learners to identify their interests and learning goals, then, through a wide network of staff, volunteers, and practicum students we work to create the education they desire.

Programming at Passages is “opt-in,” meaning, nothing is mandatory/compulsory. This allows learners to use their time as they see fit, and explore opportunities at their pace. They are empowered to create their own learning path with support from staff.

Passages does not offer credits or an OSSD - although that doesn't impede attending post-secondary school.

We work with Learners to map out their big ideas, break them down into tangible steps and then create a path forwards . They take ownership of how they want to learn, and who they want as a part of their learning journey.

Reflection is always a part of the process. Plan, apply, reflect, adapt. And repeat.

A Learner’s time at Passages is documented during 1:1 Learner/Mentor meetings and their work is filed in an online portfolio. This is a curation of their self-directed work.

We are a democratic community using Sociocracy for decision-making. Passages is modeled after other self-directed, democratic schools such as: Sudbury Valley School, and Summerhill School.

Our weekly community meeting is a time to come together to share ideas and create change in the centre. Every voice is honoured and has an equal right to be heard, regardless of age, title or perceived popularity (fun fact, we don’t really have cliques or social rankings at the centre - something we’re proud of).

The youth-run, democratic meetings offer opportunities for collaborative thinking, advocacy and self-awareness, democracy in action and more. These meetings are where we, as a community, make all our decisions.

Age-mixing means youth aren’t separated into groupings based on age but rather they connect based on interest. Although young people do tend to group themselves naturally with people 1-2 years around their age, the opportunity for younger and older learners to interact freely allows for personal growth and learning. We recognize that rarely are people grouped into ages once they leave the mainstream model of education.

At Passages, older learners become natural mentors and offer guidance to younger people which in turn helps older learners develop empathy and compassion.

Within the dynamics of age-mixing at some point everyone is both a student and teacher.

It's amazing to witness the personal growth of everyone within these dynamics.

Learning is a community endeavour and everyone is encouraged to be involved.

Passages families are sent weekly newsletters and invited to a meeting twice a year with their child’s mentor. They are also offered times throughout the week to book 1:1 calls.

We also offer monthly Parent Zoom Calls, during which we pick a topic, hear a short presentation on it, and discuss it as a group.

Throughout the year, we host showcase events which is a time for learners to exhibit their projects.