Brookstone Academy, a registered, non-profit private school in Oro-Medonte, is gearing up to welcome children to its classrooms next month.
Shelly Long-Bokma, the owner and founder of the new facility, says the school offers an alternative that will allow kids that don’t thrive in larger classrooms to have somewhere else to go.
“The public school system is not created to be individualized as per each student’s need,” she explained.
“There are certain kids out there that just don’t thrive in that environment and they need the freedom to kind of explore their own interests and drive their own learning.”
Long-Bokma says she decided to make Brookstone Academy a non-profit because she believes there should be an option for children who need it and not just families who can afford it.
“We are trying to offer an alternative to the kids that need it at an affordable price, so it is a viable option for all families,” she said.
The base rate is $850 a month to attend Brookstone Academy, which is one of the lowest tuition fees for private schools in the area according to Long-Bokma.
“As soon as our feet are on the ground in the fall I will be going after funding and donations. The idea is that every time we can get funding or donations, we’ll be applying that to the tuition fees across the board and bringing them down for everybody,” Long-Bokma explained.
Brookstone Academy will kick off its inaugural year with 20 children; the plan is to expand to more locations as interest grows.
“Instead of having a big school, I think having a small school in a quiet and peaceful field is kind of nice. Growth for us would be adding another nice little location where we can continue the same kind of feel and strategies,” Long-Bokma said.
While the size and feel of Brookstone Academy will be different, the curriculum will also be different.
“It’s student interest-based with experiential learning. There are activity centres around the room where students have free range to go and interact with what’s going on at the centre,” Long-Bokma explained.
“The students are constantly moving, exploring, investigating, making connections, and they are really the drivers of their own learning.”
Long-Bokma says the curriculum is also project-based and cross-curricular; that way subjects are contently overlapping. The school will also be looking into joining a private school athletic league if there is enough interest.
“We are going to try to be outside as much as possible because we do have such a beautiful space, so there will be lots of opportunities for students to exercise,” she said.
When it comes to the COVID-19 pandemic, Long-Bokma says the school will be following all public health regulations on top of spending as much time as possible outside.
“Being outside all the time is hard for public schools because there are so many classes, but we can come and go as we please,” she said.
Allie Young was one of the first parents to sign her daughter up for Brookstone Academy; she will be attending Grade 3 this fall.
“We love the idea of her integrating with kids of various ages because the school goes up to Grade 8,” she said.
“We also love the idea that the school is child-led and that it’s smaller in terms of class size.”
Young says the curriculum excites her family.
“We like the idea that it’s a little more open-minded in terms of the curriculum for kids. And because it's child-led it allows the students to follow their passions, dreams, and goals,” she said.
Young says she has more confidence in her daughter’s safety with her attending a private school during the pandemic.
“It wasn’t a primary factor in our decision to send her to Brookstone, but it’s definitely something we considered,” she said.
“We aren’t the kind of people who were looking for a private school, and had the pandemic never happened it’s possible that we may have never looked at this as an option.”
Brookstone Academy is hosting a ribbon-cutting ceremony and open house tonight at 6 p.m. The school is located at 396 Warminster Sideroad in Oro-Medonte.
