PARENTS & STUDENTS
Frequently Asked
Questions
Looking For More Information?
Below are a number of frequently asked questions by parents looking at registering for The FUEL Academy for their child.
If you can’t find the answer you are looking for here, don’t hesitate to reach out and ask!
Attending The FUEL Academy
Each day that your child attends the academy is a full day, starting at 9am and ending at 2:30pm. There is a 15min window at the start and end of the day for drop off and pick up from the Academy.
The Academy will close at 2:30pm with a 15min window for you to pick up your child. However, there are a number of activities close by that your child is able to attend such as Code Ninjas, located in the same build as The FUEL Academy, The Hive Rock Climbing next door, Jungle Jac’s Play Centre, as well as Dance and acting programs.
We have a small kitchen where we encourage students to learn how to prepare their own, simple meals. There is a fridge, toaster over, microwave and hotplate for them to use each day. There are also a number of food options surrounding the Academy as well.
You are welcome to have your child only attend half of a day, however, we encourage full day participation so they have ample time to dive deep into their projects and have team meetings with the rest of the students.
Whether a child is there half a day or full day, the price for tuition is the same.
At the moment, The FUEL Academy is for ages 6 – 12 years. Each year that goes by, this age will increase to accommodate our students getting older.
The maximum number of students we will have on campus at one time is 35 students.
Students of all ages are in the same class and work together on team projects, as well as individually.
When students work in multi age groups, younger students often develop their human skills more rapidly having old youth to model after. For our older students working with younger children helps to develop their leadership, patience and empathy significantly faster.
The FUEL Academy is Not a BC Certified school. We are an alternative learning resource for families taking an unconventional approach to their child’s education.
For enrolled home learning students who require projects or “proof” to satisfy BC curriculum reporting requirements, virtually every project and activity that your child will participate in at The FUEL Academy will satisfy one, or many, of those reporting requirements.
The FUEL Academy takes a significantly different approach to traditional academics and believes that students learn faster, and retain more, when they are interest in the topic.
We do not have specific Math, Science, English lessons being taught or mandated.
Instead, as students get involved in their assorted ventures, their need for math, reading, writing, will become more incentivized for them and therefore, their motivation and desire to learn these topics will become more ready.
As an example, if your child decides to start a small slime business, they will require reading, writing, math and more. But because these topics feel relevant and helpful to them, they will seek out the support to learn them intrinsically that they can pursue while attending The FUEL Academy.
If you desire additional support for your child in these areas, we have a number of educational pathways we can suggest to help reach their goals.
The development of soft skills is much more difficult than the development of hard skills because it requires actively interacting with others on an ongoing basis and being willing to accept behavioral feedback.
Tuition & Requirements
The only tools, or expense, that is required is for your child to have a laptop and headphones for them to bring each day to the academy.
Everything else that your child may need will be supplied by the Academy. This includes:
- A FUEL Budget of REAL money for your child to use on assorted projects.
- Their FUEL polo shirts
- Miro Software subscription
- Access to FUEL Resources & Tools
In the event a student spends all of their budget for the year early, it is up to the families discretion if they would like to offer them additional funds to spend on their projects.
We ask that all students have their own laptop and set of headphones to use while at the Academy.
If students have books or other items they are involved with at home, they are welcome to bring them to the Academy.
Parents are welcome to pay for each semester in advance, or a monthly payment option can be provided. Annual payments for the entire year comes with a 5% discount on tuition.
Credit card, Apple Pay, Google Pay or Debit/E-Transfer payment methods are available.
Monthly payment plans require a credit card to be placed on file.
30 days notice is required to cancel your child’s place at the Academy.
If an annual lump sum payment has been made, 30 days notice will still be required but a refund will be given for the remaining months that are unused, less the 5% discount that was given for the annual payment.
If you have enrolled your child as homeschooled, there are funds available for families to use towards educational programs, such as The FUEL Academy. You can contact the BC Government website for more information on what is available.
We are also happy to have a conversation with any family who desires to attend The FUEL Academy to see what we can do to help your child participate with us.
Contact us to share more about your unique situation or request. [email protected]
My Child's Educational Experience
The FUEL Academy is designed to challenge your child as an independent thinker, as well as a team leader and collaborator. As such, the Academy is governed by the students based on their collective decision-making and goals for their own personal learning.
Students become members of assorted “Committees” and have weekly discussions around rules and policy’s that should be put in place.
For example, there might be a “Committee” in charge of the Academy’s Tools & Resource Centre. Students discuss and implement rules around using and maintaining the equipment, how to sign items out, track them, and what new tools the Academy should purchase next.
There are Committees for:
- Planning Events & Showcases
- Outdoor Adventures & Excursions
- Academy Tools & Resources
- People & Culture
- And more as the students see fit
Each week, students:
- set or monitor their goals
- deep dive into targeted learning or project development
- participate in group discussions
- attend Committee meetings
- take time for personal reflection
Each semester, The FUEL Academy puts on student led showcases, market days, and other events for parents and the community to participate in.
FUEL Mentors roles are to encourage your child’s ideas and offer support so they can take action on them.
The FUEL Academy offers educational support for homeschooled and e-learning families and is not a replacement for the standard BC curriculum. We do not follow a standard curriculum nor give students tests or exams, unless they ask for them to test their own progress on a topic.
When it comes to reading, writing, mathematics, and other traditional academic subjects, we do not specifically teach students these topics in a formal class session. Instead, we encourage students to take on projects they are passionate about, that often end up requiring reading, writing or mathematics. For example, to launch a business they must understand how to read, write and calculate money. They also require these skills to build a bridge, code a website or program a robot.
When a students are driven to learn something new, in order to achieve a goal that is important to them, we have discovered that their ability to learn these topics occurs faster, and the information is retained significantly longer than when it is taught as a separate, mandated requirement.
You, your child and FUEL Mentors (Facilitators) will meet on regular intervals to discuss your child’s educational goals, passions and progress.
When a child’s expectations are consistent at home, as well as in the Academy, their ability to growth and develop becomes exponentially faster and reduces confusion for the child.
As we are not a traditional education system, we do not assign mandated homework. That said, it is not uncommon for students to be excited about a project they are working on and want to continue diving in on days they are not attending The FUEL Academy.
Students are able to continue their collaboration with other students safely through their online project management software from home.
There are 3 types are skills a person can learn:
- Academic Skills – defined as theoretical learning that typically involves mathematic, English, science, etc
- Technical Skills – defined as skills used to perform practical tasks and are usually narrow in focus. ex. using a specific software or machine
- Soft (Human) Skills – defined as personal attributes or traits that allow them to interact with the world around them
AI, robotics and technology are advancing in their capabilities to do every day tasks and jobs every day. For this reason, many traditional academic and technical skills are becoming less required, or significant, and instead, soft (human) skills are becoming more foundational to a persons long term success.
Students today will require higher developed soft skills than any generation before. The Fuel Academy aims to flex over 70 of these soft (human) skills in students which will act as foundations for long term learning and success in today’s modern world.
To call someone a teacher implies that they know something and they are going to “teach” it to you. At The FUEL Academy, we believe there is often no one right answer to anything and therefore, nothing to teach for students to memorize.
Instead, we want to support students in learning how to learn. To be resourceful by researching topics they are interested in, developing their own opinions or ideas and attempting multiple approaches to accomplish the goals they have set for themselves.
“Mentor” feels more appropriate as a title as they are there to support, encourage, and troubleshoot ideas with each student to help them in their unique journeys.
