The Flexible Studies program is designed for students interested in experiential learning approach to education where students engage with their peers, teachers, community and environment as they aspire for academic and personal growth.
Learn more about our Flex Philosophy.
The Flexible Studies Program includes 46 Grade 9 & 10 students collaborating all afternoon, all year. Operated as a school within a school, the Flex model uses a team-teaching approach to integrate multiple subjects simultaneously into authentic learning situations. Students explore their own ideas and questions in meaningful, relevant ways, working together for the good of our society. To do this, Flex collaborates with local cultural institutions and businesses so that students can examine timely issues such as oceans and climate change, food security and sustainability, and Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Being. This is an inquiry learning model of what innovative teaching and learning can look like embedded in a traditional high school, where both teachers and students are challenged to take learning risks with each other to better understand themselves and their community.
Students in the English cohort experience a wide variety of learning environments. Some of examples from the past few years include:
The Flexible Studies Program believes in the pursuit of personal academic excellence and providing opportunities to develop leadership qualities, supporting this at a personal level for each of our students. The teachers in the Flexible Studies Program will support our students as they pursue the many post-secondary options available to them.
Learn more about our Flex Philosophy.
The Flexible Studies Program includes 46 Grade 9 & 10 students collaborating all afternoon, all year. Operated as a school within a school, the Flex model uses a team-teaching approach to integrate multiple subjects simultaneously into authentic learning situations. Students explore their own ideas and questions in meaningful, relevant ways, working together for the good of our society. To do this, Flex collaborates with local cultural institutions and businesses so that students can examine timely issues such as oceans and climate change, food security and sustainability, and Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Being. This is an inquiry learning model of what innovative teaching and learning can look like embedded in a traditional high school, where both teachers and students are challenged to take learning risks with each other to better understand themselves and their community.
Students in the English cohort experience a wide variety of learning environments. Some of examples from the past few years include:
- direct instruction from a teacher in a classroom environment
- listening to members of the community share their stories
- author talks and writing workshops
- week-long Poet-In-Residence workshops
- month-long projects working with the Royal BC Museum
- environmental learning connection to School Courtyard Garden & Micro Farm
- understanding our government by engaging with the Parliamentary Education Office to conduct a Model Parliament inside the B.C. Legislature
- individual time to explore a Passion Project of the students’ choosing
- exploring local ecosystems (i.e., Swan Lake) and restoring a Garry Oak ecosystem as part of our Environmental Science course
- overnight camping trips (i.e., Galiano Island Conservancy Association and Silver Lining Farm)
The Flexible Studies Program believes in the pursuit of personal academic excellence and providing opportunities to develop leadership qualities, supporting this at a personal level for each of our students. The teachers in the Flexible Studies Program will support our students as they pursue the many post-secondary options available to them.
Snapshots of Flex in action...
This was one of 13 exhibits created by Flexible Studies students in 2013 during a year-long partner school project with the Royal BC Museum entitled Youth Echoing Truth.
Flex students interviewing former Speaker Linda Reid and MLA Spencer Chandra-Herbert in 2017 in the Legislature Press Gallery as part of HUMANities.
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Flex students working in the courtyard garden with LifeCycles, learning about ecology and local food production.
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The Flex students worked with Victoria-based The Existence Project in 2020, participating in a storytelling exercise which brought the lives of marginalized communities to our ears.
Students in 207 working on a trip to the Vancouver Aqaurium and engaging in hands-on learning about water sampling.
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In 2019, students from the Flexible Studies program became the first public school students in the province to participate in a Model Parliament on the floor of the House in the Legislature. |