Passages Centre for Self-Directed Learning

09/21/2026

Annual Fall Centre Island trip was a hit!
Meeting the animals, food and fun at the pier, and a game of Manhunt in the maze.
We arrived back tired but content. ✨

Week 3 is off to a good start 😊

09/13/2026

They’re climbing the walls over here! Let the new year begin!! 🧗🧗‍♂️🧗‍♀️

09/07/2026

Swinging into a new year at Passages!

Here’s to another year of exploring, connecting, creating, and learning your way.

We still have a few spaces available for 2026/27. If your young person is looking for something different from the traditional school approach, come learn more about us.

08/28/2026

Sneak peek 👀

Can’t wait to welcome everyone back in a week! The countdown is on ✨

08/01/2026

What a week!

The Passages team spent the week in Chicago learning, growing, challenging ourselves, and getting completely "peopled" out. Every bit of it was worth it.

Tallgrass Sudbury School hosted more than 50 educators from around the world who came together to talk shop, ask big questions, and build connections. The days were packed with breakout sessions covering everything from enrollment and organizational growth to AI and youth, social justice, Dungeons & Dragons, and so much more. And a keynote talk by Peter Gray closed out our week. There truly was something for everyone.

One of my favourite parts of the week was watching Spencer and Tristan find their footing within this community. It was exciting to see them deepen their understanding of self-directed learning and democratic education, share ideas with others, and return home with new perspectives that will strengthen our work at Passages.

I'm grateful to everyone who shared their experiences, challenged our thinking, and reminded us that while our schools may be spread across the world, we're all working toward the same goal: creating places where young people can thrive.

Now we're home, inspired, exhausted, and excited for the year ahead.

07/11/2026

This summer, I'll be sharing videos and clips from other democratic schools that follow the same model as Passages. Here's one from Alpine Valley, which I had the privilege of visiting 2 years ago for the Democratic School Conference. Passages staff are heading to Chicago in a few weeks to come together again with 60+ democratic schools for a week of discussion, exploration and learning. Can't wait.

What if school felt less like a grind and more like a life well-liv...

06/27/2026

Another year. I never thought Passages would make it to Year 7. Not because I didn't believe, but because it felt like too many things had to align for that to happen. And here we are, wrapping up year 6 with a solid group who will continue with us in September.

I've never done it alone - I've always had my amazing Board of Directors guiding, shaping and helping me along the way. Offering support in ways I didn't know I needed.

And then my amazing staff. They make sure I get breaks, love the learners as much as I do, and give so much thoughtfulness to the work. I even had my first sick day this year, and they took the load, and then some.

Thank you, Spencer, Tristan and Halimah! You all are rockstars. So happy to have you by my side.

And now summer! Where I put my ED hat on and get to work writing grants, and doing all the lovely paperwork a small charity does–I'll be doing all that on my deck in the sun 😎

Thank you to everyone for supporting Passages over the years and cheering me on. We're really doing it!

06/21/2026

We have been busy! As we wrap up the 2025/26 year, we've finished projects, compiled documentation and annual summaries, finished and printed our yearbook, hosted our end-of-year event where we had trivia and celebrated our grads, spent a day at the beach for our Annual Beach Day and spent hours continuing to connect, be together and take in these last days.

It's always bittersweet at the end of the year. Most people are returning for the Fall, but for the ones moving on, who we will miss dearly, we're always excited for their next adventure. People are in our lives for a season, a reason or a lifetime. We hope Passages will be part of everyone's lifetime 💞

As we head into our final week, we know it will be a flurry of energy and fun, tears and cheers. Here's to another year in the books! On to year 7.

04/28/2026

It's always a good day when the puppy comes to play 😍

04/20/2026

We've known this but it's nice to see it making it's way into the general population

Researchers in Oshawa, Ont., say the popular tabletop roleplaying game Dungeons and Dragons may bring far more to the table than just an evening of excitement, with the game helping neurodivergent youth build social skills, according to early findings in their study.