Renee Andor
Record Staff
An independent school near Nanaimo has recently been receiving more calls from Comox Valley parents interested in independent schooling for their children.
According to Aspengrove School’s assistant head David Hutchinson, the number of queries the school has received of late prompted staff to consider implementing bus service from the Comox Valley to the Lantzville school.
The school will hold an information session at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 17 at the Old House Village Hotel in Courtenay.
“It’s essentially because we started to receive phone calls from families just wondering if we offer bus service because they would like to consider an independent school for their families,” says Hutchinson, noting he had about six calls over a few weeks, which is significant as the school is located out of town.
“For that many people to reach out and see if there’s a way to make it work suggests there’s a definite demand.”
He adds Aspengrove is one of only about 10 schools in Canada authorized to teach the International Baccalaureate Programme from kindergarten to Grade 12.
“There’s several schools that have IB at various levels but there’s a small number of us that are able to do it all the way through,” he explains.
If about five families choose to send their children to Aspengrove and would like bus service, Hutchinson says it would be feasible to start it up in September. The service would likely pick students up from a central area in the Comox Valley and drop them off at the same spot, he adds.
“We actually had an inquiry … from a family who said they’d be willing to drive their children from Campbell River down to meet our bus in Courtenay,” he adds.
“I think everybody has their own personal reasons for looking for different options in education and it really is a wide range with families.”
Aspengrove can offer financial assistance to families seeking help with tuition costs. Hutchinson asks that those planning to attend the information session visit Aspengrove School’s website (www.aspengroveschool.ca) to pre-register. The information session is free and some Aspengrove administrators, teachers and students will be present.
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