APPLYING TO ALPHA II

If you've checked out our website, and are interested in our Free Schooling Model of learning, come by for a tour! 

Tours happen on the first Monday of the month at 1 pm, RSVP to our next one here. We also host Open Houses outside of the regular school day, please consult the TDSB's Alternative Schools Website for exact dates and times. 

CLICK HERE FOR THE ALPHA TWO APPLICATION PACKAGE

Part A is basic contact information for the potential mentee and parents/guardians.   

Part B is to be completed by the mentee candidate and should reflect the candidate’s own ideas.  Parents/guardians can help the candidate by clarifying questions, discussing responses to aid in developing of their thoughts, and if needed, by acting as a scribe to write or type the responses of the candidate given orally. Voice recording answers to the application is also acceptable.

Part C is to be completed by the parents/guardians of the mentee candidate. 

Part D is the references section, where two people outside of the mentee candidate’s friends and family speak to the candidate’s academic interests, abilities, and fit for the school.

The purpose of parts B and C are twofold.  First, the questions act as prompts for the candidate and their family to reflect on their values and experiences with school and to consider why they are looking at Alpha II as a school to attend.  Second, the responses give the mentors at Alpha II an understanding of what is important to the candidate and the candidate’s family with regards to schooling and education.  This helps us to understand the ways your past experiences with education shape your hopes and expectations, as well as giving mentors a sense of what you will need if you come in for a trial week.

Mentors will review your application and selected mentees will be invited for a mentor interview.  If it is felt that we need additional information or clarification of responses on your application, we may contact you. Either way, we will let you know our decision to interview via email. If we do not offer you an interview and you would like to have more information or suggestions for other schools, please feel free to contact us back, as our aim is to ensure that everyone finds a school that they are happy with.

If you have any questions while completing the application, you can reach us at ALPHAIIAlternativeSchool@tdsb.on.ca.

If, from the application, it seems that Alpha II might be a good fit, we will schedule an interview between the mentors and the mentee candidate & their parents/guardians. The purpose of the interview is to give potential families an opportunity to ask any specific questions about the school and how we might meet their needs. It is a conversation about what the mentee candidate and their family are looking for. 

It is also for the mentors to explain how we work. During the interview they will ask questions that help us to know you better, what kind of projects you're interested in, how you like to learn, and any potential barriers to success that they can see.

After the interview we will contact you via email.  If you are still interested, and the mentors and administration decide to proceed, you will be offered a five-day trial period.

During the trial week, the mentee candidate will attend Alpha II for five full days in a row so they can see first-hand what learning at the school looks like. The Alpha II environment is very different from a regular school and can be confusing and challenging to understand.  We want to make sure you feel welcomed, at ease, and able to get into the flow of things as quickly as possible.

During the trial period, mentee candidates will be assigned a mentee ambassador (a fellow student) who will welcome you into the community, introduce them to other mentees, and support them in finding their way around.  Mentee candidates are able and expected to participate fully in everything about the school, just like any other Alpha II mentee.

Mentor check-ins with the mentee candidate also occur throughout the week to clarify how things are going, what the candidate has noticed, and what the mentors have noticed about how they are adapting to the free-school environment. 

At the end of the five days, the mentors will have a debrief conversation with the mentee candidate and their family about how it went, what they enjoyed or found challenging, and what the mentors have seen. If everyone believes the mentee candidate will thrive in a free school environment (managing the responsibility of self-directed learning in community), registration for Alpha II can happen relatively quickly. If it’s decided otherwise, we can offer our thoughts and reflections about how or where the mentee candidate might be better served.

Either way, the purpose of the debrief is not to evaluate the potential mentee. The debrief is to offer you our observations so that we can make the decision about whether or not Alpha II is a good fit together, based on what we observed and what we know about the Alpha II experience.