Mission and Values
Valley Collaborative Learning Society (BVCLS) and EdGE Learning Centre endeavour to create a variety of rich and diverse learning opportunities for school-age children. We do this through mentorship, programs, classes, workshops and community partnerships.
We place a high value on activities that are experiential, interest-lead and community-driven.
Our guiding principle is to move away from competition and comparisons, and lean into contribution, collaboration, cooperation and co-creation. These values aren’t just for our students – our non-profit society collaborates with other local partners on projects to serve our members and our community.
We don’t wish to duplicate the good work that transpires in our community and local schools. Instead, we aim to fill the gaps and provide support where we find a need in order to serve learners of all types.
EdGE is not a school. Our learning centre provides enrichment learning opportunities to complement the education choices of your family. Our programs are open to all – home-learners, private or public school students.
Community and Collaboration
A core part of our mission is connecting learners with diverse mentors in our community – we source local mentors who love to share their knowledge and passions. Examples of previous mentor offerings:
- Creative Movement with Katie Wertz
- Early Canadian Settlers with Shawna Audet
- American Sign Language with Lisa Perry
- Eco Art with Alana Petrella
- Drumming with Colin Maskell and Richard Jenne
- Band (brass) with Colin Maskell
- Robotics and FIRST Lego League with Nick Telles
- Literacy Tutoring with Makayla Anderson
- Coaching and Mentorship with Lisa Perry
We value mutually beneficial partnerships. Some of our past partnerships include:
- Groundbreakers – Outdoor Kitchen
- Proton Foundation – Laptops and student sponsorship
- Community Literacy Committee- to increase student literacy – BV Christian School, Proton Foundation, Shawna Audet.
We invite local clubs, non-profits, organizations and individuals to come forward with ideas for workshops, classes and partnership opportunities.
Are you an individual or represent a local organization? Would you like to propose a class, interest or workshop for students ages 5-18? Please contact us w
History
An inspiring email, written by a teacher reimagining education, landed in the inbox of a burned-out homeschool parent, forwarded by a friend-of-a-friend. This email spurred a conversation among a small group of homeschool parents who needed more support in home-educating their child.
This conversation led to research and word of mouth alternatives that exist for home-learners in our Province. One such alternative for home-education that is available in BC, is one offered by School District 71 (NIDES), called Heartwood Distributed Learning. Inspired by the concept of “Contributionism” and marrying the alternatives with this concept, the vision was conceived.
Our group of like-minded parents and educators began meeting in January of 2018 and took the initiative to bring Heartwood to our community. September 2018 kicked-off our first year as another wonderful home-education option available to home-learners in our valley.
EdGE has since fostered many partnerships to bring you great education and recreation initiatives! It has always been our vision to create opportunities that: create community for home-learners (regardless where you are registered); create group learning opportunities for students (to foster friendships); and to fill gaps within our community (Robotics, NID and Summer Camp STEM days; Literacy training and tutoring; co-op classes and workshops; face-to-face Homeschool programs).
Our education center is located in the Ranger Park building in Smithers, BC. This is where Heartwood program drop-off occurs, and where the Robotics club and other programs run.
BVCLS endeavours to expand our offerings as the needs of our community dictate. We are committed to providing rich learning experiences to enhance the education of our home-learners.