Forget everything you know about high school. Westmont’s high school program is preparing students for careers that don’t even exist yet.

Westmont’s high school is designed to disrupt the current educational model that segregates students from the real world, where subjects are siloed and disconnected from daily life. While many alternative programs are perceived as vocational or non-academic, Westmont provides real-world experiences with exceptional academics and personal growth, adhering to the fundamental Montessori principle of developing the whole individual.

Tricia Lang, whose son attended Westmont for twelve years, reflects on what initially drew her family: “We love the idea that students were able to follow their own interests and passions at their own pace. We visited Westmont during an open house twelve years ago, and we learned about the small classroom sizes, the low student-to-teacher ratios, and we were drawn by some of the energy and passion of the staff that we met there.”

Here’s why families across Greater Victoria are choosing this program for their teens.

How Project-Based Learning Actually Works (And Why It Matters)

Traditional high schools operate on a predictable pattern: sit in class, take notes, complete assignments, take tests, repeat. Westmont’s approach is fundamentally different.

Real Projects, Real Skills

Students spend minimal time in traditional classroom settings. Instead, through extensive curriculum mapping, teachers structure multi-disciplinary projects where students uncover required content while solving complex, real-world challenges.

The program follows a four-year developmental journey:

Grades 9 & 10 (Junior Program): Students complete eight teacher-created projects over two years (four annually) covering all core curriculum. Course selections are predetermined: English Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies, French, Physical Education, Arts Education, and Applied Design, Skills, and Technologies. This ensures the broadest foundation for future choices. Projects provide structure while building independence in a lower-stakes environment.

Grades 11 & 12 (Senior Program): Students design four self-created projects annually (except Grade 12) based on their interests and post-secondary goals. Planning begins in May of the previous year. In Grade 12, students undertake a single year-long capstone project covering 100% of curricular outcomes, while also creating portfolios for post-secondary applications.

What This Actually Looks Like

Here are real examples from Westmont’s curriculum:

Grade 9 – Food Truck Business: Plan a launchable food truck business including financial overview, marketing campaign, detailed menu, and education about food truck history. Accommodate a partially French-speaking customer base.
Integrates: Math, English, Social Studies, French, Applied Design

Grade 10 – Affordable Housing Design: Create detailed plans and prototypes for a four-person affordable housing unit using sustainable energy, timber frame construction, and specific budgetary constraints.
Integrates: Math, Science, Applied Design (CAD/CAM), woodwork

Grade 11 – Electric Vehicle Prototype: Design and build an EV prototype meeting specific specifications. Work off-campus with mechanical engineers 3-4 days per week. Travel to EV manufacturing facilities.
Integrates: Engineering, physics, environmental science, design

Grade 12 – Municipal Transportation Plan: Create a sustainable transportation plan for the District of Metchosin, determining current capacity and future alternatives through multi-media presentation.
Integrates: Urban planning, environmental science, mathematics, communications

Ms. Lang shares a specific example from her son’s experience: “They recently had a mock legal trial where my son was the defense for a comic book character, and it was the entire high school that was involved in it. My son was very excited and passionate and researched for months on this trial.”

The 8-Week Discovery Cycle

Each project follows a structured cycle:

• Week 1: Design challenge introduction, mentor connections, site orientation
• Weeks 2-5: Mentor-led lessons on foundational concepts, iterative design work (question, navigate, ideate, create, critique, refine)
• Week 6: Mont-Talk preparation – learning to present like TED Talks combined with Master’s thesis rigor
• Weeks 7-8: Presentation refinement and delivery to educators, professionals, community leaders, and peers

Students participate in regular group check-ins (problem-solving, delegation, conflict resolution) and individual teacher meetings (time management, personal support).

Why This Prepares Students for the Future

According to the World Economic Forum’s research on future job skills, the most valuable capacities are analytical thinking and innovation, active learning strategies, complex problem solving, critical thinking and analysis, creativity and initiative, leadership and social influence, and resilience and flexibility.

These aren’t supplementary skills at Westmont. They’re developed daily through every project. Students also uncover curriculum and core competencies leading to their Dogwood Certificate, with each project listing content from various courses so families can track credit progress on report cards.

Learning Beyond Campus: The Hub, Partnership, and Mentorship Approach

Education at Westmont extends far beyond classroom walls through integrated approaches that connect students to real-world contexts and professional expertise.

The Campus as Foundation

“The location of Westmont backing onto Witty’s Lagoon was a huge appeal,” Ms. Lang shares. “We were drawn to the beauty of the campus. That was the first thing that we noticed.”

The 143-acre Metchosin campus provides space for outdoor education, environmental learning, and the freedom adolescents need to explore and grow. But it’s just the starting point.

The Hub & Partnership Model

Students split time between the “hub” (the high school building) and off-campus locations specific to their projects. This isn’t occasional field trip learning, instead it’s integrated into the program structure.

When working on EV prototypes, students collaborate with mechanical engineers at off-campus sites 3-4 days per week. When designing bridges, they partner with civil engineers, city planners, First Nations representatives, and environmental consultants at engineering firms. When exploring careers, they work alongside professionals in authentic workplace settings.

The year divides into four 8-week cycles, culminating in immersive experiences from outdoor education to university campus visits. Students also gain broader perspectives through the Experiences Canada Exchange program and biennial international Spring Break trips.

Professional Mentorship That Matters

The structured mentorship program connects students with professionals based on their project interests and goals. Mentors provide expert knowledge, encourage critical thinking, help set realistic timelines, expose students to professional contexts, and assist with post-secondary planning.

Students meet with mentors at minimum once every four weeks, with communication through dedicated platforms and progress tracked through shared documents. Importantly, students own these relationships: they identify opportunities, initiate contact, and maintain connections, building professional maturity alongside academic skills.

Accessible for All Learners

Projects are constructed with Universal Design for Learning principles, making them accessible for all learners regardless of ability. Students demonstrate knowledge through varied methods best suited to them, aligned with Montessori philosophies of perceived choice, self-directed learning, prepared environment, and respect for individual differences.

Real Support Through Real Challenges

Ms. Lang reflects on her son’s journey and how the school responded when challenges arose: “He experienced some troubles regulating his emotions in his upper elementary years, and the school was really quick to respond with tools and classes to help regulate his emotions, including art therapy, which were incredibly useful tools that helped get us through those challenges.”

This proactive, supportive approach continues through the high school years, with teachers knowing students as individuals and providing the structure and freedom each one needs to thrive. Small class sizes and strong advisor relationships mean every student is known, understood, and supported. Not as a number in a system, but as a whole person with unique strengths and needs.

Why Families Choose Westmont: Real Experience, Real Results

The decision to choose an alternative high school path requires confidence that the approach actually works. Here’s what makes the difference at Westmont.

Post-Secondary Readiness Without Compromise

Students receive their Dogwood Certificate while developing capabilities traditional schools struggle to build. Senior students work with the school counselor on course selection ensuring graduation requirements and post-secondary preparation align with their goals.

Westmont is also pursuing partnership with the Ministry of Education and Childcare to offer dual credit college-level courses taught by university professors, giving students a head start on post-secondary education.

But preparation extends beyond academics. Students develop project management skills gradually from Grade 9, with increasing complexity preparing them for real-world challenges. They learn to set goals, manage time across priorities, self-advocate when needed, persist through obstacles, assess their own work critically, and balance responsibilities with well-being.

The Program Addresses What’s Actually Wrong with Traditional High School

Students seeking alternatives are often driven by wanting more from high school and seeing current systems hold them back, looking for real-life applications of academic content, experiencing anxiety, depression, or hopelessness about world problems, feeling bored “putting in time” at conventional schools, and fearing future instability around housing, employment, and direction.

Westmont’s model addresses these directly by making learning authentic, giving students genuine agency, and connecting education to meaningful purpose.

Community & Individual Attention

Teachers take time to know each student individually, understanding what makes them tick, what they’re passionate about, and how to support their unique journey. The small high school community is close-knit, with students developing strong friendships and receiving respect and support from peers and educators alike.

Communication between families and the school remains consistent and accessible. Teachers make time for parents whether discussing academics or broader concerns, maintaining an open dialogue that supports each student’s growth.

What Actually Matters for the Future

The high school program challenges students academically, but in ways that instill genuine curiosity and love of learning, not just grades on report cards. Students learn to pursue their interests completely and entirely, developing the kind of intellectual engagement that lasts a lifetime.

At the high school level, students place their passions at the center of their experience. They work on projects that matter to them, exploring anything under the sun that captures their interest with everything they’ve got during that term. This passion-driven approach creates engagement that no amount of external motivation could match.

The program is demanding, challenging students in all realms, but immensely rewarding. It sets students up for a rapidly changing world with professions and vocations we cannot even imagine, providing an experience unlike any other school where students graduate with clarity about their strengths, confidence in their abilities, and genuine excitement about their future.

Is Westmont’s High School Right for Your Teen?

While Westmont’s program attracts diverse families, certain characteristics predict success and satisfaction.

Students Who Thrive

The program particularly benefits students who seek independence and respect in their education, want to connect learning to real-world application and personal interests, appreciate small communities where they’re known as individuals, need alternatives to traditional structures that haven’t served them well, and value academic challenge combined with personal growth.

Families Who Fit

Families who choose Westmont typically facilitate discussions about wide-ranging topics at home, are active in communities and pursuing interests beyond work, want their teens to develop independence and self-advocacy skills, value education that develops the whole person beyond just academic performance, and recognize that future success requires more than grades on transcripts.

What the Program Demands

This approach requires students to take ownership of their learning, manage extended timelines, work collaboratively, communicate with adults in professional contexts, and persist through complex problems without clear-cut answers.

It also requires family partnership. Parents work with the school to support student growth, maintain open communication about progress and challenges, and trust the process even when it looks different from their own high school experience.

Why Families Recommend Westmont

Ms. Lang summarizes her recommendation after twelve years: “If I had to choose three reasons for recommending Westmont to another family, it ties back to those things that we find such value in Westmont. Your child will be valued at this school. They will be respected as part of a community. They’ll be heard, they’ll have a voice, and they’ll understand how important they are to the community that they’re a part of. Academic excellence and not just excellence – your child is going to learn to love to learn. The teachers will do everything that they can, and the community will do everything that they can to engage your child into really being passionate about learning, not just getting A’s for working hard.”

Experience The Westmont Difference Yourself

Reading about Westmont’s high school program provides a glimpse. Experiencing it reveals its power.

When you visit our campus, you’ll see students genuinely engaged in meaningful work. You’ll witness project presentations demonstrating sophisticated thinking. You’ll meet educators who know students as individuals and strive to support them throughout their educational journey.

You’ll tour our 143-acre campus backing onto Witty’s Lagoon and understand why the natural setting matters. Most importantly, you’ll see what’s possible when high school is reimagined for the world our teens will actually inherit, which is a world demanding creativity, critical thinking, adaptability, and the ability to solve complex problems we cannot yet envision.

Ready to learn more about our innovative high school program? Schedule a campus tour to see how we’re preparing students for the future.