FAQ

Private education has a few distinct advantages over publically funded education. First and foremost, private classes tend to be smaller. Students learn better and are more engaged in smaller classrooms. Whereas public school classes can range between 25-30 students in a single grade 12 course, AIA strives to maintain class sizes ranging from 10-15 students. Smaller class sizes allow our experienced teachers to engage directly with individual students to discuss and work out their unique concerns and problem areas. Private classes are also more flexible than fixed public education. For example, if a student’s familial responsibilities prohibit attending a few hours of class in a week, we will do our best to accommodate the student even if it means attending classes in the evening or the weekends.

Yes. The Ontario University Application Centre (OUAC) indicates the name of the issuing school for all credits. Whether or not a particular post-secondary institute will be extra critical about a private school mark is entirely up to that specific admissions officer.

“Easier” is not the correct term here. All ministry-inspected schools in Ontario must teach the same curriculum, issued by Ontario’s Ministry of Education. As a result of our smaller classes and additional tutoring system, students may certainly find themselves performing more efficiently and find themselves understanding complex material with greater ease.

Our teachers are all either Ontario Certified Teachers (OCT) or subject-matter experts with the appropriate degree in the subject they are teaching. For non-OCTs, our vice-principal routinely holds professional development series to keep them up-to-date on teaching practices.

Scheduling concerns are best discussed in person. Just remember that all courses are 110 hours in length. You must be able to commit this much time per course in one way or the other. We are more than willing to offer make-up classes during the evenings and weekends in order to maintain credit integrity. In some cases, students may be assigned Independent Study material which is completed without direct supervision; however, students must attend regular meetings with the instructor to ensure both their understanding and completion of material.

Yes.

Yes. Be sure to ask your day school if they need the report card to be couriered.

We will gladly print out a confirmation of enrolment letter for you to submit to your school.

It is important to remember that no individual school can deny a student from attending a course (unless that student does not have the pre-requisite course). If the student is under the age of 18, in Ontario, only the parent or guardian may determine how and where their child is educated. If your dayschool continues to cause issues concerning your mark from AIA, please allow us to speak to them or, better, have your parent/guardian firmly assert that you are completing the specified course privately. If needed, we can provide the school with proof of your work (final exam, final projects) to justify your credit.

Yes. However, tutoring hours are determined by the specific subject teacher as tutoring happens outside of regular hours. As such, it may take some time to find a fixed schedule for you.

Our assessments and evaluations differ according to the subject and the instructor. Our instructors generally assess student achievement through a variety of methods including the creation of student products (tests, written tasks), conversations (meetings or seminars), and observations (experimentation, presentations). None of our courses use only in-class, timed, written assessments to determine the student’s final mark. All courses include a variety of tasks to be marked. Most courses will include roughly 10-12 marks for the evaluation (these are the marked items that determine your final score) along with several practice tasks, in-class tasks that check the student’s understanding. If at any time you feel an evaluation demands a skill you have not actually been taught nor practiced, please discuss the issue with your instructor first.

AIA does not follow the traditional year-long single semester or two semester system most dayschools use. Instead, we operate on what we call the “quadmester” system. This division creates four separate “quads”:

• • Quad 1: Sept 22nd – Dec 1st
  • Quad 2: Dec 2nd – Feb 14th
  • Quad 3: Feb 15th – April 25th
  • Quad 4: April 26th – June 30th

In each quad, students will be enrolled in 3 courses. This results in the completion of 12 courses at the end of the year, opposed to just 8. This allows students to place meaningful spare periods, take part in available tutoring slots, study groups, or language enrichment non-credit courses. Given that many of our students are international students, the extra time and increased availability for support classes is beneficial.