Join us
We are not looking for someone to stand at the front of the room
A guide is the adult in an Acton studio. The job is harder than teaching and looks nothing like it: you design challenges, hold the boundaries, and refuse — all day, every day — to hand over the answer.
What the job actually is
- Design the game. Build quests and challenges with clear rules, real stakes and a story worth entering.
- Ask, do not tell. Meet a question with a better question. This is the whole discipline, and it is exhausting at first.
- Hold up the mirror. When the studio is not keeping the promises it wrote for itself, show it that clearly and let the children decide what to do.
- Keep the rhythm. Launches, work blocks, closings, the weekly meeting — the shape of the week is what makes the freedom safe.
- Work in two languages. Children choose the language for each task; you follow them.
- Hand it over. Every year the children should be running more of the studio than they were the year before.
Who tends to be good at this
A Montessori background tends to travel well here. Years in a conventional classroom are not an advantage, and habits built there — leading from the front, correcting quickly, filling a silence — are usually the hardest part to unlearn. What matters more:
- you are visibly still learning things yourself;
- you treat a seven-year-old as a person with reasons;
- you set a boundary gently and then do not move it;
- you pick things up fast and work hard;
- you are not frightened of making a mistake in front of children;
- you write and speak well, in English and in Latvian.
When you write to us, do not lead with where you have worked. Lead with why you believe children can run their own learning — and, if you do not believe it, say that instead. Both are useful answers.
Is this the right school for your family?
Fifteen minutes, no commitment — you ask, we answer. In English, whenever it suits you.