Frequently asked questions

We follow the same learning design and model that the founders built and still develop at the original Acton Academy in Austin. Each campus is independently owned and locally run. There are more than 300 in 26 countries.

John Dalberg-Acton (1834–1902) was a historian of liberty, best remembered for the observation that power tends to corrupt. He understood freedom not as permission to do whatever you like but as the freedom to do what is right — which is the sense in which the school uses the word.

It is Joseph Campbell’s name for a pattern that shows up in stories across cultures: a call, a refusal, trials, allies and enemies, and a person who returns changed. We use it as the frame for growth — challenge, attempts, failure, breakthrough, repeat — and children take to it faster than adults expect.

Through badges earned when a skill is genuinely mastered, a portfolio of real work kept over years, and a public exhibition at the end of every session where your child presents and answers questions. You will see the work rather than a number. Progress measured this way is uneven, and we would rather warn you about that in advance.

Not in the sense of exercises sent home. Children often carry a quest home because they want to finish it, which is a different thing.

Acton Academy Riga delivers a licensed Latvian programme, and Latvia’s state education standard sets what has to be covered. How that content and its assessments work for a particular child — especially a child new to Latvian — is something we go through with each family during admission. Ask on the call and we will be specific about your child’s year.

Yes. Children build core skills at their own pace, so a move works in either direction. We build the plan for it together with the family.

Grades 7–9 open in 2027/28, so a child starting now can continue here. State accreditation of the institution is scheduled for 2026/27; until a school in Latvia is accredited it cannot issue the state basic-education certificate itself, which is why the accreditation timetable is published on this site rather than buried.

Sometimes. It depends on the studio and on where a child is. Tell us the date you need and we will give you a straight answer.

1 September to early July, built from seven quests with breaks between them. That is longer than the Latvian state school year.

No.

The children write the studio’s rules themselves and sign them. Disagreements go first to the peace table, where the children work them out with a protocol they have practised. Guides step in when the children’s own process does not resolve it, and communication with parents is transparent throughout. Shaming is not part of any of it.

Yes. Start with a short call, or come to an open day. Once you have a sense of what this is, we invite the family to visit the studio with the child while it is running. A trial week is possible.

Write to us anyway. There is a full scholarship place, and reduced rates for second, third and fourth children in a family. We would rather have the conversation than lose a family that belongs here.