“I’ve always done my own thing in schools and in life. I enrolled myself into SAMS, and I never really needed too much parental help which I’ve personally found to be advantageous. It’s made me more mature and helped me to step into new opportunities with confidence. The opportunities that I received at SAMS were amazing; I know I would never have come across them if I had gone to another school. I have met so many great people, and my class was like my family. They’re still a part of my day-to-day, and though we have different walks of life now, they’re still heavily involved in my life. Meeting great classmates was not the end of the road; I also got to meet so many different political leaders, and– especially given that I’m studying law now– I can’t believe I had those opportunities, it’s insane!”
“I loved that SAMS offered independent learning. The teachers nurtured us as if we were their own child and helped us to do our projects; but it did not mean there was always someone looking over our shoulders and guiding us in every single part of our learning. That’s the point of independent learning, right? That we get the opportunity to guide ourselves and not be parented all the time. It broadens your perspective on the world; rather than ‘one plus one equals two’, or ‘this means this,’ it extends your knowledge past what a standard curriculum would expect from you. It isn’t just basic facts and ideas; you’re challenged to tie it all together and apply it as you would in reality. I’ve incorporated these skills I have learnt at SAMS into how I work now. Like mind maps– we used them in projects at SAMS, and I use them now for case studies in my Law degree. The benefit of these skills extends past the classroom and into the future, and for that I am grateful.”
– Coralie Smith, SAMS Class of 2015