Part-Time ‘Springbok’ Programme

Buckminster College in Belgium proudly presents the part-time ‘Springbok’ programme for learners joining us at ages 11-15. This English-speaking educational enrichment programme is designed to be taken alongside regular school enrolment at another institution.

The Springbok programme involves part-time ‘school secondment’, with 20 regular school days being replaced by Springbok days each semester. Eight of these days take the form of immersive, full-boarding residential sessions (Brussels-Bruges-Dinant) and twelve days are organised at our Buckminster’s Flying Castle online (‘Remote Wednesdays’).

To participate in the Springbok programme, students must be granted permission by their schools (unless home-schooled). This is typically granted if the school recognises the student as someone in need of educational acceleration and enrichment, exposure to diverse social environments, or a change in routine. Buckminster College coordinates the arrangement with the school, ensuring that mandatory school assignments are incorporated into every Springbok day.

• For high-achievers able to maintain their school responsibilities even when missing 4-6 school days per month.

• For homeschoolers, lifehackers, and nomads seeking like-minded peers.

Permissions from Schools

Springbok learners must be granted permission by their schools, unless home-schooled. This is typically granted if the school recognises the student as someone in need of educational acceleration and enrichment.

Research Expeditions

Springbok develops integrative interdisciplinary thinking deepened with insights from ecology, psychology, philosophy, history, politics, sociology, economics, and technology.

Remote Wednesdays

On Wednesdays, Springbok learners stay at home. The remote sessions at Buckminster’s Flying Castle engage them comprehensively from 9:00 to 14:30, including daily exercise, artistic activities, and video-instructed collective lunch preparation.

Springbok Leap

Each Springbok day includes an hour dedicated to the supervised completion of homework assigned by schools. Buckminster College coordinates the arrangement with the school, ensuring that instructions are properly followed.

Interdisciplinary Constellations

Springbok transitions from collecting factual ‘dots’ to finding a way of looking at them that connects the dots into meaningful gestalts.

Residential Sessions

Four times each semester, we set out together for a two-day residential session in Brussels (VUB!), Bruges, or Dinant. These sessions include one night in hostel accommodation, community meals, and days full of group exploration, movement, and action.

Buckminster College is a lightweight, nomadic organisation, which allows us to accommodate learners without imposing geographical location constraints. All our programmes combine remote education with recurrent getaway residential sessions in three regions of Belgium.

Residential sessions are organised at the VUB campus in Brussels, Etterbeek (4 sessions/year), in Bruges (3 sessions/year), and in Dinant (1 session/year). These session include one night in hostel accommodation, community meals, and days full of group activities, movement, and action.

Remote sessions engage learners comprehensively from 9:00 to 14:30, guiding them through all explorations and activities, including exercise and video-instructed lunch preparation.

Both types of sessions are integral components of the Springbok programme.

Springbok complements the standard secondary education with the following learning outcomes:

• developing an integrative interdisciplinary understanding of knowledge that is typically separated into school subjects and grades;
• deepening this understanding with insights stemming from a range of academic research fields such as ecology, psychology, philosophy, history, politics, sociology, economics, and technology, among others;
• gaining a multi-modal integration of theories and concepts with the lived-through experience, experimentation, and artistic expression;
• learning to carry out collaborative research projects in the international academic context;
• gaining proficiency in the use of English as the lingua franca of contemporary knowledge-intense projects and environments;
• learning to carry out high-quality, fact-checking desk research with the use of the internet resources and tools;
• learning to synergistically think with, work with, and create with the newest online generative AI;
• learning to collaborate, co-regulate, self-organise, and respect one another in the community living, dining, and working together in the residential sessions;
• developing the ability to stay regulated, focused, productive, and self-directed when working remotely from home;
• developing and perfecting daily self-care routines (exercise, nutrition) for life;
• developing learning habits that are supportive of neural plasticity.

• Scouting-inspired multi-age groupings, which are natural for humans and highly supportive of accelerated, asynchronous, divergent development;

• Nomadic organisational culture, inspired by expedition pedagogy;

• Changeable daily patterns, interlacing stay-at-home days with travel and intense social engagements;

• Immersion in the international academic environment;

• Formation of the noospheric frame of mind, informed by our research at the Free University of Brussels (VUB);

• Experiential training in group dynamics and interpersonal skills;

• ‘Research Expedition’ classes develop integrative interdisciplinary thinking deepened with insights from ecology, psychology, philosophy, history, politics, sociology, economics, and technology;

• ‘Interdisciplinary Constellation’ classes transition from collecting factual ‘dots’ to finding a way of looking at them that connects the dots into meaningful gestalts;

• ‘Springbok Leap’ hour is dedicated to supervised completion of homework assigned by schools;

• Short ‘Drill Routines’ classes instil the habit of a disciplined, self-directed honing of practical skills (languages, instrument playing, crafts);

• Physical exercise classes (‘Bodyminding’) and supervised collective lunch preparation (‘Lunch Lounge’) ensure that our learners know how to take care of themselves at home.

The Springbok programme is already concluded.