By Gene Galin
Pittsboro, NC – Thales Academy is welcoming students into the Pittboro school building on Monday, April 11, 2022. Senior administrator, Heather Brame, points out that about 100 students have already been enrolled with the Thales Academy in Pittsboro. Those students “have been at the Cary campus while we were waiting for the Pittsboro building to open and see we’re ready to open on Monday. Our families are really excited to have this opportunity to be closer to home again.”
We had an opportunity to sit down with Heather Brame last week and get an update on Thales Academy Pittsboro. We have posted the entire video on YouTube and have some excerpts from the interview below.
When did the 100 students that had already enrolled at Pittsboro Thales Academy start?
So we started on really for those that were a little bit delayed. So we started in August of last year. Typically, we’re a year round school. So we would start mid July. They got started about mid towards the end beginning of August. So we’ve been there. We actually operate on four different tracks during the school year, and we’re about to start quarter four right now.
Our school calendar is built into four quarters throughout the school year. So we typically start mid July, we go until about mid September, we have a three week break, we start back October, good for about nine to 10 weeks. Have three weeks around Christmas. Come back, we just finished quarter three, we usually have about a three week break in the spring. And as I said, we’re about to start the quarter for usually summer is about four to five.
You’re bringing back the 100 students that are at Cary. What’s the capacity once you’re full here at the Pittsboro?
Typically, most of our campuses, you’re gonna see around 550 students. That varies a little bit depending on the buildings; but that’s about what you would say, for this particular building. We will start in July with pre-K, all the way through fifth grade, and then we will continue to add to our next year in July. We will actually add sixth grade when the campus is done and when we have expanded fully will be pre-K through eighth grade here.
What’s the application process here at Thales Academy?
So for us; we do continuing rolling admissions. And so what that means is our families would go online to thalesacademy.org. It’s a great website that is going to give you a lot of information. They’ll click “Apply now.” Complete the application. Our admissions team then follows up to talk with families about next steps. Getting school records and working with families to get their child assessed so we can get them enrolled.
What can you find on the Thales Academy website?
We’ve spent a lot of time developing that website over the years, especially for parents who may have questions about curriculum, direct instruction, that’s a term that not all families are familiar with. We’ve got several great videos there that parents can see actual classroom footage. To kind of have an understanding of what to expect, which to your point. It gives them a good chance to come into the school already having some questions of what that can look like. We’ll have staff and on site teachers here to give tours, and a great opportunity for families to ask those questions. The website also has our calendar, tuition or outcomes. Lots of different things that would give parents information they need to come to our events.
What makes Thales Academy unique?
Heather: “So for us, it’s several different pieces that make us unique. We are a classical school. And so for our kindergarten through fifth grade model, we’re starting in the grammar phase. And it’s a lot of different things that come together that I think make us special. One of the biggest is really offering a high quality education. Holding our students and our teachers to high standards when it comes to academics.
So we utilize direct instruction within our K-5 model. And that’s really ensuring that our students have that strong foundation that they need in order to be good readers, problem solvers, critical thinkers. So that’s a big part of who we are as a school.
And then the other aspect is really working also on character education. It’s really important to us when our students leave, whether that be if they choose a different school in sixth grade, or they’re able to stay with us all the way through high school, we want to be able to develop students to their highest quality, not just academically, but to send out good people into the world. And you know, we really focus on that with some families outcomes. So our students are being held to a high standard for integrity, respect, responsibility, and we talk about that a lot. That’s a big part of our mission of the school.”
(photo courtesy of Thales Academy)
What is tuition at Thales Academy?
For Pittsboro, our pre-K program, which is a half day program, it will be $4,800 for the school year. And then for kindergarten through fifth grade is $5,300. And then for our sixth grade, next year, it would be $5,500 for tuition. It’s super important to our founder to make sure that we’re offering this education to as many families as possible. And so that’s one of our big goals to offer that high quality education at an affordable price. I think oftentimes families are surprised. Because really, when you look at $5,300 a year, that’s significantly cheaper for families with incoming kindergartners than what they’ve been paying in daycare.
How do NC Opportunity Scholarships fit into assisting with tuition?
We’ve been able to work with a lot of families over the years and it’s a really rewarding part to see families have that opportunity. So for Opportunity Scholarship, it’s a program offered this state of North Carolina and we partner with them. So when families go through that process, and they are awarded an opportunity Opportunity Scholarship for this upcoming year, it actually will cover full tuition at Thales.
Find more information, eligibility requirements, and an online application here.
If there’s one thing that can be done to make this a far better world, it’s educating our students to their highest potential.
Bob Luddy, founder of Thales Academy
On Saturday afternoon on April 30, Thales Pittsboro Academy will have an open house for any and all families that are interested with wanting to come out and take a tour of the building. They plan on having a ton of activities that afternoon. They will have food trucks, face painting, and a lot of fun.
Thales Academy Pittsboro will be offering Pre-K for the 2022-23 school year. The Thales Pre-K program is a robust preparation for the Kindergarten year, offering daily Direct Instruction lessons in core subjects, weekly specials courses, themed activities, story time, crafts, songs, games, and outdoor play. The Pre-K schedule runs half day in the mornings, Monday through Friday. Apply now here.