Founding Guide — Early Elementary Studio 

Trellis: An Acton Academy 

Vancouver, BC | Full-time | August 2026 start 

$52,000–$60,000/year 

Application page: https://trellised.ca/guide  

You have wanted to build a culture where children are treated as capable — not someday, but now. A culture where adults ask better questions instead of giving quick answers. Where support does not become rescue. Where mistakes are not emergencies, but material for growth. Where agency, honesty, responsibility, focus, courage, and repair are practiced daily, not printed on a wall. 

Maybe you have believed this for years. 

Maybe you have seen what children can become when adults stop doing the work for them. 

But you have not found the right place to build it. 

Trellis may be that place. 

Trellis: An Acton Academy is opening in Vancouver in September 2026 as a small learner-driven community for up to nine founding learners, ages 5 to 7. 

We are looking for our Founding Guide — not a conventional teacher, not a classroom manager, and not the adult at the center of the room. 

This is a founding role. The first Guide will help us shape the culture of Trellis for years to come. 

At Trellis, children are not passive recipients of instruction. They are learners who build independence, take responsibility, work toward mastery, practice self-governance, reflect honestly, and grow through meaningful challenge. 

Our first-year studio will be intentionally small, mixed-age, and tech-free. 

The Guide’s work is to prepare the environment, launch meaningful challenges, ask strong questions, observe carefully, hold calm boundaries, protect the culture, and help learners do the work that belongs to them. 

In this role, you will need to be: 

  • Present without taking over.
  • Supportive without rescuing.
  • Warm but firm.
  • Firm without becoming controlling.
  • Comfortable with failure, repair, and honest reflection.
  • Serious about building culture through daily practice, not slogans.

Montessori training or experience is strongly preferred, especially AMI or MACTE Montessori training/certification at the Casa or Elementary level. Experience with children ages 5 to 7, mixed-age environments, outdoor learning, project-based learning, Reggio, Waldorf, forest-school, Acton, or other learner-driven settings is also valuable. 

Formal credentials are welcome. They are not the whole thing. 

We are open to an exceptional non-certified candidate if the instincts, judgment, humility, communication, and ability are clearly there. 

The role is full-time and begins in August 2026, before learners begin in September. The Founding Guide will help prepare the studio, shape early rituals, clarify rhythms, and help Trellis begin intentionally from day one. 

How to apply:

We do not start with a resume. We start with how you think. 

Full application page: https://trellised.ca/guide 

Email hello@trellised.ca with three things: 

One: A short note — who you are and why this caught your attention. A few paragraphs, not a cover letter. 

Two: Your answer to this question, in about 200 words: 

Tell us about a time you watched a child struggle with something hard and chose not to take over. How did it feel? What did you notice? What did you do instead? What happened? 

Three: A two-minute video of you telling a story. 

Any story you love telling. A phone camera is perfect. We are not looking for production quality.