How Does an Umbrella School Work for Elementary and Middle School Certification?

Rogelio Valdés

Jan 12, 2022

Enroll in the Elementary and Middle School program at robinacademy.com/escuela

One of the first questions families ask us is how we certify our students’ studies.

I already explained different ways to certify elementary and middle school studies in another video. Today I want to focus specifically on the second method we mentioned there: certification through an umbrella school.

At Robin, we partnered with an umbrella school that has spent more than 25 years validating the studies of thousands of students, many of whom later moved on to high school and university programs around the world. That institution is West River Academy. We chose to create our own educational methodology at Robin. We manage the student follow-up, design a personalized curriculum for each learner, assess their progress, support them through mentors, and provide the resources they need to keep developing their potential. West River Academy is the registered umbrella school that certifies those studies grade by grade.

How does this work for families?

It does not represent any extra cost or extra time burden for parents. Everything is included in the tuition, and we handle the entire process with West River Academy. Each month students receive a report card, and at the end of the year they receive their certificate. In that sense, it works very much like a traditional school.

What happens when students move on to high school?

When students graduate and move into high school, they only need to show the certificate we issue after 9th grade. It works the same way it would if they had graduated from any other school. If a student is in 5th grade and wants to return to a traditional school for 6th grade, the process is the same. They simply present the 5th grade certificate we provide at the end of the year and can enroll in a public or private school in Mexico or another country.

International validity

One of the most important goals for us at Robin is reaching children and teenagers in different countries. We have already worked with students in Mexico, Spain, Chile, Argentina, Peru, Colombia, and more. That is one reason we chose to work with West River Academy. Its certification is international, and the institution already has experience serving students from many parts of the world.

This certification is valid in more than 109 countries through the Hague Apostille Convention, including the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia, England, and members of the European Union. I explain this topic in more depth in the related video.