Here’s everything you need to know about studying at Academy:

Venue

We are delighted to be partnering with Jubilee Church Liverpool, whose building we will be using for our Academy days. You can find the building on Ramilies Road, L15

Costs and Payments

We have worked very hard to make the New Ground Academy as accessible as possible. The Academy is subsidised by Freedom Church Liverpool and the New Ground family of churches, which enables us to charge students quite low prices for what they receive. For students enrolling in 2021, the fees for each year will be:

Individual Student: £200

Married Couple studying together: £320

The Academy offers bursaries to students who are unable to afford even this low price. Please specify on the application form if you need any financial assistance.

Course fees should be paid up front in full prior to the first session of the year in January. However, we will consider allowing delegates to pay in installments in exceptional circumstances, by prior agreement.

Time Commitment

Each month, students will attend 2 Academy sessions - a Thursday evening and a Saturday daytime.

Thursday evenings will start at 7.30pm and finish no later than 9.45pm. Each Thursday evening will feature worship, themed discussion, peer learning, interviews with senior leaders, q&a panels, prayer and more.

Saturdays will commence at 9.am and finish no later than 4pm. They will include watching 4 practical video teaching sessions, helping to apply what was learnt at the Thursday evening. There’ll also be more opportunity for discussion, peer learning, worship and prayer.

Attendance Requirements

Joining Academy is a big commitment, but one that we believe is very much worth making. We strongly encourage students to join the course with the intention of attending all sessions, only missing them if circumstances arise beyond their control. A big reason for this is that Academy days are not just about listening to great teaching, but also learning with and from peers, building relationships and journeying with fellow students towards mature, Christian leadership. It wouldn't be fair to those who have fully invested in the Academy to have other students dropping in and dropping out throughout the year.

Teaching Methods

Academy was founded in Wimbledon, London, where teaching is presented live in person. Teaching at Academy Satellite Bases such as ours uses video feeds of these original Wimbledon sessions. These are of excellent quality and will not detract from the teaching experience. In addition, Academy Liverpool will occasionally feature some live Q&A sessions and interviews with leaders and other key figures within Freedom Church and the wider NewFrontiers family.

Homework

Each month students will have four Bible based teaching videos of around 30 minutes each based to watch at home. These should be watched before coming to the Thursday night Academy session. Videos will be released around a month before each Academy block - so students will have plenty of time to prepare!

Academy is not an accredited course, and as such there are no formal assignments on Academy. Learning is solidified through reflective questions in discussion and prayer with fellow students. However, full notes for each session are provided, and students are very much encouraged to use these to take their understanding further, away from the Academy days themselves. Students are also able to download and re-watch any Academy teaching sessions online, once they have attended that session.

However, graduates will be presented with a certificate of completion at the end of the course.

Food and Drink

Tea, coffee and treats are always in plentiful supply at all Academy sessions - we know food provides great brain power!

On Saturdays , breakfast pastries and fruit are provided, and we hope to be able to provide lunch for all attendees - although we may need to ask for a small surcharge to enable this.

Dietary requirements should be recorded on the application form to ensure we cater for students’ needs.

Other Churches

We’re really keen to see Academy used by anyone who might find it useful, and are excited about building links with other churches within the area - hence us hosting Academy in partnership with Jubilee Church! If you’re not part of Freedom Church Liverpool, we’d still love to welcome you, but we’d suggest you have a conversation with your own church leaders prior to applying.