What's our "Difference"

---

Our 3 full-time permanent instructors, Michelle, Dave and Kevin, are MTO certified driving instructors specifically trained to teach neurotypical and neurodiverse teens. We do not use part-time contractors as we want a student to have a consistent teacher through their training. All in car lessons are recorded and reviewed for training, teaching quality and safety.  Our structured curriculum is the most comprehensive of any school in Burlington.  We have just over 40 hours to teach a life skill, we want to make the most of it. The Google reviews show we are getting this right

Good safe driving can't be learnt in 10 hours - we are here to teach, not babysit practice. Parents (and a car) are a vital part of the equation if we are to achieve the very best result.

On the 4th (last) day of the classroom parents are invited to attend an information and mentor guidance session.  What can you do to help your child get the most out of the training, its probably the only driver training they will get - on the most dangerous thing we do every day!

We hand out the lesson and practice plan so you know what is being taught on each lesson, because we know how well teenagers provide feedback, we are parents too.

Halfway through you will receive a very informative email about your child's progress as well as a step by step guide to the test skills that need to be practiced for the road test.

At the conclusion of the training, another email with the information about test booking and how best to prepare or the test.

We take preparing children to drive very seriously - it has to be.  That means if your child isn't ready to drive safely on their own, we will tell you.  

The road test is about 10 minutes of driving, and a pass means you have met the minimum standard to drive a vehicle. 

This all takes time and a genuine want to make our students safe drivers and live long happy lives. We adapt our lessons to the students learning style. We stay on a curriculum which captures that we teach all the necessary skills. Our goal is to deliver a driver who can safely drive with confidence anywhere a G licence permits. 

Effective In Class education is essential in creating safe drivers with a proper understanding of the driving environment.  We only do in person classes to ensure full student engagement. Although permitted to teach up to 40, our classes are limited to 14 students.  Kevin is a natural teacher who has ADHD so has a drive and enthusiasm which is very apparent in his classroom lessons.  He has a skill to be able to communicate to the class in a way that builds team work  enjoyment and engagement among the students.. 

Each of us feel a responsibility to the family of a student.  They are putting their trust in us to deliver the training to keep their child safe when they drive off on their own as a G2 driver.  We take a lot of effort to ensure that happens.  We ask the parents to attend an information and mentor session at the end of the classroom sessions, giving them advice and guidance.  This includes a practice plan that synchronises with the lessons, so you always know what has been taught and what is coming net.  We do expect parents to be involved.  You cannot learn to drive safely with just 10 hours of lessons.  Just like sport, practice is needed to automate actions. At the end of each lesson the instructors can  spend a few minutes discussing the lesson with the parent.  

Our target is to teach the student the skills to be able to take the G2 test road test by the sixth hour of training.  This is very different to most schools who consider that to be the conclusion of all training. For the remaining 4 1/2 hours we teach G level skills over three lessons. We take students out to Milton and into the countryside north of Burlington and down the 407. We give students a full lesson on the 403 and QEW so they can handle that very busy road. The final lesson we take them into Hamilton for experiential lesson in a very different city to Burlington. No other driving school does that.

At Yellow Umbrella Driving School, we're a team of three not a call centre. We are a small local business based in Burlington not a franchise.  It can take us a day or two to respond to general inquiries but once the training begins we communicate by phone and text directly between the instructor and the student.  We care about the students and we care that the parents are fully informed and can share with us any concerns or difficulties.