Academy for Gifted Children - P.A.C.E. KEY INSIGHTS

Founded in 1993, the Academy for Gifted Children - P.A.C.E. is a private, co-educational, non-denominational school for intellectually gifted children in Grades 1 through 8. Located in Richmond Hill, ON, in a light-filled, newly renovated space, P.A.C.E. (Programming for Academic and Creative Excellence) is an innovative academic institution that is designed with the aim of making education exciting.

With the total enrollment of over 200 children and small class sizes capped at 22 students, P.A.C.E. has assembled a cadre of exceptional specialist teachers, veteran educators, and a leadership team that is mindful of the needs of gifted children. As a result, P.A.C.E. provides a rigorous, motivating educational experience for children who perform in the top five percent of the population in cognitive, innate ability, as measured on standardized intelligence tests.
 
The school goes beyond the Ontario Ministry of Education curriculum requirements with academic programming that is uniquely challenging, exciting, and specifically tailored to address the needs of gifted children. A suite of extracurricular activities and competitive and non-competitive opportunities in various disciplines, including academics, fine arts, and athletics, encourages students to become well-rounded individuals capable of reaching their full potential.

Admissions

Few schools can address the educational needs of a gifted child, for understandable reasons. For the child, however, that often leads to frustration, disengagement, or a lack of motivation. “Too often, bright children are ostracized for their unique characteristics and are sometimes very unhappy, and parents of these children are searching for a place where their child’s needs will be met,” says the director of P.A.C.E., Janice Gruchy.

P.A.C.E.’s highly specialized program addresses the needs of gifted children, which is why every prospective student is required to submit a psycho-educational assessment as part of their application. Children who score in the 95th percentile or higher in Full-Scale IQ (FSIQ) and/or General Ability Index (GAI) on their psycho-educational assessment are welcome to apply.

“We only cater to children who have been formally identified as intellectually gifted,” says Gruchy, which is why only children who have been identified on paper through a standardized cognitive abilities test can apply to P.A.C.E. With 95% of referrals coming to P.A.C.E. via word of mouth, Gruchy believes it’s a testament to the school and “the best possible recommendation one could have.” 

With rolling admissions, there tends to be larger influxes of students in Grades 4 and 5 - the grades immediately following those in which the public and Catholic school systems administer gifted assessments to their students, respectively.  Interested families can schedule a time to meet with P.A.C.E.’s Vice Principal, Ms. Caroline Corbit. This is a meaningful opportunity for parents to share their educational hopes for their child and for Ms. Corbit to share the specifics of the curriculum and answer any questions the parents may have.

Meanwhile, child applicants spend a day in class with their cohort. This is a chance for prospective students to gain an understanding of the school’s ethos and routine. It allows teachers to determine whether P.A.C.E.’s curated program will be a good fit for each child. Teachers look for curiosity, the ability to pick up concepts easily, a desire to know more, and a passion for learning. It’s also important to see a mutual respect for the learning environment, respect for peers and teachers, and basic behaviours in line with ensuring that teachers will be able to deliver the curriculum. This information is taken into account by the school’s director, who will assess whether P.A.C.E. is a good fit. Offers of admission are extended at the discretion of the director.

School leadership

P.A.C.E.’s faculty is comprised of educators specially trained to engage curious children. They have worked hand-in-hand with P.A.C.E. leadership to develop a curriculum built on greater depth and breadth of learning, with varied methods of instruction and a focus on higher-level thinking skills, problem-solving, and inquiry-based learning. They also understand the social-emotional needs of the gifted learner and focus on the soft skills, such as flexibility, teamwork, and having a positive attitude, all of which students require to manage their own emotions.  
 
To accommodate students’ unique needs, teachers routinely tailor lessons based on the interests of their particular class. If extra time is needed to discuss genetics in science class or the Canadian election in Current Issues, teachers are flexible and adaptable. 

Many teachers are specialist teachers, hired for their specific expertise in a field. For instance, their Coding instructor is a programming expert who teaches coding to students in Grades 1-5, and leads the Coding Club, an after-school extracurricular offered to students in Grades 6 and 7. Meanwhile, their primary music teacher has been performing on stage her whole life and has a Master’s in Theatre. She is the vocal music teacher for Grades 1-4 and the musical theatre director for Grades 4-8. She is also the choir director and coordinates the school’s musical performances. 

Teachers are available before and after class to support their students. They work collaboratively to ensure their lessons enhance what students are learning in other classes. School administrators work closely with staff and students to ensure everyone at P.A.C.E. is flourishing.

Academic environment

Teachers have a unique ability to reach all students. As Gruchy explains, “Our mission is to help develop your children and nurture their special gifts in order to maximize their success in the future. Each child is unique and learns differently. We strive to provide them with the learning skills, technology,  and strong value system needed to become true global citizens.”

We had the chance to experience this firsthand by spending a full day at P.A.C.E. and meeting with educators, administrators, teachers, and students. To start, we stepped into a math class, which is based on creative problem-solving, higher-level thinking, and application of numeracy skills to real life. The Grade 3 students were working on their weekly math drills, designed to hone their mental math skills.

Laughter filled the Grade 6B class as a group of students pitched a product for Owl’s Hollow—a Shark Tank-style competition in which student-entrepreneurs worked in groups to create and pitch a product to a panel of teacher-judges. The students had made a prototype and a slideshow that appeared on the Smart TV. (Each class has one.) The group walked their classmates through their financial plan, marketing ideas, and advertising strategy. The commercial they created made everyone, including the judging panel, giggle.
 
In another classroom, the Grade 5 students were working on their grammar homework, which involved recognizing compound sentences. Since English at P.A.C.E. is divided into grammar, spelling, literature, and writer’s craft, the Grade 3 literature class was engaged in a high-level discussion about one of their novels’ themes: the “rat race” of getting ahead and what that meant in the book and real life.
 
Later in the day, students in Grade 5 huddled around personal laptop computers and iPads as they programmed their own video games during coding class. They were tasked with creating a game in which something was “flipped.” Some students interpreted the assignment literally and coded their game so it looked upside-down. Others made the good guys bad and turned the bad guys good to flip their roles. The coding teacher worked with each small group as students chatted about their projects and experimented with their creations.
 
In the gym, the Grade 3 and 4 girls were in the middle of practicing a performance for the upcoming end-of-year showcase at the Richmond Hill Centre for Performing Arts. (The boys were preparing their own performance.) The group sang in unison and moved to the music, while the performing arts teacher guided the group through a final rehearsal.
 
The Grade 2 science class was learning about trees. Artwork from previous units was affixed to the walls. In one such assignment, students had completed a unit on the Vikings and created projects that involved writing in Old Norse. The teacher shared how students enjoyed writing in another language and decoding one another’s projects.
 
The last visit of the day was to the Grade 7 science lab, located in P.A.C.E.’s building for intermediate students. Students were working on their projects for the national Let’s Talk Science Challenge, which combined space research with engineering. Each group was tasked with creating a prototype for a submarine that could explore Europa, the subsurface ocean of Jupiter’s moon. Some students had created physical prototypes, while others had made digital prototypes. One student even baked a cake of her prototype. The students’ projects go into such detail that they win the competition every year.

Extracurricular activities

P.A.C.E.’s well-rounded approach to education caters to the whole child with lunch-time intramural sports, three recesses a day, mandatory supervised homework periods at the end of the day, and an array of extra-curricular activities after school. Students can uncover a new passion and pursue existing interests. Physical activities include everything from playing on sports teams like soccer, flag football, ultimate frisbee, volleyball, and basketball to competing in track and field. Other extra-curricular options include ballet, robotics, magic, engineering, sketching, and robotics, to name a few. Extra-curricular activities enable students to make new friends and interact with others based on shared interests and talents. School trips, including field trips and overnight trips, and spirit days, like Pyjama Day, Jersey Day and Crazy Hair Day, enhance school spirit.