This is where the foundation is built - or Quietly Missed.
Reading fluency, handwriting, mental math, focus, confidence. By Grade 4 these are either solid or they’re not. At Discovery Academy we build them, every day, with a teacher who knows exactly where each child is.
10:1
ratio
20
years
Richmond Hill
What you build between Grade 1 and Grade 4 sets everything that comes after.
Grade 5 math is hard if Grade 3 wasn't solid.
Times tables. Fractions. Mental math. If these aren’t solid by Grade 4, every year after gets harder. We catch the gap now.
A child who struggles to write can't get their thinking onto the page.
Holding a pencil. Forming letters. Building a sentence. These have to be taught directly, every day, with a teacher reading what your child wrote.
A child who feels behind in Grade 2 stops trying by Grade 4.
Times tables. Fractions. Mental math. If these aren’t solid by Grade 4, every year after gets harder. We catch the gap now.
An eight-year-old's attention is being trained every day — by apps, not school.
We rebuild attention the only way it gets rebuilt: stretches of focused work, real conversation, books read all the way through.
Bright children coast when no one is pushing them.
Strong students need more challenging work — and a teacher who notices. At a 10:1 ratio, we challenge every child to their edge.
No child slips through.
10:1 means we know what every child is reading, where their math sits, how they’re settling — every day. Not by report card. By name.
Reading. Writing. Math. Confidence. Built one child at a time.
Grade 1 to Grade 4 is when the academic habits set — how a child reads, how they write a sentence or present in front of an audience, how they sit with a hard problem, how they recover from a wrong answer.
At Discovery Academy these aren’t left to chance. We teach phonics directly, practice mental math daily, write every day, and give specific feedback by name. At a 10:1 ratio, no child slips through.
Dr. Marina Blumin
She founded Discovery Academy in 2006 — 2026 marks DA’s 20th year. Every teacher on staff is interviewed and selected by her. Every student’s progress is her concern.
See it before you choose.
A tour runs 30–45 minutes. You’ll watch a real Grade 1–4 classroom and meet the teacher who would be your child’s.
If you’d simply like to learn more about our school, please fill out the form, and our representative will briefly explain our prices, schedule, and advantages. There’s no obligation and no upfront payment.
Get more information
Grades 1–4 · Richmond Hill
One business day. No mailing list.
At 6 to 10, children form the habits that shape the next ten years.
Four skills, taught the way we teach math — named, practised, repeated until they become how a child meets the world.
Not a wellness program. Not therapy. Just skills, practised on a schedule.
Breathing
To settle before a test, a presentation, or a hard conversation.
Box breath, 4·4·4·4, before every quiz.
Gratitude
Daily, structured — not performative.
Three short notes at the end of the day.
Growth mindset
How to read a wrong answer as information, not failure.
“Yet” journals and error logs in math.
Goal-setting
Small goals the child sets and reviews themselves.
Monday goal · Friday review · own the week.
Real classrooms. Real moments.
What you should know before you tour.
Depending on program. Payment plans available.
Drop-off from 8:30 AM.
Hot lunch included.
Typically 10–14 children with a teacher and assistant.
Founded in 2006 in Richmond Hill, Ontario.
Things parents ask before they tour.
Don’t see your question? Ask it on the tour — that’s what it’s for.
What if my child has an IEP or specific learning needs?
IEP accommodations are attended to directly by classroom teachers and academic leadership — not handed off to a separate support program. A 10:1 ratio makes real individualisation possible.
My child is bright and bored at their current school. Will DA challenge them?
Yes. A 10:1 ratio means we meet each child where they are — including well above grade level. Your child won’t get more worksheets. They’ll get more challenging problems.
Do you have homework?
Yes — purposeful, not excessive. Homework time is built into the after-school program, so your child completes most practice with a teacher present.
What about screens and technology?
We use technology where it helps — and not where it doesn’t. Our classrooms are built around children working on paper, with teachers, with each other. Not in front of a screen.
Come see a real morning.
A tour runs 30–45 minutes. You’ll watch a real Grade 1–4 classroom and meet the teacher who would be your child’s.
If you’d simply like to learn more about our school, please fill out the form, and our representative will briefly explain our prices, schedule, and advantages. There’s no obligation and no upfront payment.
Get more information
Grades 1–4 · Richmond Hill
One business day. No mailing list.