Sidney Ledson Institute

Our mission at the Sidney Ledson Institute is to raise children's intelligence. To whatever extent regular academic instruction can contribute to this, our primary goal is considered necessary. However, this unusual switch in priorities yields surprising results, for our children not only acquire exceedingly high intelligence, but they also establish supremely high academic standings.
We boost children's intelligence from the ordinary to the extraordinary – a goal our teachers achieve 100% of the time. Failure is unknown at the institute. If children need special attention, they receive it. Moreover, any topic that is unsuited to small group instruction is taught individually to each child. The institute offers enriched academic programs for students up to Grade 6. Our preschoolers' achievements – age two and older – have attracted much media attention during the past 30 years. Preeminent among the newsmakers have been our early readers.
Our program is based on the premise that young children are capable of learning matters that are needlessly delayed to a later age. When academic subjects are simplified, children learn quickly. Learning to think is the most critical component of early education. The Institute program entices children to think by engaging them in activities designed specifically for the task. In this way, children secure the rare qualities distinguishing those who lead from those who follow: minute attention to detail, a heightened ability to concentrate, and confidence to face – and triumph over – tasks that would defeat others.
How do we raise intelligence? We do this by including our curriculum, elements, and activities that promote the mind's use at all levels of our curriculum. The purpose of our program is not merely to equip children with knowledge and skills, but to equip them with the often ignored qualities that distinguish those who lead from those who follow: minute attention to detail, concentration, and determination to deal with – and triumph over – tasks that would defeat others.
At the institute, we work with you, the parent, to devise an individualized education plan catering to your child's specific needs. The low student-teacher ratio allows our highly trained staff to devote the time and care to each child, which is necessary to unleash their fullest potential. Alongside intellectual and academic advancement, we emphasize building self-esteem and effective social behavior. This strategy produces well-roundedness and confidence in all our students.
The Sidney Ledson Simplified Phonic Reading System is famous for producing readers at age two (some of whom learn to read before they are entirely toilet-trained). Preschoolers are guided in English usage, vocabulary growth, nature study, elementary geography, and French. Of course, all the traditional activities youngsters this age enjoy and benefit from: singing, music appreciation, storytime, show and tell, and others.
The intellectual enrichment preschoolers receive in our preschool, and junior kindergarten programs are such that, on graduating to senior kindergarten, they can deal with subjects rated as Grade 1 material in the public system, initiating a pattern of accelerated advancement that quickens each year. Not surprisingly, by the time our children reach Grade 2 and 3, they perform at the academic level of public school children several years their senior.
Our Grade 1 to Grade 6 program provides academic instruction that far surpasses the Ontario Ministry of Education requirements. To illustrate, the Ontario curriculum for math is enriched with advanced supplemental exercises in computing and in problem-solving. Individual attention and guidance permit our students to quickly achieve expertise in all subjects, which is recorded daily.
Pupils' understanding of social studies and basic science is broadened by exploring the world: past, present, and future. Students engage in weekly research activities with teachers guiding and explaining matters individually when needed. Children learn how to search sources, extract information, reflect on the importance and application of the details they have unearthed, document, and present them variously as reports, posters, and Powerpoint. Current events play an essential part in our social studies program. Children are encouraged to note, question, and reflect on world issues. Intellectual growth is stimulated by encouraging students to 'think outside the box:' to assess matters critically and form their own opinions.
We take pride in our students' achievements, seen by their high national scores and their published writings composed for regional, provincial, and national competitions. The Institute program secures entry for our graduates to academically elite secondary schools: The University of Toronto Schools, Upper Canada College, and all the others plus, of course, the gifted programs offered in some public schools.
Our exam prep program integrates the ministry curriculum with exam prep material unique to the institute. The strong academic foundation our graduates secure permits them to easily pass entrance exams in any other school while carrying with them an impressive portfolio of contests entered and published writing and leadership achievements.
French instruction begins as early as preschool. By Senior Kindergarten, our students have gained skills in French articulation, and they understand bare nouns and phrases. By Grade 6, students read, write, and speak French at a level comparable to public high school standards. Many of our students graduate to French Immersion Schools and other accelerated French programs.
A nine-month study conducted at the Royal Conservatory of Music by Dr. Glenn Schellenberg (the University of Toronto at Mississauga) revealed piano lessons generated higher intelligence. The activity is said to strengthen those parts of the brain employed in mathematical computation and spatial assessment. The cognitive processes in reading sheet music and playing instruments engage both the brain's left and right hemispheres.
Instrumental and vocal music is introduced to children at the preschool age. Optional piano lessons are offered to students as young as two years old. Students in the grade classes are also offered private one-on-one piano lessons besides the mandatory recorder classes held every week.