Our Mission

About Us

We approach education from the point of view of helping children acquire skills and knowledge that would increase their interest in academics and would eventually facilitate a comfortable transition when they enter college. At SchoolNova we believe that there are essential requirements for creating an optimal learning environment for children:
- instructors who are highly qualified specialists in the subject that they teach.
- motivated students
- a small class size
- a wide variety of subjects for a well-rounded education
- an interesting and engaging curriculum in each subject
- and responsiveness to the needs of students and their families
Many of our instructors have advanced degrees, university-level teaching experience, and research experience. Our small class size allows us to give a lot of attention to individual students. We have been fortunate enough to attract many talented and motivated students who set a good example for the new students entering our program.

Our mission

Our mission is to inspire children to study mathematics and science, to cultivate their linguistic skills and their appreciation of art, and to foster a stimulating learning environment by attracting talented and motivated students. We aim to arm our students with the knowledge, skills, and experience needed to succeed throughout their education and onward, both personally and professionally.

Our History

Our school is a new institution that was opened in February, 2012. However, our senior instructors have been working together since 2004. Initially, a group of Russian-speaking scientists and educators got together at the Brookhaven National Laboratory to teach young children the Russian language and mathematics. As the school grew in popularity, we decided to expand the operation. We reopened the school as part of the School-Plus network, utilizing classroom space at the Physics Department of Stony Brook University.
Our primary goal at the time was to establish a system of enrichment education in Mathematics and Physics for children of different ages, as well as to maintain Russian language instruction for students of Russian heritage. Since then, the size of our student body has doubled, mostly due to an influx of non-Russian speaking students who wanted to learn Math and Physics, which are taught in English.
Our unique capabilities in math and science instruction continue to attract students with those interests, but we realize that in order to serve our students best, we also need to teach them languages and art. A well-educated individual cannot succeed by studying science alone. The ability to communicate in foreign languages is essential in our globally interconnected community. The appreciation of beauty and the ability to express oneself artistically is important to achieve emotional balance and a sense of well-being. We have to be able to allow children to develop in these important areas.
As the school grew and evolved, we kept adding new subjects. Due to a great parental demand we have created a math and language program for children ages 3-6. We have added language instruction in English, French, Italian and Spanish, as well as in formal linguistics. We have expanded our science options and added new levels of mathematics instruction.
Recently, the School-Plus school system has been undergoing corporate re-structuring. We have decided to use this opportunity to spin-off our division and re-establish ourselves once again as a local, independent institution. We believe that this structure will give us more flexibility in formulating our own policies and attracting sponsorship from our community.
We have retained all of our talented staff, our classroom space at the SUNY Physics department and, we hope, the loyalty and interest of our students.
Nondiscriminatory Policy

NOTICE OF NONDISCRIMINATORY POLICY AS TO STUDENTS

SchoolNova at Stony Brook, Inc. admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship programs and other school-administered programs.