Zida Academy held their grand opening this past week. The new school was opened in Stittsville because the owners fell in love with the community — its village feel and the lush nature that surrounds it. The grand opening was celebrated with many activities and local food vendor Jo-Jo’s Pizza and Jo-Jo’s Creameria providing their slices and delicious ice-cream. Tours of the facility were open for all and an introduction to their program and curriculum being provided.
The school is located at 1 Henry Goulbourn Way, within 1.5 acres of landscaped private property. It is surrounded by the Trans-Canada Trail. The state-of-the art facilities and vast property are dedicated solely for early childhood education. Zida want the children to not only have access to the best programs and educators, but also the best facilities and environment to allow the students to learn and grow optimally.
Zida Academy has two divisions — a music division and an early childhood education division.
The music division provides private one-on-one piano lessons and other instruments for children ages 2 to 17. In 2018, our music division became Canada’s first and only Steinway Select School. The accreditation is given by the prestigious piano manufacturer Steinway & Sons where over 98% of the world’s concert pianists prefer to perform on. This accreditation was given to the Zida Academy music school due to the quality of their music program and the long history of their music students achieving top results at music exams, recitals and competitions both in Canada and internationally. Many of the students have performed at world-class venues such as the Carnegie Hall in New York City.
Zida’s comprehensive program follows the STEAMS curriculum which is STEM + Arts + Sports. STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics. The Arts involve Literary Arts (in English, French and Mandarin), Visual Arts, and Performing Arts (Dance, Drama, Music, Musical Theatre). Sports provides Physical Education and Yoga programs for children. All of the educators are Registered Early Childhood Educators (RECE) with a diverse background in various educational methods such as the International Baccalaureate, Waldorf, Montessori and “How Does Learning Happen?” Ontario’s Pedagogy for the Early Years.
The childcare centre is unique in the sense that they integrate one-on-one piano lessons for each child in the daily curriculum.
The owners of Zida Academy are Sheng Lan, Managing Director and Hua (Jennifer) Lan, Founder and Music Director. Zida’s current RECE Educators are Mandi Jones,Supervisor; Wiktoria Rutkowska, Lead Educator; and Sara Bissonnette, French Educator.
The school currently has hundreds of students in their Music Education Division and recently registered two new students who will be starting in September in their Early Childhood Education Division.
Zida Academy are available for tours Monday to Friday from 8:30 am to 7:00 pm and are open for full-time and part-time enrollment year-round! You can contact the Academy at 613-836-3636 or visit http://zida.academy/book-a-tour to arrange a tour.