The Inspiration for Brainiacs
Brainiacs was founded by an OCT.
A number of years ago, a parent-volunteer in a grade two classroom noticed that her son was not producing the quality of work that was expected at his grade level. She also noticed that he would barricade himself behind book bins when doing his work so that members of his desk group couldn’t see. He didn’t have confidence in his abilities. He worked hard and diligently, but his written work consisted of random letters strung together. When asked to “read” his story, he’d tell a beautiful story. This boy had such beautiful ideas. He just couldn’t get them down on paper.
Desperately, she asked the teacher where she could take him for help. The teacher thought and thought, asked around, and researched further, but was unable to make any recommendations with confidence. There was not even one after-school program which catered to a specific program customized to a child’s specific needs. “If only there was,” she thought. And that is the story of how Brainiacs began.
The Evolution of Brainiacs
We opened our first Brainiacs location in 2013 in the heart of our own community (Thornhill Woods/Bathurst and Rutherford). We know that the hard-working families in the area have high standards and value education, and Brainiacs is here to give kids every opportunity to thrive and succeed.
As we grew, so did the need for more space. In July 2018, we moved to our current location on Bradwick Drive in Concord. We’ve still got the same passion, philosophy and family-feel atmosphere just in a bigger, more accommodating space! As well, we’ve added a unique classroom environment for our highly-sought-after high school credit courses. Come check us out!
The Brainiacs Story Continues
In March of 2020 Brainiacs took one more necessary step. In case you missed it, schools (and everything else) closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. We received further information that not only would schools be closed for 2 weeks to “flatten the curve”, they would not re-open again during the school year, and it was unknown if we would even be returning to normal by September.
At that point we had to decide how to continue to service our students, who still had the need for support. We quickly pivoted and moved our services online, and it could not have worked out better. We were amazed how well and how quickly our students adjusted to their new method of learning. With help from our amazing staff of tutors, Brainiacs became Brainiacs Online, and we could not be more pleased with the results.