At a Glance
A tiny Staten Island elementary where four students share every teacher and the curriculum pushes ahead of grade level.
Best suited for
Staten Island families who want a small, academically accelerated elementary experience with individualized attention and don't need subway access or a large peer social circle.
What stands out
- A 3.9:1 student-teacher ratio is extraordinary for an elementary school and effectively gives each child near-tutor-level attention.
- The curriculum includes Lego Robotics, computer coding, and chess — STEM exposure uncommon at the PK-5 level.
- Russian and Spanish language offerings set it apart from most neighborhood elementary options.
- Rolling admissions with no fixed deadline makes enrollment more flexible than most private schools.
- Tuition sits in the $10,000–$12,000 band, which is relatively modest by NYC private school standards.
Things to consider
- Parent reviews are split — academic rigor and warm teachers are praised, but several families cite concerns about staff communication, payment issues, and at least one reported head-injury handling dispute.
- At 58 students, the social pool is tiny; there are no big-school sports teams, theater productions, or the elective range a larger school offers.
- The 91.4% White student body means families seeking a more diverse environment should weigh this carefully.
- Staten Island location with no nearby subway means this is realistically a drive-or-bus school for almost everyone.
- The school's stated emphasis on Russian-language exposure may not align with every family's expectations for cultural framing.
Identity
A nonsectarian, coed elementary serving PK through 5th grade on Staten Island, the school markets itself around individual attention and an accelerated curriculum. With 58 students and a 3.9:1 student-teacher ratio, every classroom functions almost like a tutoring pod. Its stated mission centers on producing confident, independent, and critical thinkers.
Community
The student body is overwhelmingly White (91.4%), with small Asian and Hispanic populations and a diversity index of 0.32 — making this one of the less racially mixed elementary options in the city. The 58-student total means the community is intimate enough that families tend to know one another well.
Neighborhood
The school sits in the Grasmere-Arrochar-South Beach-Dongan Hills area, a middle-class Staten Island neighborhood with a median household income around $81,734 and a college-educated rate of just under a third. Roughly one in ten households lives below the poverty line, putting this solidly in working- and middle-class territory rather than either the island's wealthiest or most challenged pockets.
The school is beyond walking distance of the subway, so families will need a car, school bus, or other transport to get there.
Notable Programs
What Parents Are Saying
Mixed reviews: praised for academic rigor, warm environment, and dedicated teachers; criticized for Russian-focused culture, rude staff, and organizational issues. Recent negative reviews cite head injury reporting concerns and payment processing problems.
Synthesized from public parent reviews · Apr 2026
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Frequently Asked Questions
- Is SMILES AROUND US ACADEMY a good school?
- Published quality ratings aren't available for SMILES AROUND US ACADEMY yet on Motley. It's a private school serving grades Pre-K to 5 in Grasmere-Arrochar-South Beach-Dongan Hills.
- What grades does SMILES AROUND US ACADEMY serve?
- SMILES AROUND US ACADEMY serves grades Pre-K to 5.
- How do students get into SMILES AROUND US ACADEMY?
- SMILES AROUND US ACADEMY runs its own private admissions process — typically an application, a visit, and sometimes testing.
- Is SMILES AROUND US ACADEMY public, charter, or private?
- SMILES AROUND US ACADEMY is a private school.
- What neighborhood is SMILES AROUND US ACADEMY in?
- SMILES AROUND US ACADEMY is in Grasmere-Arrochar-South Beach-Dongan Hills, Staten Island.