12345 Gayton Road, Richmond, VA 23238(804) 740-6500

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Our School

About Academy of Academic Excellence

A unique elementary school located in Richmond, VA, serving Pre-Kindergarten through fifth grade since 1997.

At our independent school, excellence is not a skill, it’s an attitude. We welcome elementary students from Pre-Kindergarten to fifth grade. The inspiring atmosphere at our school provides students with a well-rounded education and an insatiable love of learning. The faculty implements multiage grouping, a customized curriculum, enrichment classes, wise decision making, and critical and creative thinking strategies. We balance our academics with an integration of Art, Music, Physical Education, Yoga, and Spanish to promote healthy social and emotional growth. Academy of Academic Excellence, a unique elementary school located in Richmond, VA, is ready to embrace you!

Founded in 1997 by Rita Busch, owner and Dean, the school serves elementary students of varying abilities and cultural backgrounds. Our customized curriculum offers a challenging atmosphere for academically advanced children and support for those in need of academic strengthening. Academy of Academic Excellence is one of the few private elementary schools in Richmond, VA that accepts full day Pre-K students and helps them grow in a nurturing and caring atmosphere.

Accreditation and professional affiliations: Academy of Academic Excellence is accredited by the Middle States Association Commissions on Elementary and Secondary Schools (MSA-CESS) and is a member of the Virginia Council for Private Education (VCPE).

Middle States Association Commissions on Elementary and Secondary Schools
Accredited by MSA-CESS
Virginia Council for Private Education
Member of VCPE

Mission & Vision

“Intelligence is not what you know but what you do when you don’t know.” — Albert Einstein

Mission

The Academy’s purpose is to create an effective and collaborative learning environment that includes a variety of programs customized to enhance each child’s talents, abilities, interests, potential, and refinement areas. To maintain teacher accountability in selecting objectives to differentiate for the appropriate level of difficulty, and to monitor and adjust while inspiring within each child a life-long love of learning.

Vision

The Academy of Academic Excellence believes that every child possesses distinct talents. Its climate is one that inspires creativity, encourages curiosity, supports thinking outside the box, exposes children to innovative ideas, teaches wise decision-making and problem-solving abilities, instills leadership skills and good citizenship, empowers students to express their points of view, and cultivates an insatiable love of learning.

The school fosters an environment that offers a tremendous wealth of learning strategies for Pre-Kindergarten to fifth graders. With a low student/teacher ratio, our school seeks to identify the learning style of each student and utilizes a variety of techniques such as Bloom’s Taxonomy, questioning, collaboration, and graphic organizers that strengthen high-level thinking skills and develop unique ways of looking at information.

The Academy of Academic Excellence embraces multicultural students from diverse backgrounds. The world is our classroom where academics, fine arts, foreign language, technology, physical education, and 21st century skills are expertly woven together by integrating talents of master artisans, students, faculty, families and our community.

Richmond’s Premier Elementary School for Accelerated, Leadership-Driven Learners

At the Academy of Academic Excellence, education is not divided by grade alone — it is designed as a launch sequence. From learning foundations to confident leadership, every stage prepares students not just to advance, but to become.

🚀 The Launch Pad — Pre-Kindergarten

This is where acceleration begins.

In The Launch Pad, students are learning how to learn. We intentionally build:

  • Eye-hand motor development
  • Attention span and focus
  • Listening and direction-following
  • Collaboration and classroom responsibility
  • Empowerment through meaningful classroom jobs

Academically, students begin decoding three-letter words, develop early reading confidence, and build strong number sense including early addition skills/ Singapore math.

We accelerate early — because strong foundations create strong futures.

🚀 The Blast Off — Kindergarten – Grade 2

This is where differentiation ignites.

In The Blast Off, academic growth becomes dynamic. Students:

  • Read at their appropriate challenge level
  • Master math concepts through precision and fluency
  • Present mini-dissertations and share ideas confidently
  • Lead discussions
  • Articulate thoughts clearly
  • Think differently

This is where advanced learning becomes visible.

Acceleration is no longer emerging — it is exploding.

🚀 The Leadership Academy — Grades 3 – 5

This is where formation takes flight.

By the time students enter The Leadership Academy, academics are assumed. Now we cultivate capability and character. Students:

  • Present confidently to adult audiences
  • Mentor younger peers
  • Manage entrepreneurial projects
  • Define and defend ideas with reasoning and research
  • Write persuasively
  • Engage in community impact initiatives
  • Develop executive functioning habits including time management, goal setting, debate, and public speaking
  • Think independently

The Leadership Academy transforms accelerated learners into poised, self-directed scholars prepared not just for middle school — but for influence.

Annual Tuition

$18,750

Our Educational Philosophy

Differentiated Curriculum

What is DIFFERENTIATED CURRICULUM? Deliberate adaptation and modification of the curriculum. The Academy achieves this by building its curriculum to be: Accelerated, Complex, In depth, Challenging, Creative, Conceptual.

Multiage Grouping

Research shows that all students placed in multiage environments will accelerate a minimum of one full academic year. While students are grouped with their same age peers for emotional and social growth, during select times of the day they are grouped by ability level which allows students to be met at their appropriate level of difficulty.

Learning Strategies

With a low student/teacher ratio, our school seeks to identify the learning style of each student and utilizes a variety of techniques such as Bloom’s Taxonomy, questioning, collaboration, and graphic organizers that strengthen high-level thinking skills and develop unique ways of looking at information.

The Whole Person

We balance our academics with an integration of Art, Music, Physical Education, Yoga, and Spanish to promote healthy social and emotional growth.

Students’ Bill of Rights

  • Not everyone needs to do the same work at the same time.
  • Students will learn as much from each other as they will from the teacher.
  • Students must take responsibility for their own learning.
  • There are many paths to an answer.
  • Often, there are many right answers.
  • Mistakes can be valuable learning experiences.
  • If it is easy, you are probably not learning very much.

Special thanks to Peabody school for intellectually advanced students in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Why Families Choose AAE

At a Glance

  • Pre-K through Fifth Grade
  • Richmond, Virginia
  • Founded in 1997
  • Low Student/Teacher Ratio
  • Differentiated Curriculum
  • Multiage Grouping
  • Daily Enrichment Classes
Read From the Dean’s Desk

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