The fundamental belief at the Academy is that ALL CHILDREN CAN LEARN. All children have the right to attend school in which they can progress and learn. They shall have a real opportunity to learn equally rigorous content. We hold our school accountable to the same standards as those of the highest performing schools in our state.

The Academy encourages teachers to engage in “Performance-based” instruction, so that our students learn both the basics and the higher-level skills they will need after graduation. Performance-based classes are more difficult to design and teach than the lecture approach, but they help children learn better and become excited about learning. Children learn by doing. Students are required to prove, through their projects and presentations, that they have mastered knowledge and skills in language arts, social studies, mathematics, and science.

• Students usually learn only what they were taught by the teacher in class.

• Teachers usually stress individual work.

• Students usually use only one skill at a time. Math, English, Science, and other subjects are taught separately from one another.

• Students learn how to solve simple multiple-choice or true-false problems that have only one right answer and are easy to grade.

• Students learn how to solve simple, specific problems that may have little to do with the real-life situations they face when they got out of school.

• Students are encouraged to be actively involved in their own learning. They are taught how to learn independently, as well as how to learn from the teacher.

• Students learn to work alone and in groups.

• Students learn to use many skills at the same time and to solve many complex tasks. Students are taught how to use the skills they learn in many different subjects to complete an activity.

• Students learn how to solve problems that require critical thinking and may have more than one right answer. Grading these answers usually takes more time.

• Students learn how to solve the kind of complex, real-life problems they will face when they start a career.

The mission of the Grand Concourse Academy Charter School is to create a challenging learning environment that addresses and meets the needs of students in New York City, especially those at-risk of academic failure. In a concentrated effort to prepare our students for entry into the very best high schools of New York City, the Academy will seek to foster a sense of strong character, ethics, and personal responsibility, as well as high expectations and academic success.

The Academy will place a strong emphasis on Reading, Math, Science, and Social Studies, and will diligently seek to prepare students to meet and/or exceed NYS performance standards in ELA, Mathematics, Science and Social Studies.

The Academy will support and encourage professional development opportunities aligned to the instructional program, and will diligently seek and encourage active parental involvement and participation in the academic goals of the students. In addition, the school will seek to involve and engage a variety of community organizations and community leaders as partners to enhance the academic success of every student.

Our goal is to create and maintain an environment that is fair, safe, and nurturing for both staff and students. We hold true to the belief that excellence in education is the minimum that we will accept for every child and take pride in the reality that we are caring professionals.

Grand Concourse Academy Charter School was founded in 2004, serving 180 students from kindergarten through grade 2. Each year, the school continued to grow by one additional grade until we reached grade 5. In the spring of 2015, we were authorized by the State University of New York to extend our curriculum to grade 8. We are currently a Kindergarten through 8th Grade school with a capacity of approximately 625 students and growing. Our K-8 School status was officially implemented as of September 2017.

In the summer of 2015, our school relocated to the Monsignor Scanlan High School campus in the Throgs Neck section of the Bronx in district 8, which allowed us to accommodate an enrollment of 550 students.

In the summer of 2019, we relocated to a newly constructed establishment with state of the arts technology at 625 Bolton Avenue, Bronx, NY 10473, which allows us to accommodate our current enrollment of 625 students, and is expected to grow to a maximum capacity of 800 students in the forseeable future.

We are privileged to have a dedicated Board of Trustees, staff and parent partners, that work as a team to help ensure we reach our goals. It is our responsibility to ensure an equal opportunity for all students to make consistent and adequate gains in reaching their potential.

We are certain we can continue to count on your assistance in raising the bar so that our children can continue to attend the very best school in New York City.

Grand Concourse Academy Charter School
625 Bolton Avenue
Bronx, New York 10473

We are now located on Bolton Avenue
between Seward Avenue and Randall Avenue

Please use the main entrance on Bolton Avenue,
when visiting our school.

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION TO GCA:

From Queens And Some Areas Of The Bronx:

Take the Q30, Q76, Q46 or the Q44SBS bus to the Bx36 or Bx39 bus. There are numerous ways to connect to either bus from the Bronx and Queens.You can also take the Q65 bus to the Q50 bus to the Bx5 and get off at the White Plains Rd / Lafayette Ave stop. Below are two ways to connect to the Bx36 and Bx39 by train:

From Manhattan And Other Areas Of The Bronx:

* Take the 6 train to the Parkchester Station, and walk to White Plains Rd / Westchester Ave to transfer to the Bx36 bus (Soundview Pugsley Ave via White Plains Rd) from White Plains Rd / Westchester Ave to  Lafayette Street / White Plains Rd.

* Take the 2 or 5 train to the Bronx Park East Station, and walk to Bronx Pk E / Unionport Rd to transfer to the Bx39 bus (Clason Pt) from Bronx Pk E / Unionport Rd to Seward Ave / White Plains Rd.