With four kids under my belt I've had my fair share of schools, teachers, camps, babysitters and…read moredaycares. Needless to say but The Goddard School in Farmington has truly exceeded my expectations. Sure, I can go on and on about the structured days led by teachers who actually have a degree in early childhood education and brag about the art projects and the pictures I receive during the day and the complete report of my child's every activity at the end of the day...all emailed to me, but I'd like to focus on something else. The staff is owner operated, happy to be there and, my favorite part, is that when a child is having difficulties adjusting or a teacher doesn't have the "connection" with the kids they don't just sit there and wait to see if it all works out. How awesome is it that the owners are not just looking out for their bottom line but also the happiness and comfort of the student/teacher/parent relationship? The facilities are brand new, sparkling and fabulous. The hardwood floors are a perk for those who hate a germy carpet (totally me) and the bathrooms are disinfected after each use.....don't even let me get started on the epic hand washing routine they have! Amazing! Also, given this day and age, I must point out the security system, cameras, unique codes and fingerprint system. Sorry, I take no chances with my little ones and I want to know they are secure and this place is like Fort. Knox. Net/net the place is new, the owners are experienced and they too have a standard to live up to by using "The Goddard School" name. And aside from reading my fabulous review, which could be total BS because my kid goes there so I drink the kool-aid, check it out for yourself. Take a tour and see the art projects, see the doors of the classrooms changing weekly, she the teachers loving, singing and playing with the kids and, most importantly, see the kids happily responding to their peers and teachers. Reviews can be biased based on the happiness or unhappiness of a guest but what you see with your own eyes and how your child walks happily into school speaks for itself. Take a tour and drink your own cup of Kool-Aid, you'll know what I'm talking about!

Our two year old son has been at Goddards for 5 months. We have been very happy with the school and…read moreteachers. The school is clean, safe and provides many activities for the children's development. We have worked primarily with Miss Tia, Miss Denise and Miss Tanya who have been absolutely wonderful and caring. They were instrumental in helping our son overcome separation anxiety when he started and have all been very supportive. Our son has become very attached to all of them.

I am a new mom and needed to put my daughter into daycare when I went back to work. I live close to…read moreseveral centers but we chose kinder care. I am so so so happy with my choice. My daughter LOVES going to school each day. She has so much fun and is learning so much! As any new mom I was nervous to leave me 4 month old with total strangers... her teachers and staff at kindercare were not strangers for long. Rasya, the director, is an amazing person, director and caregiver. When we walk into kindercare Cromwell my daughter lights up the second she sees her. She reaches her arms out to snuggle Rasya!! I have never had a single problem with Rasya and her team. Ms Diana, Ms Amanda, Ms Marianna and Ms Kathy are so wonderful. I feel extremely lucky to have such a clean, friendly and professional daycare so close to home! The teachers are so good with communicating with parents, I never feel in the dark. I get updates and pictures all day. You can easily see from those pictures that the teachers really love what they do. The cleanliness and warmth are all a testament to Rasya and her commitment to excellent child care.

Everyone and I mean all of the staff, teachers and director at Kindercare in Cromwell are…read morefantastic! they offer such fun activities and update you during the day with pictures and such which I love! my son enjoys the cooking class they offer. Mr. Jason is so kind and patient with the kids! also MISS Debbie is amazing! we love them all! Miss Casey cares so much and is amazing! Highly recommend.

If you're looking for an education for your child that will yield an independent, self-sufficient,…read moreemotionally mature individual this is the place for it. Montessori School of Greater Hartford is an internationally accredited school with excellent, experienced teaching staff who are both firm and loving in their approach. Through frequent seminars and parent education events, parents have the opportunity to learn more about this neuroscience-validated approach to learning, which honors the child's inherent talents and strengths and nurtures its interests. Want a kid who can take care of him or herself from very early on? Check out www.msgh.org

TLDR - was ghosted completely after a visit; didn't feel we were welcome…read more A bit of a background, we visited this montessori to explore the possibility of enrolling our old child (less than a year old), when eligible in 9 months or so at the earliest. My spouse and I, we are both immigrants with no immediate family here for the support. We both have graduate degrees in STEM and work full-time. This montessori, given its proximity to our home and hours of availability, would have been a great option for my child to enroll. Unfortunately, we felt we were not really welcome here based on our visit and follow-through, or the lack of it. My wife made the first approach and was strongly encouraged by a staff at the school to arrange a possible visit. For clarification, the visit is a part of the multi-step process of getting admission. This staff mentioned to my spouse that this would be the best time to explore the possibility of enrolling our child. My spouse was very excited for the visit, which had to be scheduled between 9-10 am when they accommodate at most 2 people/families a day. The visit was alright for the most part. There were few odd moments here and there but we have gotten accustomed to those from our visits to other daycares and such. We were also informed by the staff giving the tour, a different staff from the one who my wife initially contacted, that the admission is really competitive and difficult to get. This sounded slightly different than the prior information from the staff. It was still understandable given how strained childcare and educational services have been in the area. At the end of the visit, we were given a brochure but were informed that they were out of the application form - odd again but not out of the norm. We were told the staff had our email and will send us the application form, and we could also reach out if we had more questions. My spouse emailed this staff with the questions the very same day. After getting no response for a couple of days, my spouse called the said staff and left a voicemail after receiving no answer. We never heard back and never got that application form. My wife again emailed the following week to no avail. We were ghosted and started wondering if we failed to meet certain standards they had set, unbeknownst to us.This is even more baffling given the fact the staff barely asked us, the parents, anything to know us. Now, in any other place, this would be an issue with one staff. Here, based on the information available on their website, it sounds like the multi-step admission process goes through certain staffs, not committees. We started asking ourselves what the chances are that if we couldn't hear back after multiple attempts or receive an application form, our application will be adjudged fairly, let alone be accepted. I am not sure whether I should be happy that the staff showed us how the "educational place" is before we got heavily involved or I should be saddened that an early development school is unwelcoming to many.

The staff and teachers are wonderful!! My son enjoys going to school, seeing his teachers and…read morefriends and learning new things. From the first day there they all knew my sons name and made him feel so welcome. I would recommend this center to anyone who is looking for an excellent daycare/preschool facility. I had a bad experience with a prior daycare and was nervous about putting him in a new one (it took me over a year to pull the trigger) but I was only nervous that first day. When I see his smile at the end of every day it reassures me that I made the right choice.

We began our experience with this learning center 2 years ago and we couldn't be happier with our…read morechoice in this daycare. The teachers are compassionate, patient, kind, accomodating, and overall extraordinary. We feel safe and confident leaving our 4 year old and twin 1 year old girls in their care. Their curriculum is beyond compare--they take extra steps in providing fun yet educational care for our children. The extra offerings like cooking class, phonics, and soccer training (not to mention their awesome summer program) are just added bonuses. The director, Heather, goes out of her way to touch base with us about our children's progression and provide us support. She and other staff have been a great support/reference for us as parents, providing us information and feedback on parenting tricks and child behaviour (and letting us know that we weren't crazy when we had home issues). They truly know and understand children. We feel that our son is already ahead of other children his age that go to other providers and will be well prepared for kindergarten. We really can't say enough good things about this center. I should also mention that we drive almost an extra 30 minutes, passing many daycares (including another Kindercare) just to come to this excellent learning center. We highly recommend this center if you are looking for the best choice for your child (ren).

In our experience, sending our child to Renbrook for Pre-K was unfortunate. There were two Pre-K…read moreclasses that, to us, appeared quite segregated, with most minority students and teachers in one class and others in the other. This gave us the impression that the school lacks diversity. Throughout the school year, our previously happy and outgoing child became increasingly miserable, to the point of not wanting to go to school in the mornings. We all felt a significant amount of stress. At the time, we weren't aware that Renbrook does not require formal qualifications for their teachers. It seems that individuals who were formerly teacher's aides or camp counselors are employed as teachers, without any formal education or training in child development or education. This contrasts with local public schools, which typically require a master's degree in these fields. In our view, based on what our child shared, these unqualified "teachers" seemed unable to connect with our child and perhaps others, resorting to strict discipline methods such as yelling, time-outs, and a lack of affection or support. As parents, we were repeatedly pressured through emails and phone calls to use time-outs at home to make our child easier to manage in class. The classroom environment seemed overly strict for four-year-olds, who were expected to sit still in a circle for extended periods and were not allowed to wiggle or make noises without being labeled disruptive. Any attempts to communicate with the school about how well-behaved our child was in other settings were dismissed. We felt blamed as parents, with the school insisting that the problem was with us or our child, never them. It appeared that children of teachers and wealthy donors were given preferential treatment, allowed to misbehave without consequence. Our child noticed this difference and expressed that the teachers only helped certain kids, not her or some of her friends. There seemed to be a bias, with boys being excused for inappropriate remarks or physical transgressions, while girls were expected to remain quiet and compliant. This made us feel very concerned. Based on conversations with other parents, it seemed that families who were not part of the teachers' or donors' circle were often advised to seek psychological evaluations and treatments for their children. This gave us the impression that the frequency of children in therapy at Renbrook was notably high. We never had the opportunity to meet the school counselor, as she was part-time and unable to attend a meeting we hoped she would join. When we attempted to discuss our concerns with the head of the school, we felt that our concerns were again dismissed, with the suggestion that the issue lay solely with us and our child. This was not supported by a subsequent elaborate professional evaluation, which found our child to be highly intelligent and emotionally healthy. Throughout the year, most of the school's communication centered around fundraising and monthly donation requests, with little focus on the educational details of our children. The events were more akin to social gatherings, featuring heavy drinking by some participants and the formation of cliques among parents at golf or social clubs. Notably, Renbrook does not offer tuition refunds if you decide the school is not a good fit and wish to transfer your child during the school year. This made the school year seem long and needlessly difficult for us. Things immediately improved when we enrolled our child in a different school for summer camp and kindergarten, where she now feels respected, supported, and welcome. We are very pleased with this change, and she has returned to being her happy, outgoing, curious, and well-behaved self. Lastly, we have noticed that Renbrook tends to respond to negative reviews by stating they have no record of the student attending, particularly in response to anonymous reviews. We assure you that we did send our child there, regardless of whether Renbrook acknowledges our email address.

Renbrook is by far the best private school - and better than most public schools - in the area…read more It's worth a look for any child between the ages of 3years old and 9th grade. Small class size, diversity, traditional and creative school curriculum and individual attention from teachers is the norm, not the exception.

I am a grandparent a child that goes to intensive education academy. I meet many parents at the…read morefamily nights which iea hosts at least once a month. And almost all of us indicate that iea has actually saved are disabled children. I e a is one of the few if not the only schools in which a child can get and Orton Gillingham reading education and also a life skills class. It is absolutely amazing to see the things that the life skills class and Mrs berube do for the children. They bring them on community trips, they run a coffee shack three times a week, they bake for events, and the kids there learn that community is most important. I would recommend looking at iea for anyone who needs both intensive reading education and life skills. But those are not the only things they offer they offer education children. There is music education, art education, physical education and health along with clubs that support children's interests. Intensive education academy is truly amazing. .

My son has been attending IEA since last winter and I've been truly impressed by the school and…read moreit's faculty. They care, and it's obvious. Going from special education in a public school to IEA has been night and day. They are meeting my son's needs, academically, socially, emotionally, etc. I urge any parents considering outplacement their child to tour IEA, meet some of the faculty members, etc. It's changed his trajectory not only in school, but in life, and I am thankful every day that he is attending there.

I couldn't be happier with the care my daughter receives here. The staff is truly amazing--kind,…read moreattentive, and genuinely invested in the children's well-being. It gives me so much peace of mind knowing she's in such a nurturing and safe environment. Highly recommend to any parent looking for quality childcare!

I've had both my kids at this day care for 4 years. I love the teachers who are very down to earth…read moreand easy to communicate with. My older son started here when he was 3 and this was his first daycare. He's now 7 and still goes here durning the summer. He loves to go here with all the activities in the summer they do for the kids. My other son is almost 2 and has been attending the Stork Club since he was 8 months old. The teachers are very attentive to all the kids needs. My toddler gets so excited when I tell him it's time for school. I would highly recommend this daycare!!

my daughter is 2 1/2 years old and she has been attending great beginnings for about a year maybe a…read morelittle more. We transitioned to the school and have nothing but great words to say about this . The director is attentive, involved, and kind. They use a curriculum Which I have seen make an improvement and shows growth for my daughter. My daughter is happy to go to school each and every day and talks about her so much. I look forward to my three month old starting there next week and to watch my girls grow with this program. I'm so grateful and thankful for all the teachers there.

I have three children in/completed the program over the last 6 years and the education is great and…read morethe children love the staff. My children are/were more than prepared for kindergarten. They return to visit often. If you have half a brain and hold yourself and your child accountable you will simply love it!!