Not every child is a perfect fit at a school, whether charter, private or public, that is just…read morefacts. With that stated first, let me say this secondly, GCS has been an amazing school. We came to GCS during his high school portion, and what a change it has been for him, on the highest of praise. The school has been attentive towards his educational needs, social interactions as well as tending to all the students and faculty spiritually. We were not sure how he/me was going to adjust but seeing all the friends, his grades improving and how the school really comes together as a family, it was one of the best transitions that we could have ever asked for. Barry and Becky McKeen really have a tight handle on the school, and the interaction/level they have with the parents and students is VERY impressive. I highly suggest that if you have not looked into GCS for your child, that you begin to do so...if there is room. You will be happy for all that GCS will provide for you and your child(ren).

My son graduated from this school, and my daughter currently attends. The school is amazing. The…read morechildren always have activities, and the sports teams are competitive. If you are looking for an excellent well rounded school this is it!

School hasn't even started and I'm already impressed by the staff and how things are being run…read morearound here. Everything is organized by what I have seen so far. I'll be writing another "updated" review once school gets underway:-)

This place sucked! Mrs.Plesina or whatever that witches name is was emotionally abusive! I remember…read moreher yelling at me across the room for getting a 78 while other kids got such a smaller grade! I was picked on I was the "anger doll" In her eyes. That women had anger issues for sure and needs to be put in therapy! I remember crying in my moms bathroom because she wrote a note asking for me to go back down to 2 grade and my mom explaining she is doing it because she doesnt want me to be yelled at by her or upset after school because she was being bitchy to me! I was 9! 9!!! and dealing with such a devil! Laughed at me when I cried or pushed me to move faster in the hallways. She is lucky I was young and innocent if it was now I would have yelled at her back and attack. After I went back a grade because of her she did anything to pick on me in the hallways. I hope she burns in hell with her career. Now done about the teacher I wanna talk about the kids. I was bullied and beat on the play ground by 4 older kids and no one did ANYTHING! THEY DIDNT EVEN HAVE TO SPEAK ABOUT IT WITH A TEACHER! IT WAS "YOUR FINE" OR "TATTLE TAIL" Thinking about what I went through kills me breaks me down in tears. I chopped my hair off out of anger that school made me upset with myself kids made me think I was ugly. I WAS HIDING UNDER A PURPLE JACKET FOR 2 YEARS BECAUSE THEY MADE ME HATE MY BODY. If you want your kid to deal with bullies and stupid teachers that dont care for your grades go right ahead and put them in this school. take it from someone who has seem the darkest deeps of this school dont just dont.

Fantastic School!!! Daughter has been going there since 6th grade,she currently is in 10th Grade…read more The teacher student ratio is excellent and she gets alot of 1 on 1. The school has made my daughter go from below level in Elementary school to honor roll. The teachers know the students extremely well and that helps with in today's society of threats as the school is a smaller private school. I would recommend this school to anyone wanting a school from 6th to 12th and their child has a IEP and needs extra help than what the public school provides. The owner is involved in the school and frequently visits. When a parent has any concern he quickly addresses them with the parent.

I have 2 out of my 5 kids that go here. First and foremost the staff and school makeup are more of…read morea family then a business, the Primary Administrater named J dog...lol that's what I call her is Caring, funny and committed to each and every student, making sure they always succeed and grow to their full potential. The staff is constantly Changing but at the same time also Constantly improving, one of the new teachers this year stands out above the rest to me, her name is Ms. Jesica she teaches a little of everything, English, Spanish, scianse, cooking....and the list keeps going, she makes school so fun while keeping it Structured. If your kids have an IEP, 504 plan or maybe just need something a little less Conventional than public school check this place out. I do many things but one is teach online at Jesuit Catholic University's, my field is Speachel education and educating teachers to teach successfully. This School is wonderful in my opinion, always room to change and improve but they are Spreading their wings still and always improving and learn to be the best school in the area for kids with needs.

All of my children have gone here over the years. They are receptive to concerns and have the…read morestudents best interest in mind. Great school.

IF I COULD I WOULD GIEV THIS SCHOOL 0 STARS the principal is absolutely rude to every single…read morestudent the only nice person was the front desk people and couple teachers I do not recommend the school the principal doesn't care about any students at all she yells at kids and parents and accuses people of stuff and then doesn't apologize when she knows that it wasn't true

Looking at this photo, that is not Lithia Springs. The school doesn't have lockers. Not sure what…read morethe purpose of the photo is.

Both of my now older boys went to Lithia and now transferred out of private, my younger 2…read more Extra special teachers! And again my younger 2 come from very small private school (where school had just a little over 300 kids from pre kindergarten to HS!) I am still impressed! Excellent teachers that care! With checks and balances, responsibilities, fun and my kids are actually looking to go in the morning! Now I never had to deal with higher up administration ( saw a negative review) but speaking to principal in the mornings.. she is no push over and no way she did not help, or kept things better for kids who need help! And sometimes yes kids do not get along and sometimes as a parent you do need to keep track of their mental status. This is where you keep in contact with teachers. Like I said we had previous dealings with the school and this time around excellent!

Heaven help your child if they are being bullied. I have had COUNTLESS emails/phone…read morecalls/conferences throughout the years and NOTHING has changed. They don't have a guidance counselor for kids to go to, they don't have a designated nurse either. I don't think anyone has called me or emailed me ever about something happening TO my child but they sure do reach out if she does something wrong. They go through teachers like crazy! In one year my child had 4 DIFFERENT math teachers! 4!!!! How is my child supposed to thrive like this?! They don't have an indoor lunch room for the children either! Try to get an understanding of what the kids are learning? Good luck! No agendas, no weekly communication, nothing. My child has tried harming herself and had to be put in therapy because of the bullying she has received at this school! I am fed up. Please, please if you love your children DO NOT PUT THEM IN THIS SCHOOL.

This is a great school. I have had my daughter here for her first two years of school and I have…read morebeen very impressed with staff and curriculum. As a single mother it is a financial burden but for me it has been worth every penny and would recommend to anyone looking for a challenging and rewarding education for their child. For anyone looking I would suggest a tour so you can get a feeling for the campus and faculty. They also have a competitive before and aftercare program for those who would require this option.

I would not recommend Child's Haven Daycare in Valrico based on our experience. My daughter never…read moreenjoyed going and often dreaded drop-off. She constantly had to defend herself from bullies, which left her anxious and withdrawn. During this time, she developed night terrors and behavior issues she had never experienced before. The atmosphere did not feel nurturing. Some teachers seemed disengaged, and my daughter was even fearful of certain staff members. On one occasion, while we were at the pool next door, a regular visitor mentioned that they frequently heard teachers yelling at children inappropriately. That was very unsettling to hear as a parent. The facility itself also felt lacking--children don't have adequate cubby space, and there are odd, inconsistent rules that don't make sense. The front office staff were often dismissive and unapproachable, which made communication very frustrating. I regret not removing my daughter sooner. Once we switched her to a different daycare, all of her issues disappeared within weeks--she began sleeping through the night again, her behavior improved, and she was once more her happy, confident self. Every child deserves to feel safe, cared for, and supported at daycare. Unfortunately, that was not our experience at Child's Haven.

Unsupervised children. My daughter suffered a concussion (medical bills and suffering) because of…read morelack of supervision during a field trip. She was hit in the head 18 times with basketballs. The offenders admitted to it. 1 offender was told he couldn't attend daycare for ONE day. Today I picked up my girl and she had a huge knot in her hair. I was told that the daycare professional had 25 children to watch and she didn't notice what was happening. Took me over an hour to fix my daughter's hair, and even before I started she had already lost lots of hair due to the daycare panic to try and remove the knot. I'm finally going to seek attorney advice, I should have before. Mt advise..look for another daycare if you want your child to be looked after.

My son has gone here since he was 2. everyone is very friendly. we decided to keep him here for…read moreVPK. His teacher M. Linda is so good! she is very great with the kids and they all adore her.

My son has been going to Children's Nest since he was 1 year old and we always had a great…read moreexperience, until this year. The first year of VPK, he moved into a classroom and it has been nothing but problems ever since. They have 2 classes for VPK and one of them just happens to be partially run by the daughter of the director, Tracy Bailey, whom does not hold a teaching certificate. The director has now expelled the 4th 4-5 year old child in the last 5 months from the school because the teacher "cannot handle the children." Every time there is an incident with any child in this class, it is during the time that the actual, licensed VPK teacher is out of the building, leaving only the director's daughter, Kayla to look after the kids. She is not capable of adequately supervising 20+ children on her own, and spends most of her time either looking at her phone or filling out numerous incident reports for kids, leaving the kids to their own. After speaking to a few of the other teachers, to my surprise, none of this is a surprise to any of them. The nepotism shown in this building alone has made several of the other teachers leave, now leaving the school heavily understaffed. I have noticed over the past 12-18 months while picking my son up that most of the teachers have been replaced at least once. When I would pick up my son every day I would always notice how I rarely recognized most of the teachers any more and only a handful recognized me anymore. As furious as I am about the situation that a few horrible teachers and 1 crooked director have placed us in, I am more upset for my son. It was heartbreaking having to tell him today, a week after he turned 5, that he would no longer be seeing some of the teachers he's loved and friends he has known nearly his whole life. He still does not understand what he did wrong and that would make the teachers suddenly yell at him this morning and drag him to the office, then kick him out the way they did without even talking to us. After 4 years of going to this school and to suddenly be shown such blatant disrespect and disregard for my son, makes me sick. If you must place your child in this school, be warned that they will never receive the proper care and attention every kid needs and deserves when they need it most.

Our family was let down by First Discoveries Academy. From the outside, the venue appears to be a…read moredream school, especially for those kids who have special needs and might struggle in mainstream schools. We took a tour of the place in July with Cindy, the owner. Cindy and I all agreed it would be a good fit for our child, even though my husband had a bad feeling about the place, so we paid a $500 deposit to hold her spot, with a starting date on September 1. Cindy gave me the information for the scholarship to pay for the (very expensive) school fees. I obtained and provided the required documentation to the scholarship program and was approved for the scholarship. After that, I shelled out another $130 for school supplies on a list I had to acquire myself on their difficult-to-navigate website. Cindy then informed me that I would receive a conference call to educate me on the inclusion program, but, that call never came. A few days before our child was to begin school, I took her for a two-hour visit (they require a visit before the child is able to attend school) and dropped off the $130 worth of school supplies. When I went back to pick her up, Cindy informed me that our child needed ABA to be able to attend the facility, as it was part of the "inclusion program". Again, the program she said she would call to speak to me about, but never did. I said that was fine and that we would sign up for ABA and pay out of pocket until we were able to get it approved through our insurance. Cindy said she would send the referral to the ABA provider, and someone would reach out to me soon. She said I could leave my school supplies, since our child would be able to attend her school in the near future. Well, weeks passed by, and I heard nothing. I called the school several times over a course of two or three days before I finally got ahold of Cindy for an update. She stated that there may have been a technical issue when she sent the referral over to the ABA provider, so she would send it again. In other words, she forgot to, just like she forgot to call me about the inclusion program. Again, more time went by with no communication, whatsoever, so, after putting a lot of effort towards contacting Cindy again, she finally wrote me an email saying there's a waiting list for ABA. I said we would wait a little longer, as I really, really wanted our child to attend this school. Weeks went by with no communication, so, reality finally sank in for me, and we decided to not let this place waste any more precious early childhood time, so I began the process of enrolling our child into a different school. I informed Cindy via email that we were disappointed with her lack of communication and for wasting time, and that I had located another program for our child. I requested our deposit back, as well as our school supplies, and stated that my husband or myself would come by and pick them up. Cindy finally responded and unapologetically offered to mail me a check for our deposit, along with $100 for the school supplies. So, that means they used our things without our permission. What would have happened if our child began school at First Discoveries and she had no supplies because they had the audacity to use (steal) our possessions? So, after stating that the supplies were worth $130, and that they didn't have permission to use our things, but we would accept Cindy's offer of the deposit plus $100, here I am waiting for our shorted refund. Too bad we can't receive a refund for our time, emotions, and effort this place wasted. Perhaps this is a blessing in disguise because now I know why my husband had a bad feeling, and I would never trust this place with my child. Learned my lesson.

Our kids love attending First Discoveries. They offer full time care and after school care. They've…read moreestablished so many positive relationships with teachers and other students. It's great to see all the kids get along so great when dropping off and picking up. Definitely recommended

My son went to Burnett Middle School and when he went there he said that it was the best experience…read moreand he learned so much.He never got into any fights and he passed with straight A's all through his 3 years there.All of the teachers were nothing but nice and helpful. I would recommend that school to anyone.I love this school.

This is the most horrible school in tampa it does not even deserve 1 star it deserves half a star…read more And the school stole my kids fidget spinner and did not give them back my son asked for the fidget spinner and the teacher said wait till the end of the day no kid gonna be thinking about a fidget spinner at the end of the there gonna be thinking about getting out of that horrible place you guys call school and there have been lots people fighting and my son took a video of roaches crawling all over a teachers desk the teachers also want to get your kids in trouble they call for the dumbest reasons its like what you want me to do ground you because you were late to a class thats across the other side of the school no way and there are people always stealing someone stole my kids phone twice i had buy him two phones this year and the teachers are like "well your kid shouldnt leave it in your back pack and always keep it close to you" but i dont how because the teachers tell you to take your bookbag off and place it behind your seat im so glad my kids not going there for 8th grade im switching his schools and its going to not be broke to were it cant even afford cameras so if a kid gets in trouble the teachers just believe the one that has a better record which i think is bull my sons friend had a recording of someone one messing with him so he pushed him back off of him and then that that leaded to a fight so the other kid that was messing with him did not get in trouble because his record was better my kid had to beg me not to go to school with him to beat the crap of that kid so in final conclusion this school sucks.