We lucked out on a home based daycare with our first child. So when we found out that she was…read moreclosing her business. When we found out we were pregnant with our second, we wanted the same type of care our first daycare provided. We looked at home based daycare but we could not find any that met our standards. We begrudgingly looked at daycare centers thinking they can never really do the job as well as our first daycare. Here are the criteria we were looking for: - have happy, clean babies and children in their care - have happy teachers - clean and bright facility with separate sleeping/play area - caring but firm teachers/caregivers - provide great communication with parents With those criteria in mind, we visited several centers. Some locations met a few of them, but not all until we visited Westpark Kindercare. On our tour, we met Valerie, the Director and Juliann (Assistant Director). We visited the infant rooms. There's Infant room A and B which is connected by a door with a baby gate. Both rooms were bright and clean. The babies were also clean and they looked happy playing. Now, our daughter is 1 year old and is transitioning to the toddler room. The teachers have done a wonderful job helping her become the "big girl". They really do care about our kids like their own. And I really appreciate that.

I toured several kindercare locations nearby & this location stood out so much. The moment you…read moreenter, it smells fresh & clean, calm music was playing, there's a coffee station for parents, every staff member was smiling and greeted me with a "good morning" & the director was so kind and welcoming, showed us around the entire facility. I noticed there were hand sanitizers placed around the facility as well. I haven't felt comfortable bringing my son to a daycare until now. It appears clean, the staff and kids seem really happy and their ratio is appropriate which seems safe as well. I'm looking forward to enrolling my son here.

We did summer camp here at Catalyst Kids Orchard Hills and we absolutely love it so much! Ms…read more Christine, Mr. Ben, Mr. Leo (and Ms. Kimberly and Ms. Melissa) and the rest of the summer camp team are fantastic! My son never wanted to go home when we picked him up! He was so happy and had so much fun! Ms. Christine, the site director, is really quick at responding to emails- she's absolutely amazing! As a helicopter parent, I definitely felt comfortable with sending my son to this Catalyst Kids and know that my child is well cared for and happy! Thank you Catalyst Kids Orchard Hills for a fun summer!

My daughter has been attending this CDC for a year now. She loves it. The teachers (Rachel and…read moreAlicia) are wonderful and the director Amanda is great. They make it feel like a home away from home. I like to know that my daughter is in a safe place where she can do homework and hang out with some friends after school. They have great snacks and I LOVE that they have sport activities. They are often outside playing some kind of sports when I arrive to pick up. Rachel has also organized teams within the CDC to compete against other CDC's in the area. My daughter loves this. She played on the soccer and volleyball teams. Overall this is a wonderful place for kids to come after school.

If your childcare search has been like mine, you've probably already shopped around and tried this…read moreand that, but I'm glad to tell you that you probably don't need to search any further! I'll start by saying that our experience ( and this review) will primarily be focused on the toddler and upper rooms ( zazzy zebra, dazzling dolphins, and the preppy pandas). The classroom layout for all the rooms is made very thoughtfully with each part of the classroom designated for a specific type of play/ learning. My son is now in the pre-k room and still one of his favorite spots to hang out is the reading area! The rooms are adequately staffed so it doesn't seem like there are too many kids to teachers, and supervision doesn't seem to be a problem either Oh, and another nice touch is that they have a washer and dryer unit on site that they regularly use! While my son was potty training, we didn't have to bring home bagged up dirty undies which honestly was very nice. The main thing that I like about this school is the daily report and daily photos they send to the app. It's makes it so easy to see how your kid is doing and also a great way to talk about their day during pick up ! The price for the school is for sure on the higher end, but I do feel that they are 100% worth every penny!

We couldn't be happier with our experience at The Goddard School of Tustin!…read moreFrom the very beginning, everyone made us feel so welcome, and the teachers have been incredibly kind, patient, and caring. We feel especially lucky that our daughter had Miss Fariba and Miss Taraneh as her teachers. Since they speak her native language, they gave her a wonderful sense of comfort and familiarity that made her transition so much easier. We were honestly amazed by how quickly she adjusted. Within just one week, she felt completely comfortable and happy. As parents, there's nothing more reassuring than seeing your child genuinely excited to go to school every day. We are also extremely impressed with the educational program. The curriculum is engaging, age-appropriate, and thoughtfully designed. Every day our daughter comes home having learned something new through fun, creative, and hands-on activities. It's clear that the school focuses not only on helping children feel loved and safe but also on encouraging their curiosity, confidence, and development. Thank you, Miss Fariba, Miss Taraneh, and the entire team at The Goddard School of Tustin for creating such a warm, loving, and enriching environment. We are truly grateful and highly recommend this school to any family looking for a place where their child will feel safe, happy, loved, and inspired to learn.

Final review for this location. I recently transferred my…read moreson to a different location. It was an easy decision to make after the lack of communication the staff had with dad and I and amongst themselves on multiple occasions. I do wish the team at this location had more communication with one another and better training in urgent situations. Overall my son got multiple bite marks in his early years here, a cracked elbow, and most recently 5 stitches to his chin after being pushed by another child during play time. Accidents do happen but the way incidents always got minimized or met with lack of urgency and reports hardly matched what was described verbally is what really sucked. I did have some teachers who I liked and really liked that it was Spanish and English being taught at times. But overall I wouldn't recommend this location to family or friends. There's room for improvement and accountability at this location.

My daughter attended here the past 6 months. Our experience has been great thus far…read more Pros: separate classrooms for different age groups, some places we tour only have dividers between the classes. The facility is clean and well kept. Teachers were all very sweet and accommodating, she comes home singing new songs and dances. They provide lunch and snacks so I didn't have to pack, which was great. She usually comes home with a new hairstyle nearly everyday, which is amazing since she would never sit still long enough for me to do her hair, it takes some serious skills and patience to do her hair as well as her teachers did, thank you. Cons: there really isn't much. Most notably though being the camera. It was a big selling point for me, but the images often are very blurry, could hardly make out which one is my child, has to put colorful bows in her hair just to pick her out from the crowd. Even then, can't really tell whether she's laughing, upset. Just a blurry figure. Another cons being that they consolidate the classes later in the evening without really giving a proper sign out to the other teachers. It seldom happens, but a few times I've picked up my child and there's a bruise or some sort of injuries, which happens and expected since she's a toddler, but kinda upsetting when I ask what happened and the teacher kinda shrugged and said she didn't watch her earlier so has no idea. Overall though we enjoy our time here and would definitely still considers kiddie academy.

This is a wonderful preschool. My son looked forward to going to school everyday that he went here…read more He was very sad to leave to go to a new school for Kindergarten. Now I'm taking my daughter here and she loves her mommy and me class. She wakes up everyday wanting to go to school even though the class for her age is only one day a week. Also, one of the teachers here, her name is Mrs Bennett, is an angel of a teacher. Even after my son left to go to kindergarten, she got in touch with me to ask how his first day went on the first day of school! She cares about the kids and is so kind. She sets the bar for what a good teacher is and I'm so happy my daughter will get to eventually have her as her teacher too!! I would definitely recommend this preschool!

I researched several other schools for my 3 year old Son before committing and being put on a wait…read morelist, and hands down this one was by far the BEST!! The teachers and office staff are amazing...they treat you like Family! My Son is always having so much fun and wants to go everyday lol. The Reggio philosophy and outdoor classroom is perfect for my Son, who loves to explore and get dirty...such a fun way to learn! Anyone would be happy sending their child here, and I love it just as much!

We have been thankful for the time our children have had at St Andrews. Each child is different and…read moreresponds differently to daycare services, so these reviews are really for you as parents to understand the offerings the schools provides and if check it out if it's a fit for your child. The teachers we encountered are great and I am forever grateful for them. My son started off in the babies room and we chose it cause it was (at the time) the only school that allowed me to come in and continue to breastfeed my baby during my lunch break. Apparently, before COVID that was rare. My kids returned a year after COVID and going to a different preschool for a brief moment. They loved their teachers. To this day- these teachers are among their favorite Ms. Shakina, Ms. Lorraine, Ms. Cece and Ms. Evelyn. They have all taken the time to work with our children, prepared them for Kindergarten and gave them the space to thrive and grow in a loving environment. Class sizes are small and they get the attention they need. They also serve nutritious and delicious breakfast, lunch and snack for the children and accommodated to allergies. They ate a variety of food beside peers which made them adventurous to try new foods. Mr. Michael's music program is amazing and my kids took piano lessons during school hours. They also had soccer shots program during school hours (which set the foundation for my son to get into club soccer). My niece who also attended did dance and gymnastics at the school during school hours. Twice a year they hold a musical performance and throughout the year, families would be invited back for multiple festivals including ones that show off the child's work. Almost once a month there was some type of event. The older kids also have field trips to sing at the local retirement homes. Here I know exactly where our money is going and appreciate how it's being used. Childcare nowadays is so expensive and knowing how they are spending the money makes you appreciate their leadership. We are grateful to have children who are alumni in this school.

Unfortunately, after 4 years of our son attending SACC, I have to update my review. I'm not going…read moreto go into the full details here because it's a personal matter. But it's important to note that we had fantastic experiences with the TEACHERS. This 1 star review is for the admin staff. This school is not equipped to handle children who might need a bit of extra support with neurodiversity or behavior struggles. The admin staff put in the bare minimum effort. While here, we had the following happen: - Admin staff recorded a video of our child having a meltdown as if he was on display instead of intervening, and they sent it to us via their app. - The office space where the admin staff works looks like a hoarder lives there, and they bring children back there if they need to regulate or need time away from their classroom. This area is not child proof at all, and when my son threw a marble it shattered their monitor and we ended up paying almost $1000 out of pocket to replace it. When we asked for the old monitor so we could try to fix it, they didn't reply. - We had our contract terminated with zero warning, while we were out of town. We were given a 2 week notice to scramble to find new care. We were told that our son was moved to a new classroom as "a final option" but that was never told to us. We had no idea that we were at risk of his care being terminated. Our child was devastated. The teachers also told us that they were NOT informed that this was going to happen. If our child needs extra support (beyond what we already did such as obtain an IEP and send him to ECLC for extra help 3 hours a day) we understand, but the communication was disgusting and disrespectful of the 4 years of time our son has been there. I wrote up a long response to them and it also was ignored. In talking with their contracted behavioral consultant, she agreed that this school does not offer adequate support for children who need extra help with age-appropriate behavior struggles such as the need to regulate their bodies, inability to sit and focus for long periods of time, issues with transitioning between activities, or kids who don't want to nap. If you've got a perfect angel kid and the admin never needs to get involved, SACC is fine. But they're in desperate need of new admin staff. There's a reason they haven't been full for a very long time. I fully expect they'll reply here and misconstrue the truth, and I'm not going to be baited into replying. Just consider I spent $100,000 of my money here and still return with a 1 star. My son is now thriving at a new school, and surprise - he's never missed his bus. They love him and he's had zero behavior issues at his new school in the 6 weeks he's been there.

This is our second year with Catalyst Kids at PCE, and we are very happy with the program provided!…read moreMs. Alicia and the staff are very friendly, helpful, communicative, and organized. There are activities, crafts, homework help, etc as well as family events. My son feels very at home there and he is always happy when I come to pick him up! :) I can tell the other children feel taken care of, too, in how they interact with each other and Ms. Alicia. I am grateful to know my son is looked after with care while I am at work!

My daughter attended Catalyst at Peter's Canyon & we have been beyond satisfied with all services…read moreprovided. The staff Ms. Alicia & Melissa were so thorough & walked us thru the application process as well getting our daughter in right away! They are hands on with the students & our daughter absolutely loved the program! Ms. Alicia is so kind and treated our daughter as she was her own! Catalyst was such a wonderful experience for my little girl & she would come home from school each day raving about how awesome the program was. This program definitely made us feel comfortable and provided the peace of mind parents need when leaving their children for work. So sad to say goodbye due to schedule change in work. We will miss you guys! Keep up the great work!

Our five-year-old has attended LePort Montessori School Irvine Orchard Hills for almost a year now…read more We have had a wonderful experience. We feel especially fortunate to have Ms. Dilusha and Ms. Adriana as her Primary classroom teachers. She has made meaningful progress in both math and reading. Just as importantly, she has grown in confidence and independence. When she first started, our daughter experienced a brief period of drop off anxiety, Ms. Dilusha handled it with patience and warmth. She calmly welcomed her into the classroom, helped her settle into an activity, offered the reassurance she needed without making the transition feel overwhelming. Our daughter feels safe, supported, and genuinely happy to go to school each day. We truly appreciate the thoughtful care and guidance she has received. We wholeheartedly recommend this school.

We've had a wonderful experience at LePort Montessori. From day one, Karla and Head of School…read moreAyanthi have been incredibly kind, welcoming, and supportive, creating a warm environment for both children and parents. A special thank you to Ava's teachers, Ms. Ana and Ms. Zoey, whose patience, kindness, and genuine care have made such a positive impact. It's clear they truly love what they do, and Ava is always excited to go to school. We're grateful to the entire LePort Montessori team for providing such a nurturing and positive learning environment. Highly recommend!