We've had the pleasure of sending our oldest to Challenge when she turned 2 years old, which is the minimum age to start enrollment. Being so happy with her care from Sea Otter class to Penguin class, we chose to enroll our youngest as soon as we could as well. We've spent the last 3 years with Challenge and just had the joy of seeing our daughter graduate and be ready for K. Reflecting on how we chose to enroll initially, I did extensive research and tours of the Mandarin immersion programs local to Fremont in 2020/2021. Challenge, despite it being on a somewhat non-traditional school campus, was the best choice to us. I appreciated the smaller teacher:student ratios. After starting, it was also really clear that there was a good balance of schedule/routines but also new topics introduced to the students over time. Personally a big fan of project based learning (PBL) which is broadly what the curriculum follows. My impressions were that the preschoolers are introduced early and exposed frequently to letters and numbers and my oldest has naturally grown curiosity in reading - this is super important to me - as opposed to a rigorous academic environment. We're very happy with the experience at Challenge. So much so that although we are moving to the Peninsula, we'll actually be transferring to another campus for my youngest to keep up with the great experience we've had with the overall Challenge program. read more

Took my 3 kids (5,3,3yo) to the East Bay spend Summer with grandparents. I wanted to expose them to a structured chinese school environment. It was nearly impossible to find a daycare/school that will only take the kids for 2 months (I've spoken to maybe 10 schools in the area). Thank goodness for Challenge School! Kimberly the director was super helpful, answered all my questions on the first phone call (didn't have to play phone tag), very responsive to follow up emails, clear line of communication, very accommodating to my situation to only be in the bay area temporarily. I am over the moon to have found this gem in Fremont. No doubt I will bring the kids back next summer. read more

Our 4year old has been going to Challenge school for almost a year now, and we absolutely love it. We knew back then that we had to transition our kid out of his daycare, into a preschool for a more structured program and learning. We wanted him to continue learning Mandarin in school, and at the same time pick up English to prepare him for formal education. Challenge school offers both Mandarin and English structured curriculum. Our kid's learning has increased leaps and bounds since. He brought home weekly arts & crafts, his vocabulary expanded and his conversational skills surpassed what we teach him at home. he constantly amazed us with what he learned in school - solar system, continents and oceans, traffic rules, food nutrition, music class, yoga, etc. (in mandarin!) The school also organized Christmas and Chinese new year performances and it was heartwarming to see the little 3 and 4 year-olds singing and gesturing on stage - thanks to the dedication and patience of the teachers, our kid still sings the songs today, even after few months since the performances. We love that the school uses Brightwheel app to post daily photos and activities of the kids, so we are aware of the school happenings. We know that we wont have the luxury of checking school pictures daily once our kid is in formal school (he might not even tell us how's his day..), and we truly enjoy seeing his daily progress in school. The teachers are our favourite part of the school. Every teacher is genuine, caring and loving, with really amazing student-to-teacher ratio. Our kid remembers all the teachers by name, and often calls them his 'best friends'. We have peace of mind knowing that our kid is in good hands. read more

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Highly recommend the Fremont campus where our kids went for almost three years. This is where they developed their mandarin from zero to fluency, where they made a lot of friends that they still keep in touch, where they learned yoga, music, drawing, performing etc and where they thrived because of the care from the teachers. We will miss everyone in the community dearly! read more

Challenge School provides a great mandarin immersion program in Fremont for preschoolers. My daughter went to Challenge since January 2022 after we moved to Fremont; it was a big change for her with all the transitions. She has grown so much and transitioned well. She made some really good friends, too. I especially like the size of the school and classes being relatively small as compared those in other preschools - (the great teacher-to-student ratio) not only does she get enough attention and care from her teachers, it also creates a small community. On top of that, the spacious indoor environment contributed to zero COVID outbreak during the pandemic - it was definitely a huge plus. The teachers there are very caring - I remember when my daughter just started there, I probably wore a worried look when I dropped her off at school every morning. I was soon comforted by the teachers, "Don't worry, she's really happy here and she transitioned well." When it comes to communication, Kim was always responsive and quick in responding to my concerns and address them right away. At Challenge, they teach in both languages which matches our goal to raise our child to be bilingual and biliterate. I love the various programs they offer at school - from drawing, coloring, crafting, art, to writing, counting, basic math concepts, etc. I also like how they structure their curriculum by theme, and how they evaluate children's development. It is amazing that my daughter is now being prepared to read, and every once a while, she surprises me with what she learned from school - she read "I see a frog" recently, and she understands the concept of zero - we definitely didn't teach her much at home. Recently they have added music class taught by teacher Fan (she plays the piano very well). As a small community, parents and families are involved- not only birthday celebrations, today they have families volunteered and had kittens visiting the school! Imagine how excited and happy the kids are! There are always on-stage performance and events for holidays - it is a lot of hard work from the teachers and our kids. I look forward to her graduation this summer but can't help feeling a little sad about her departure from this great school. Certainly each school has its strengths and room for improvements, but the fact that I already feel that we would miss Challenge so much means something! We are grateful that we found Challenge School, and will be forever thankful for the teachers at Challenge who played an important role in our daughter's early childhood education! read more

Challenge School - Preschools Near Me - Fremont, California

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Our family loves Challenge School! TLDR: Great bilingual programming, so my kids are learning lots in Mandarin and English; caring, communicative teachers; and good facilities. My 4 yo and 2 yo both go to Challenge School. We get daily photos of the kids in class so we can talk with them about their day in school. Examples of their programming -- they do seasonal units and had lots of fun stuff for Chinese New Year (and a great show that parents could attend, and you could really see the love and care that the teachers and kids put into the show). Right now they're doing their spring and garden theme and my kids came home with paper kites they made in class and baby bird nests that they love playing with. Teachers are really communicative. Quick responses on the Brightwheel app and they helped accommodate my 2 yo daughter (who is youngest in her class) as she was mostly potty trained but occasionally had some accidents. And also were helpful when we asked for support with her feeding challenges (she has had some feeding issues but is on a good trajectory). Facilities are also happy and kids have space to run around inside and outside. They have a playground with a yard as well. Other random bits of info that might help: - Not all the kids come from Chinese-speaking families (us included -- we don't speak Mandarin at home). There are some families who don't seem to be ethnically or culturally Chinese but their kids go to school there and learn in Mandarin and English and it's great. - Option for hot catered lunch 3 or 4 days of the week. This is such a huge time-saver from having to pack lunch all the time. read more

I would highly recommend challenge preschool. My daughter has made many friends there, under the caring of the most wonderful teachers. Even she goes to TK now, she still talks about how she misses her teacher and the toys there. My daughter enjoyed the lunch there and she was happily fed daily. Besides, my daughter loved watering plants with her friends at school! read more

Challenge School - Preschools Near Me - Fremont, California

We love Challenge School! Both of my children have really enjoyed attending the school, and are under the care of the most wonderful teachers. The bilingual programming at Challenge School is exceptional, allowing my children to learn extensively in both Mandarin and English. The teachers are not only caring but also highly communicative, ensuring a nurturing and supportive environment. The curriculum is a great balance of learning and playing. My older one just started TK and I feel like he was really well prepared to start school because of his time spent at Challenge School. We also appreciate and the daily photos and alerts the teachers send to us, giving us good visibility to the the children's days. They also hold lots of special celebrations, like for Chinese New Year and and Christmas, where the children put on special performances for the parents to enjoy. These events clearly demonstrate the love and dedication of both the teachers and the children. In summary, Challenge School offers a loving, educational, and supportive environment where children thrive. The dedication of the staff, the enriching activities, and the the exceptional environment make it a wonderful choice for early childhood education. read more

Our kids attended this preschool, great teachers, nice environment, highly recommended!

My daughter joined the Fremont campus a year and a half ago, starting in the Sea Otter class and now progressing to the Penguin class. We highly recommend this preschool to anyone interested. The teachers are incredibly professional and passionate about education. They invest a lot of time in preparing engaging classes and activities. My daughter loves her teachers and enjoys her time at school. She has made great progress in both English and Mandarin, and her social skills have also improved. The classrooms are clean, and the school has a clear sick policy to help minimize illness. read more

We love Challenge School- Fremont!!! Our daughter will be soon completing 2 years at this school. We enrolled her in this program when she was around 2.5yr age and it was her first exposure to any school program. We still remember the early days when we were very anxious about how she would adapt to this new environment. Right from day 1, we were both impressed and relieved by how attentive all her teachers were to her needs and helping her adapt to the new routine. As an example, in the first few weeks, our daughter would ask the teachers to tell us to pick her up really early. To comfort and help her adapt, Teacher Kim would ask her to sit on a "green chair" and tell her that mom/dad would come pick her up soon after that. Our daughter would, on certain days, tell us that she was sitting on the green chair and then we came to pick her up. We believe such small constructive interventions, there have been more over time, gave our daughter a sense of reassurance that she was being listened to, which also gave her some sense of control. The Mandarin-English dual program Challenge school offers is outstanding. We really like their way of immersing children in the dual language environment. Incorporating music and movements to daily teaching appears to work very well. Our daughter loves to replay the dance and music at home in the evenings. Her language skills in both Mandarin and English grow tremendously and often serves as a mandarin translator for me often :). This pre-school has great teacher-to-student ratio at all times. More importantly, all teachers in the school have been awesome, caring, loving and communicative. The daily photos and videos we receive on the brightwheel app allows us to be constantly in the loop. ). Our daughter loves her teachers. This is evidenced by her constantly talking about them, sharing details with us on her 1-1 interactions with her teachers, and emulating them in her pretend plays. For us, it is great to see her forming that type of bond with her teachers, and also tells us that teachers are putting in genuine efforts in building the 1-1 relationship with each kid. We are very thankful for that. Additionally, I must highlight the drop-off flexibility offered by this school. Sleep schedule for kids varies. From the very beginning, we knew we wanted to prioritize her sleep and not to force a sleep deprived toddler to school just to meet some early drop off time required by other schools. We were really glad and fortunate that we found such a gem in Fremont. It has been an amazing journey to see our daughter grow and blossom at the Challenge School Fremont. We highly recommend the school without any reservations. read more

My son started at Challenge in 2021 Fall, when the Fremont campus was relatively new. This Fall he'll be heading to Kindergarten and I'm confident he is fully prepared because of the nurturing he's received. It can be stressful trying to find the right fit for a student and family, but go take a tour and speak with Director Kim. Challenge has been the right fit for us. I've referred 2 other students into the program because we love it. Here's what I told them about how I made the choice: I had a few "requirements" when school shopping. I wanted Mandarin exposure (so immersion or bilingual). I wanted a school that is NAEYC accredited, so they (presumably) pay attention to providing developmentally appropriate curriculum and whatnot. I'm also a very spoiled parent in that I was accustomed to a daycare which had an on-site kitchen and private chef so I never packed lunches or snacks. When we switched to a Fremont preschool, I wanted a place that provided hot lunch. NAEYC was still priority though, so when we started at Challenge they were not yet providing lunches, and I was ok with it. I knew that they had plans to eventually; the Fremont location was new when we started; they hadn't found a caterer they liked and they didn't have enough students to make the contract worth it yet. We wound up only having to pack lunches for about a month, though. There is now a restaurant that provides hot lunches. Students can certainly opt out, but I love the convenience and that my son is getting a hot lunch instead of a cold lunchbox every day. The location: It's in a building at a church but completely unaffiliated with the church or any religion. The playground isn't huge but the class sizes aren't very large and there are lots of toys and activities. Before we started, we did a tour and emailed extensively with the director whenever I had random questions or concerns. The staff is all vaccinated. The sickness restrictions are obviously stiffer than pre-Covid. The kids are now mask-optional but kids don't seem to care as much as adults anyway. Do your research, as your questions, and pick the best place for your family. I'm a huge fan of Challenge but I didn't actually tour anywhere else in Fremont and I have no regrets. read more

We had an overall great experience with Challenge School. My son definitely started picking up more and more Mandarin, and the teachers were nice. I appreciated their flexibility with pick up and drop off and the commitment to health. read more

My 2 and 4 year old have been attending challenge school for over a year. When it comes to who watches my children I am extremely picky. I am so thankful I was able to find challenge school as they exceeded my expectations. It's really hard to find teachers who actually genuinely care about your children. Every single teacher at challenge is so caring and loving and I am so thankful for that. They have taught my boys so much and I can see how much they have grown and how much they have learned. Not only have my boys learned so much, but the the school plans so many fun activities for the kids. They do such fun things like yoga and making ice cream. They have different weekly themes where they learn about different topics like the planets or community helpers. They make every holiday so special for the children and even involve the parents. The teachers put so much thought into everything. My kids come home weekly with amazing crafts and sing so many songs they learned at school. The teachers update us with pictures of the kids throughout the day so we always know what they are doing. They also are so great about responding to messages I send them throughout the day. They have an option for catered lunch so it makes it so easy to not have to pack the kids lunch daily. The teachers were also so helpful in helping to potty train my 2 year old. When he had accidents at school they were always so nice and patient with him. The most important thing is that my kids love this school so much and love the teachers and can't wait to go to school each day. I am happy that I can go to work knowing my kids will be safe and cared for. I would highly recommend sending your kids here. I wish I knew about this school earlier so I could have sent my kids sooner. read more