This preschool has made such a meaningful difference in my child's development. It's exciting to see the photos they share throughout the day that show just how much my child is learning. The school has helped my child speak better, socialize more, paint, and engage in activities that truly support their growth. Every teacher we've had so far has been amazing. They're patient, caring, and create an environment where my child feels completely safe and supported. I'm grateful for the love and effort the staff puts into each day. read more

Discovery Isle Preschool - Painting fun - Preschools Near Me - Carlsbad, California

I think this school is amazing. The teachers do a great job balancing learning and fun. I've seen so much growth in my 3 year old since he started here. His behavior has improved significantly. He is happy and excited to go to school every day. The Principal and VP's are very involved and work hard to ensure every child is getting their needs met. I highly recommend this school!! read more

my daughter has been attending Discovery Isle Carlsbad since she was 2.5. My schedule changed unexpectedly and they were able to accept my daughter for an immediate start. the administration is amazing and greet the kids and parents at the front desk in the mornings and you can tell they interact with the kids throughout the day because they know all their names and my daughter is so excited to see them. she's currently in Mr. Will's and Ms. Alex's classroom. They are fantastic! The kids are encouraged to do a lot of imaginative art projects, they work on phonetics through books and games, they provide opportunities to learn about healthy choices, and they facilitate working through social milestones with the children. My daughter loves all of the staff there, and gets excited for the holiday afterschool events they put on that give my husband and I a chance to meet her friends' parents and get to know the teachers more. It's also such a bonus that on days my schedule is less than ideal or changes last minute, I can do drop off and pickup anytime between 7am-6pm without needing to give notice. My husband and I (and our daughter) have really appreciated the support and caregiver roles that the preschool has been able to be for our family. We're sad that she's moving on to kindergarten soon. read more

No easy way to say this - Don't send your kid here. 1. I called a lot of preschools in the area and this was the only one without a waitlist, in fact they had many openings, which should have been my first clue that parents would rather put their kids on a waitlist at other schools than send their kids to Discovery Isle preschool. 2. On my kids third day they came with a HUGE BITE on their arm. THIRD DAY! It was such an intense bitemark that it went through 3 layers of clothes and a sweater (it was a cold day)! But no teacher saw it so no "report" was filed and I wasn't told of any incidents until I was giving my kid a bath and saw this giant bite! 3. When I asked the teacher about it she of course had no answers and when I asked if this was a recurring incident or if there was another student in the class that has a problem with biting she quickly stated she couldn't reveal the students name due to HIPAA, which was my third red flag for this place. Her response to a Yes or No question (I didn't ask for a student name) was proof to me that the teachers did not have control, supervision or the knowledge of how to handle a situation like this. 4. Within one week of enrollment I withdrew my child from this place only to be charged a full additional month to cancel. I expected the industry standard of a two week payment but it was worth it to pay the +$1K just to be done with this place. So be aware and read the fine print. 5. Taking my kid out of Discovery Isle was the best decision I made because now my kid comes home from their new preschool and literally yells "today was a great day!" That NEVER happened at Discovery Isle. read more

I would not recommend this preschool. My 4 year Daughter went to class one day and told her class mates and teacher that she was a princess. The teacher told her that she was NOT a princess and had all the other girls in the class tell my daughter that she was not a princess, making my daughter cry. Then when I went to pick up my child the teacher scolded me for allowing my child to believe she was a princess. What sort of a terrible person would to do that!! I have also witnessed other children being singled out and treated unfairly, not allowing them to go outside with the other kids etc. I would even go so far as to say that discrimination is present at this location. If you care about your child social emotional development then do not enroll at this school. read more

The trust you extend to a preschool when you send your FIRST 1yr-old child to a preschool is tremendous....but the validation of their care, safety and child development is punctuated when you decide to send your SECOND 1yr-old child to the same school!! We have been nothing short of thrilled and consider the leadership, teachers, families and everyone invested into the success of Discovery Isle a complete Blessing and part of our family forever. We have experienced rapid child development at early ages which has allowed our children to thrive in social and academic settings compared to their peers. The personal attention and overall safety, care and love they have provided to both our children raises the bar with preschool execution. I could write for days and days about the many reasons a parent should enroll their child into Discovery Isle. From top-to-bottom they are the best. The retention of teachers, the executive level presence of the principal office staff as well as the overall parent engagement has been tremendous. The teachers are so heavily invested into the success of each-and-every child... I simply have been blown away at the 1:1 academic attention they receive. The handling of COVID has been TREMENDOUS and many schools in the area marvel at how well DI has handled the pandemic! JOB WELL DONE!! Our kids never skipped a beat with their development and learning. If any parent is debating on where and when to send their kiddo to preschool....the answer is Discovery Isle and NOW! It's a critically important decision as a parent...and as professional working parents, my wife and I both have a very high bar and have high expectations. We have not been disappointed in the least bit! I encourage you to schedule a tour of the school and speak with the principal ASAP! :) read more

Discovery Isle Preschool - Preschools Near Me - Carlsbad, California

I can not say enough good things about this Discovery Isle location, our children have been attending for three years now! We started my daughter here at 6 weeks and my son at 8 weeks and are so sad to have to leave as we recently moved away. The principal Vanessa is a rockstar and she runs a tight ship which is exactly what you want. The school is always clean and the kid's rooms are constantly being decorated. The teachers are warm and friendly, and in my opinion, over-communicate. I love the app that they use and they send daily picture updates. Going for three years, through COVID we have seen many changes but the culture and the safety of the school remains. I would highly recommend this school! read more

I love this school! All of the teachers have been so attentive to our needs and Im always impressed with my son knowledge and manners.

I LOVE this place!! Its neat/clean, the teachers keep the kids well behaved, and there is an awesome app for both communicating what your kiddo did that day and for checking in on your child. We had tried another Carlsbad daycare facility/Pre-K and were not having a good experience (let's just call it Kinder-Scare). Then we switched to Discovery Isle over a year and a half ago and were thrilled we did so. My daughter absolutely flourished at Discovery Isle. They were helpful and supportive at working through some tough toddler behavior issues, taught her so many things like counting, and even helped to potty train my daughter!! Everyone at Discovery Isle is amazing, but we absolutely loved her teacher Ms. Crystal, the principle Vanessa, and the office staff :) I HIGHLY recommend this place. We left when we moved away but I will be looking into enrolling my daughter in the Discovery Isle in our new area. read more

Ms. Shelly's kindergarten class at Discovery Isle surpassed our expectations and provided our son with exceptional academic and social skills for success in the first grade. Ms. Shelly is a truly gifted teacher with a passion for early education. She makes the curriculum fun which keeps young students engaged, yet her class in structured in a way which instills discipline and work ethic. Kindergarten at Discovery Isle differs from public school in that in addition to outstanding instruction for reading and arithmetic, there is also huge emphasis on art, music and physical education. By the end of the year, our son recognizes and identifies different categories of art as well as specific artists like Van Gough and Georgia O'Keefe. The kindergarten has music class once a week, and the children perform in three musicals during the year. There are small class sizes and an open door policy, both which cultivate a wonderful sense of community at Discovery Isle. Some of our favorite memories are from Ms. Shelly's Friday morning pancake breakfasts, which the children look forward to all week and parents and other teachers often stay for. Most significantly, Ms. Shelly and Discovery Isle have instilled in our son a love of learning and enthusiasm for school. We wholeheartedly recommend Ms. Shelly's kindergarten class and consider it a wonderful investment in our son's education and future. read more

During the tour, we were really excited about the school. The principal suggested a discovery day, so I scheduled one for the next day, 1/25/17. The discovery day was horrible. I came in around 9am, no one knew me or my child was coming for the discovery day. The people in the front didn't know we were coming and it was VERY obvious that the toddler room did not know we were coming because with me bringing my child there for the day, it made the classroom ratio over 12, so they had to take one child out and move them into the infant room. Besides that, the main teacher in the toddler class didn't even acknowledge that we were there, didn't make us feel welcome, didn't even say hi to my kid. I had to ask her if she would like me to leave some diapers for him. I left him there feeling very uncomfortable and very uneasy that he was not going to be closely watched. But, I thought it was all in my head, so i went with good faith and decided to give Discovery Isle a chance. I should have followed my instincts. When i picked him up at 11am, the principal was already at the door telling me that she accidentally opened the door in the toddler classroom and my child was standing behind it and it bumped him in the head. The bump was a huge bump protruding from his head that turned black and blue! He is only 17 months old! I understand accidents happen and I don't blame her, but who I do blame is the 3 teachers in the classroom inside with him. Why wasn't he watched closely that he was able to be behind a door that people open all day??!! What i was even more upset about was that the same main teacher in the toddler class, still didn't even acknowledge me when i came back to pick him up and didn't even acknowledge that the accident even happened to him just 5 mins ago. I'm so glad the principal suggested a discovery day. I will never let my child back in their care again. Especially in the toddler room. read more

I posted a review for DI 3 years ago and am posting an update. Since my first review my oldest daughter (now age 6) has graduated and is at our local elementary school. She arrived in Kindergarten ahead of her class - already reading, fully socially adjusted, ready to dominate K-Grade. Her last teacher at DI was Ms. Jessica. This woman is legitimately gifted when it comes to early childhood development. The first week my daughter was in her class she came home and said "daddy, did you know the earth rotates and revolves around the sun?" This is at Age 4. I did a double take / soundcheck..."what did you just say?" My youngest is now age 4 and has been with DI since she was 3 months old. She's grown up at this place and now has Ms. Michelle as her teacher. Every time I drop her off she runs in to Ms. Michelle to say hi, show off her outfit for the day, or tell her about what's new / latest and greatest. She doesn't miss me when I drop her off...and that's OK. On top of the teachers, DI has been a great place to meet other parents in the area. We have made a number of good friends from our older daughters class, and are now starting over with our younger daughter. Great school, great teachers, 100% recommend. read more

I do not want to name names or give out my child's personal info, so this review may lack specifics. But I feel the need to share my review with other parents as I do not wish another child to have a negative experience at this facility. When a child is this young (2-4), a few months of negative school experience can result in damage that is hard to reverse. If you have a perfectly well behave kid, this place is OK. If your kid requires more attention or coaching effort than average, this school does not have the ability or willingness to work with the kid. I do not mean special needs, just the normal "not all kids can sit still" thing. I dis-enrolled my child after a few months and found a different school/daycare. The new place has no issue working with my child. My child has been doing fine at the new school and the teachers have no problem with my kid. read more

Thoroughly interview prinicipal, parents and teachers before enrolling. Make sure to ask about credentials,experience and tenure of teachers. Leadership is weak. Quality of teaching, rotation of caretakers and so-so prinicpal are disappointing. Could be a good school with better leadership, a personable staff and a stronger commitment to develop children. Nobel should really get involved here. read more

My kids have been going here for 4 1/2 months & they really like it. They just turned 5 & attend pre-k. It is a much more enriching & structured learning environment than where they were prior. My son has become much more interested in learning, both are are in the beginning stages of reading, & writing words. There have been a few things that didn't exactly go the way I would have liked- but overall my kids are happy, in a safe environment & they are learning. read more

I cannot say enough good things about the school. My son, age 4, went to a nearby school and we ran into a lot of problems with the teachers and administration constantly changing and a lot of inconsistencies. We decided to move him to discovery Isle and I wish we had done it sooner! The principal, Vanessa, is always readily available and has a really great pulse on what is going on with every child. The security in and out of the school is impeccable and I felt that he was very safe there. His teachers, Mr. Will and Miss Faith, were always amazing. His knowledge base exploded! He went from dreading school to loving it every day and asking to go on his days off! The Electronic communication system is also amazing. We always got emailed updates of his day along with fantastic pictures. Great, great school!! read more

My daughter attended here from early 2010 through late 2013. She is now performing very well in kindergarten at public school. She is exceling at math, reading, writing, etc.. and I attribute much of that to her experience gained at this school. She loved the school and the teachers and still talks about them. My 18 month old son has also been attending here since he was 8 weeks old and loves it there. I am really proud of the school for the support they give him and the other toddlers as they explore different ways of expressing themselves through their actions. They never give up on a child! They work hard to provide love and care for them all. They practice safe and sound corrective actions when the children act out by redirecting the child and encouraging appropriate behavior vs. "punishment" which is nonproductive. Regarding the review comments about turnover in previous years, my daughter was there during that time. Some of the turnover was related to the teachers who were married to military men and were relocated. This is normal when you live close to a large military base. Also, I did research this because I too was concerned but I found that it is VERY common for daycares across the country to have large turnover since the pay is generally low and teachers use this employment as a stepping stone to higher paying jobs or they work at these places while they attend school for higher degrees. The replacement teachers were all very good as well so it made the transition smooth. Additionally there are many teachers who have been there for a long time which does offer stability. I found this school through a recommendation of someone whose multiple children attended and had gone on to excel in public school as well. So I would also like to recommend this school to others. They have always been very responsive to any questions or concerns that I may have. read more

I have two children enrolled in this school. We transferred to this school from another center when our oldest was 18 months old. We regularly talk about how happy we are that we made the switch to Discovery Isle. The daily activities are structured and educational. My daughter has learned Spanish vocabulary and consistently comes home with new facts about nature and the environment. The teachers are high quality and do truly care about our family. We are very happy with this school. read more

Please do yourself a favor and don't put your infant in this place. Speaking from experience, I had to take my infant out and place them into an in home daycare where they are much better off, especially in those early years. As a first time mom I had no clue what to look out for when searching for a daycare and chose to put my baby here based on affordability, location from work and the cameras they offer. I will NEVER put my baby or future baby into this daycare again. It was so disheartening watching the cameras everyday. Leaving my child was hard at the time so I was on the camera A LOT! I reached the point where I could no longer watch because I felt like such a horrible mom keeping him in this daycare center and cried every time I brought him home. I went on mission to do anything possible to get him out asap. First of all there are way too many babies in the infant room that every time I picked up my baby the girls looked so overwhelmed and every baby would be laying on the floor screaming or crying! They would just say the babies are tired or having a bad day or tell me they have a lot of babies. Really!? I couldn't imagine my baby having to listen to that every hour of everyday! Every time I picked my baby up, my baby looked SO overtired from no naps and would scream and cry on the way home... Everyday!! It broke my heart. Your baby will not get any attention here with the amount of babies they have. Expect your baby to lay on a bobby that is shared with every single baby there and not even cleaned... And they are just kept in one spot the majority of the day on the floor. Seriously?! It's soo important to move babies around and stimulate them and interact with them AND have them take naps during the infant stage. It was so disturbing to watch this go on and on. Once I took my baby out, I noticed a huge difference from the first day!! It made me so happy. My baby was happier, slept often, has interaction and is constantly being moved around and stimulated all day!! The ladies in the infant room will once in awhile send you home with pics of your baby doing something cute but don't let that fool you. They will take a cute pic and then put them back down on the side and not pay any attention to them the rest of the time. I've seen it on the cameras. They take sick babies so my baby was sick just about every other week. You will not see that at a good home daycare. They will not accept sick babies. Recently I found out 2 other moms were trying to take their babies out due to how bad it is. Please take your baby and your money elsewhere for better care. You will be thankful you did. read more

I worked at this location some time ago and let's just say I would not bring my child here. To the principle it's all about the money,how they can make a quick buck, they have at least 2 fundraisers every month to promote more "money for the school" which they stick in there pockets. The cost of tuition is absolutely absurd and it's not even including meals. There is such a high turn over because the office staff is constantly talking about someone's situation, everyone is underpaid and they expect the staff to pick up their slack. BRING YOUR CHILDREN ELSEWHERE. For their summer camp, they over price it when the kids hardly go anywhere. This place is a mess and i saw many children leave because of it. It's not the teachers, it's the people running the place. read more

I am really disturbed, as is my child, by our experience at this school. The bottom line for me is that they do not seem to love the children. So they don't really care if they're having fun, if they're treating others with respect, if they are hurting others or being fair, or if they feel safe, and they do not appreciate the kids as individuals. Furthermore, when confronted with any issue they (specifically administrators) become immediately defensive and are unwilling to support kids or make any adjustments. The teachers seem good and experienced, but I feel they and are overworked and do not have a low enough ratio to kids to really support child development, and they lack warmth. The school gives parents a report card that has like a million goals on it, but really demonstrates that they are doing nothing important. They are all academic goals, but when it comes to developing a love of learning or making friends or being kind, well that's just not a goal I guess. To get more specific, my 4 year old cried nearly everyday while here. I watched him go from such a happy kid that loves school to an angry child that hated it. I kept thinking it was the transition or just a phase or his fault and not the school's and it would get better, but leaving him there for 6 months was the worst parenting decision I've ever made. Once he moved to a new school it got better immediately. The day I pulled him out suddenly I had decided to call and talk to his teacher. He had been complaining nearly every day for at least a month that kids were hurting him. The teacher leaves before I get off work, so I couldn't easily discuss this with her. I wasn't mad, I figured there's a lot of little kids, these things happen, maybe my son is provoking it somehow, I should get to the bottom of this so we can make it better. The director answers the phone and asks why I'm calling, and in a very matter-of-fact non accusatory way I let her know I want to talk to the teacher because my son keeps telling me stories about being hurt and he doesn't want to come to school. She tells me "thats not true, he probably just says that to get a reaction out of you. And your son is a terror. He terrorizes other kids all the time." Speechless. Thinking a) that's a weird, deflecting way to respond to my issue, 2) if my sons is a terror, why has no one ever mentioned this to me before in the 6 months I've been coming here daily??? 3) I can't believe an administrator thinks this about my child and thinks that it's appropriate to call children terrible names when speaking to parents. &4) how does she know what my son said isn't true? I completely believe him. So I ask.. "I was not aware of that... What does he do?" And she tells me that the other day a classmate was coloring and he laid on her paper. Um, okay, that's not polite, but a TERROR? That was her explanation. And how does this address the issue of other kids hitting him on a daily basis and hating school? I got him outta there. read more

I would not recommend Discovery Isle to anyone. Kids are just a dollar sign to them. They frequently violate student to teacher ratios and they have horrible teacher turnover. We had seven different teachers in a nine month period. Please send your children elsewhere! read more

Our 3 and 4 year old love going to school at the La Costa location. The staff are all so warm and caring, and the curriculum is really good. Our kids are even learning Spanish, which I love. When our youngest was 18 months, she was frightened and would cry a lot (as kids do when first starting out) but the teacher would cuddle her all day and made her feel secure and loved. I can't tell you how much that eased my mind, to know she was in a nurturing and caring environment. In no time flat, she would run through the dors every morning and now asks to go to school even on weekends! Anyway, this place is the best place for our kids, and I recommend it 1000%. read more

My son and daughter both attended Discovery Isle and we had such a great experience. My son attended 13 years ago and my daughter just recently graduated from Pre-K. My children were both very shy toddlers, but after attending 3 years of preschool at Discovery Isle, both have improved social and academic skills. I believe that caring teachers and staff put great focus on developing my children. When they both graduated from Pre-K, they evolved into outgoing and articulate people. My children learned their colors, shapes, numbers, letters, sounds of letters and eventually reading. They enjoyed creating artwork and singing. I highly recommend this preschool read more

My grandchildren have been so well cared for. The staff is loving and seem genuinely interested the the children's development. They have one particularly great teacher. Miss Jessica in the PreK/K class has instilled a love of learning in my granddaughter. read more

We have had the pleasure of enjoying a wonderful experience while sending our 17 month old son to Discovery Isle. He started out in the infant room and we adored his teachers Miss Celina, Miss Dahlia and Miss Penny - they treated him with such love and care that I never second guessed his happiness or safety while in their room. Once he moved up to the Toddler room we really saw the value of the school shine - he became incredibly more mobile (running, climbing etc), vocal and outgoing. His development soared because of the curriculum and daily structure put in place by his fantastic teachers - Mrs Alex, Miss Milan and Miss Bianca. Mrs Vanessa (principal) and Miss Ashley (asst principal) were always so friendly, attentive and quick to respond to any of our needs, concerns or questions. While our time here has been unexpectedly cut short due to our move to Texas, we are forever thankful for the wonderful experience this facility provided our family. You cannot put a price tag on having a trustworthy, loving and safe environment for your child while you are away at work. It's also worth noting that on our son's last day the teachers had made a beautiful sign "We'll Miss You" and made the most beautiful photo keepsake album for us to keep - we were incredibly touched and grateful to have been blessed with such amazing teachers. Highly recommend Discovery Isle! read more

We came from a different day care and I have to say I really love this place. My son has been coming to the infant room for 5 months now. He is currently going through stranger anxiety phase / only wanting mom and dad and they have really worked with us to help ease that for him. They are also excellent communicators and stay on top of anything that comes up with his health. There have been times that they have been the first to notice that something is off with his health and notified me immediately so I could get him in to the doctor right away. I've found the principal and vice principal along with the teachers to be very responsive to some minor concerns I had early on, with immediate positive changes. My son likes all of the teachers and absolutely adores a couple of them. I've come in to pick him up to find him sleeping on someone and absolutely melting into them. Or playing in a circle with other kids and while one of the teachers sings to all of them. One of my favorite things about this place is that they have the guardian cam system so you can watch your child during the day. I miss my son so much that this is a way to feel like I can watch him and some of his milestones while I'm still at work. And stay in touch with the care he is receiving. Thank you Discovery Isle!! It's funny the first place we had him in gets fantastic reviews and I found it to be terrifyingly unsafe, but this place is clean safe and provides loving care - hopefully folks don't go on reviews alone and check it out. I also know management changed recently so it's possible that earlier reviews were of that old management? read more

The entire staff is amazing, so kind, so loving, so at the top of their game. The principal, Cheryl Bowman, truly believes that each child is a gift and treats them that way. My 2-year old daughter has been at this school since January and she comes home talking all about how much fun she had during the day. Mrs. Candace, Mrs. Jessica, Mrs. Sarah, and the rest of the staff always keep my daughter engaged in whatever activity they are doing and she loves it. She loves playing with all of her friends and learning new things each day. Her social skills and verbal communication have gone through the roof since starting here. I know how hard it is to leave your precious baby with someone else, but this school makes it easier for me. When leaving your child with anyone you need to know that they will be safe, happy, and loved while you are away from them, this school and this staff know this and understand. I may not like leaving my sweetie but I know that she is getting so much love, attention, and encouragement that I don't ever worry about her during the day. Keep up the great work!!! read more