I will not recommend this school. My children attended this school for 10 years and one of my sons…read morehad been being hit with a stick and had been coming to school with bruises on both of their bodies. I would not recommend this school.

Great teachers and a great daycare that cares about their children and families! I have no…read morecomplaints!

Please note that this is not a review for The Learning Gate in Somerset County. This is for The…read moreLearning Gate in Flemington which is now Precious Gems Academy. Try and keep up. It's confusing. I went back to work recently. Thoroughly researched preschools in my area. Had a tour of what is NOW Precious Gems Academy. This abrupt change in name and management was the straw that broke the camel's back. I will refrain from reviewing the teaching staff because I believe they are doing the best they can under the management of two, incompetent and rude directors. On a side note, their brochures, bulletins, Facebook page and website are rife with misspellings and grammatical errors. They should be embarrassed. I was given the bait and switch.

I'm so happy with the care my daughter receives at The Learning Gate. As a preschool teacher…read moremyself, I have high expectations for the school she attends. The center exceeds my expectations. Her teachers are wonderful, as are the directors. The center itself is clean, organized, cheery, and safe. The staff plans activities for parents to be involved. I highly recommend The Learning Gate in Flemington.

For the past two years, our daughter has attended the New Horizons Montessori School. She just…read moregraduated from kindergarten, and we know enrolling her here was the best decision. Despite the very challenging pandemic year they did an excellent job keeping the school safe and clean. The teachers (Mrs. Neagou, Mrs. Sheldon, and Ms. Drea) are very supportive and nurturing with their teaching style. They make a conscious effort to attend to every student's individual needs. Our daughter learned through a blend of academics, foreign languages, and geography. My in-laws are former teachers, with over 60 years of experience, and they are impressed by her math and reading skills. We loved New Horizons, the teachers, and the curriculum.  We are very confident that she will enter 1st grade with a great head start. We recommend the school to anyone without any hesitation.

Love this place, only 2 weeks into summer for my two kids and already there is a noticeable…read moredifference in behavior. My daughter voluntarily said "Yes Please" to me this morning two times in a row. Thats a first for me and my little girl. can't wait to see what else the learn.

I have been bringing my son to Tina for the past year. I am very happy with Tina and how she…read moreconducts her classroom activities. Because this is a home based day care facility, it feels like a close knit community where all the parents know each other and the kids. My son was a little over two and he wasn't speaking much. I saw a big improvement in his speech after a couple of months. I know Tina worked very closely with my son to get to where he needed to be for his age.

This is the best place to bring your child to learn and develop the skills they need before…read morekindergarten. I have been sending my daughter to Early Start for over 2 years. I am very happy with the way Tina provides care for not only my daughter but other children as well. She is like a super mom some one I can defiantly take skills from. She makes me feel at ease when she sends me pictures and updates of what my daughger is doing. She helped my daughter develop social, cognitive, and curiosity. She helped my daughter reach milestones I didn't think she could at such a young age!

This place is magic for my daughter, and was for her big brother before her. Children and parents…read moreare treated with kindness and respect. The atmosphere is calm, a welcome respite from busy lives. My son has a wonderful grasp of numbers thanks to all his hard work with the math beads. My daughter found her voice and made her first friends in the 2's program. The community of parents, teachers, and administrators is wonderful. We love MMS!

Both of my daughters attended Madison Montessori School and both loved it. It was a nurturing…read moreplace where children were treated with respect and loved learning. The teachers and staff seemed happy to be there and were dedicated to the children. My husband is convinced that both our girls' confident and direct way of dealing with adults is a result of their relationships with teachers and staff at Madison Montessori. The girls still recall the school fondly and remark on how relatively "boring" public school kindergarten was.

tl;dr: Montessori Matters was recently investigated for child abuse, refused to fire the teacher…read morewho hurt a child, and put on a corrective action plan by the state. We sent our daughter here as a temporary solution for the few months between when her old preschool closed and when kindergarten began. We liked the curriculum and the structure but the quality of the teachers wasn't quite up to our standards. They had immediate availability, seemed safe, were close to home, and we were assured that the teachers were well trained and had decades of experience with all sorts of kids, so we decided to enroll her. While she was there, her behavior started to change at home. She was moodier and didn't want to go to school. She said the teachers were mean. While we tried to figure out what was going on with this new school, our daughter came home and told us that a teacher hurt her. When we requested a conference with the director, Cindy, she didn't deny the accusation that Sally, one of her employees "may have been too rough" with our daughter but claimed that our daughter probably needed the behavior correction, and that the teacher wasn't really strong enough to hurt her too badly. She also claimed that our daughter was a violent child, even though she had never had a single report of hurting another person. We pulled the video surveillance that showed our daughter sitting quietly in the "watching chair" (their form of time out) when a teacher named Sally approaches her from behind, rips a fidget spinner from her hands and throws it across the room. She then wrenches our daughter up and out of the chair by her wrists and drags her out of the room by her arm into the hallway where there are no cameras. The next video clip shows 10-20 minutes later, our daughter curled up in the fetal position crying in Cindy's office. There were also two other teachers who witnessed Sally grab and hurt our daughter and lied to protect her. We asked Cindy what she intended to do to keep our daughter safe. She offered no solution and showed no concern for the well-being of our child. She even called me after the meeting and BEGGED US NOT TO REPORT THE INCIDENT TO THE STATE. As a mandatory reporter, she should know that her and I both had a legal requirement to report what happened to DCFS. In the end, the investigators agreed that Sally physically hurt our child but that it didn't meet the definition of abuse. The school was put on a corrective action plan, and to my knowledge, is still being monitored. Cindy was resistant to put Sally on leave or fire her when the investigation began. Her concern lies squarely with her business. She seems very nice but I do not trust her. Montessori Matters has had a lasting impact on our daughter an not in a good way. We've worked with other daycares and now kindergarten and have seen what it looks like when our child is loved and cared for by teachers. This isn't it.

We attended here as long as possible, had a great Montessori experience. Ms Cindy works so hard to…read moreaccommodate every little need (I had many detailed requests), and all the teachers are nurturing, understanding and supportive. Very good price too. I knew my baby would have a hard time adjusting and they eventually got her to LOVE school. They started potty training her before me, which was so helpful. Can't give enough thanks to all the care and hard work they do here. No complaints about this business at all.

I am a current and alumni parent of Westmont who was admittedly clueless about the difference of a…read moreMontessori education when evaluating schools for my children. Westmont educated me while educating my children and now I am an advocate for life. My children, now 7 and 3 have experienced countless benefits from the Westmont environment and I feel so strongly about the community, teachers, administration and leadership that I was driven to action to post my very first YELP review to say as much. Westmont has each and every student's best interest at heart and I have seen that demonstrated over the course of my last 3+ years affiliated with the school. The academics and social/emotional curriculum is second to none. The community we entered has provided lasting friendships for my children and my spouse and I that have become our foundational friends in this community of Chester/Mendham that was new to us. You will not regret giving your children the opportunity to thrive at Westmont. Please reach out with any questions because as a business person I value a balanced and objective perspective but I also have very high standards so when a business exceeds those standards, especially when my children are the benefactors, I had to post a review!

Westmont provides a truly exceptional environment for young minds to learn in. My daughter has…read moreattended since "Little Steps," at two years old. She is and has been nurtured and cared for by a staff that cares for her nearly as much as I do. She also has learned independence, respect and how to deal with emotional situations. In addition to the solid foundation she is learning for bigger concepts, she is learning to become a solid human, as well. I would recommend it for anyone that cares about their child and values education.

If you are looking for a quality accredited Montessori program Christopher Academy is the school…read morefor your child. I had two children through the school, starting at 2 1/2 years old and my oldest leaving after 1st grade, and I'm so impressed. Both my children have progressed to other outstanding schools in the area and they were very well prepared academically and socially. Christopher Academy staff and teachers proved themselves knowledgeable and very supportive throughout my children's time at the school and they made life-long friendships as did my husband and I.

My sister and I went here pre-K 3 through 4th grade (they used to only go up that high). This was…read moreback in the early 2000s, but my parents still say it was the best choice they ever made to this day. We, along with many other alumni, went to a Suffolk private school that was a common filter school for Christopher Academy kids to go to after the 4th grade cut off -- The fact that every single one of us among my sister and I's age groups (We are 5 years apart in age, so about 20+ kids) graduated with straight A's in the top of our classes is not a coincidence. Even now, I still see that many of the recent valedictorians of our Suffolk private high school are Christopher Academy alumni (our high school sends us the graduation mailer every year). Long story short- the curriculum, class size, and amazing teachers here laid a foundation for us all that put us ahead of our peers at our Suffolk private school, college & beyond. My parents STILL donate to this school 18 years later & do not donate a nickel to the previously mentioned school that we went to for middle/high school. We are in the process of helping multiple friends make the change to send their young children here based on our experiences. Thank you CA for shaping so many of us into successful students and leaders.