My child had been going to Kinder Care for nearly 2 years and we especially liked the infant room teachers. However, when he transitioned to Discovery Pre-school (for kids 2-3 years old), there was a "Lead" teacher who is quite young herself, and, unfortunately, not very mature. I was told by the Director that she is a good teacher because she knows the Kinder Care curriculum. However, this young woman, was quite rude, looked unhappy to be there, lacked serious customer service skills, and while I don't particularly care if she likes me or not--she would let my child scream and cry during drop-off and seemed as if she could care less. I spoke to the Director, who said she spoke to this young woman. Nothing changed. There's nothing worse than for a working mother to drop her child off and feel like her child is not being cared for. I don't give a $#% about Kinder Care curriculum if my kid's not happy.
Additionally, the place has had major turnover in leadership (5 Directors in less than 2 years). While I have nothing but praise for the infant teachers who worked with my son as a baby, I began noticing once he left that class, how many of the teachers seem unhappy. You know it's bad when a teacher tells you to look elsewhere! Yes, this happened.
The school also still owes me money. I've emailed, called the customer care line many times and am still owed money. So if for some reason you send your child to this location, know that pre-paying seems like a good way to not have to worry about paying on time, but if you leave the company, it just may take the movement of mountains and then some to get your money back.
After awhile, I also became suspicious of the weird bruises and scrapes my kid would get. I understand kids are kids, but once, I heard two different stories from two different staff about the same injury. Frankly, I don't think either knew or saw what happened. And lastly, although I know that Kinder Care keeps a ratio in line with VA regulations (or at least that's what they say. See: https://www.dss.virginia.gov/facility/search/cc.cgi for a list of all NOVA childcare code violations, including this Kinder Care, and you be the judge), I just personally found that after doing some searches, I found similarly priced childcare options in the same area, with smaller, more intimate class sizes, and better teacher-to-child ratios.
So that this review isn't totally slanted: I'm not bashing all Kinder Cares. I'm not bashing everyone at this Kinder Care. My experience, however, is that this location is clearly in transition and it shows. While there are some outstanding teachers (the Director herself is quite friendly and was at least willing to listen to my concerns), I think that your experience is dependent on the teacher you have. Better hope you don't get the one my son had! And lastly, because of all of the transition, I think administrative affairs are being overlooked. Kind of a "let's prioritize and stop the bleeding where it's worse" type mentality.
Good luck. read more