We are so thankful for the prep! We moved from NY a year ago and started at the bee cave location…read moreand then switched to dripping springs once our house was built! The school is beautiful and new and kept clean. Each class has a lot of natural light which is important to me. They have a cafeteria for the older kids and a technology room with fun activities. They also have many big outdoor spaces for the kids to play and each space is for a certain age group. The staff at both locations are the biggest reason that we love the prep. All of the teachers are welcoming, warm, friendly and smart! The pre k and kinder teachers have been great as well and seem like they take great pride in what they do! Lastly the administration staff is amazing and easy to talk to! I love them anD again am so grateful for these amazing people who take care of my precious babies!!

Can't say enough praise for this place. We were so nervous to put our first child in daycare…read moreanywhere, even at 12 months. We were worried it was "too soon" and he "wasn't ready", but really it was us who were scared, our little boy LOVED the teachers and the other kids pretty much instantly. He's been there a year now and in the morning when we ask him if he wants to go to school he says "cool! cool!" (for school) and gets his PREP t-shirt and points to the letters on the front. He recognized that's his school shirt! I have to start at the top and say that the current manager there, Brittany, is hands down the best at her job (and we're talking now having seen her handle the pandemic shutdown and reopening and masks and all this craziness). Through it all, and all the personnel changes, Britanny never drops the ball when it comes to the care of the kids OR prompt responses to the parents with literally ANY concerns (for example, when my little one has a diaper rash problem for a few days, I literally call and ask them to put certain creams on in a certain order and then I'll even double check throughout the day and ask them to randomly check his diaper, etc etc - if you're reading this and think I'm crazy, you're not a mom :) - but seriously it's never even a bother. They're SO NICE at the front office. They totally understand my concerns and they TRULY want the kids to be happy. FACILITIES - clean (really clean!), new, modern TOYS - constantly introducing new toys/books/age-appropriate learning materials ACTIVITIES - they do SO MUCH stuff that I can't possibly even think of replicating at home. From outdoor play, to art projects, to sing-alongs and racing games... MANAGEMENT - just excellent. As I said, while some people have come and gone, everyone in the front office is always kind and responsive, and Brittany, the manager, runs a tight ship. I'm clearly overprotective (as you can tell by this review, I'm sure :) And I've never once had a situation where I thought Brittany wasn't 100% on it or ahead of it. TEACHERS - all have been really sweet! Again, some have been young college students here for the summer that went back to school, so there's some transition (which is totally normal for this business) but to their credit, from day one, all the teachers were really friendly and caring and responsive to my many many questions. (how long did my boy nap today?what did he eat? what are his favorite sing along songs? etc etc). Can't say I didn't like a single one. We literally had some very good reasons to MOVE out of state, and the top thing BOTH my husband and I instantly said was "not till all our kids finish daycare here! No way are we going to a different daycare". That's how strongly we feel that the PREP is just awesome...and our second kid will be starting there soon! If anything, wish I started them BOTH sooner..but you know, new mom guilt :)

Explorers Adventure Preschool has been a wonderful and nurturing environment for our son. We trust…read morethe whole team implicitly, and our child comes home happy every day. Our son has Down Syndrome, and after a challenging experience at another school, Explorers welcomed him with open arms. They learned sign language to help him communicate and made sure developmentally he was in the commensurate age group. Most notably, they've helped him build tremendous physical strength. When we first adopted our son (age 4), he didn't feel comfortable at a playground because he didn't have the strength or balance to climb and run with other kids. Within a few months at Explorers Adventure School, he began climbing, jumping, and running - now, he slides down the tallest slide at any playground and climbs everything. He's gained so much confidence physically - It's been an incredible transformation. From a parent's perspective, their communication is top-notch. They text and email me. They are responsive and incredibly organized. And most of all, they are genuine and kind people who treat our son with respect and love. I would recommend Explorers Adventure School to anyone. It is the most equitable, adaptive and welcoming school we've been to as parents of a child with special needs.

LOVE this school!! My son attended for 3 years. He is my youngest and he is moving on to…read morekindergarten. If I had a younger child, they would be a student here as well. The staff is so caring and truly loves what they do.

When we moved to Austin it was a scramble to find quality childcare. I am so thankful that we found…read moreGLCM. The staff has been flexible, loving, and generous. Both of my children have been at GLCM for 3 years and GLCM has been one of our favorite parts of being in Austin. -Consistent staff presence (some have been employed there for decades), -Won't break the bank (non-profit and church-led means low-cost and high quality). -Loving staff. Our son went through quite a traumatic first year of life with a hospital stay and eating difficulties. GLCM staff was willing and able to help with concern and love.

My two children collectively attended GLCM from 2014 to 2020. It's a wonderful school with warm and…read moreexperienced teachers and staff, and they do an excellent job preparing children for kindergarten and beyond. I would highly recommend GLCM to any parent.

My sweet daughter has been attending EPA since Kindergarten. We enjoy this school due to their…read moregreat staff, scholar programs, education, and always being accommodating to parents requests. It's a tight-knit family there, and they treat all with kindness and respect. The teachers are always openly communicating with us parents, and always keeping us in the loop for our childrens education. I highly recommend EPA to any parent that wants the one-on-one more interactive teachings to their kids.

I was getting my state inspection done today and across the street was Eden Park. I saw 2 young…read moregirls trying to load or unload something in the recycle dumpster. After struggling for a few minutes one girl jumps on the dumpster and opens the hatch then she falls in. I see her rooting around for a few minutes then watch her as she struggles to get out. I see a cop and tell him about it and he said there is nothing he can do. So I stand there debating if I should run over and just get her out. I debated this because my luck people would think Im trying to do something to these kids. Then the girl finally gets out. By this time me and another customer have watched this thing unfold and one of the guys in the shop goes "we see kids doing that all the time"... Why were kids even out there unsupervised, Why were they emptying garbage? Anything could have happened from just any weirdo walking/driving by could have just snatched one or both, up to the fact that the truck could have come to empty the dumpster. So I pay up at the shop and go to the school to tell someone and they didnt seem surprised but more like "not again" type of reaction. I was kind of taken back, but they said they would handle it. I have typically heard good things about this school but after seeing this I would never ever ever ever consider this school for my children nor recommend it for others

We have absolutely loved the Woodland Schoolhouse. During the pandemic, our family planned to keep…read moreour 4 year old son at home. But once we learned about Ms. Nicole's outdoor school option and small class size, we had to take the opportunity. My son loved spending his days hiking, catching frogs, building forts, and learning about snakes, insects, and edible plants. He came home snuggly, tired, and happy after a full day of adventure and play. The best part of the Woodland Schoolhouse is the positive community Ms. Nicole creates everyday. She teaches children to be inclusive, speak kindly, and set respectful boundaries with one another. She is a wonderful communicator and was always willing to talk with me when we had concerns about our son. Ms. Nicole is a teacher who gives 100% of her best energy and takes the time to really know each child individually. We are so thankful our son was able to spend this year at the Woodland Schoolhouse and look forward to when our daughter can join next year.

We had had enrolled our son in a very popular south Austin preschool right before he turned 3. He…read morehated it. The teacher said he never talked, they rarely went outside and most of the day was spent sitting at a table doing table work. I searched high and low and just couldnt either find a place I liked or had openings. I called probably about 30 places and toured about 10. I came across an alt ed website and found Woodland Schoolhouse. It's run by a lovely woman named Nicole out of part of her home she has converted to be solely dedicated to school space. Words cannot express how thankful we are for Nicole and her teaching assistants. Under her care, I have watched my son find his voice. He loves school and loves Nicole. Some of the things I love about Woodland? Nicole's patience. At this age, so much of the learning is social interaction. She doesn't "deal with the kids", she gives the tools to deal with things on their own. What's the adage about give a man a fish, feed him for a meal...teach him to fish, he eats for life? I watch her patiently teach the kids to verbalize their thoughts and feelings and consequently how to respond to another's. I've watched her model and instruct these little people to have better communication skills than many grown adults I've known. We've frequently encountered another child upset or lashing out (in normal child like ways and not at school). My son has my son has learned to keep his cool and I often hear him telling his friends or family "it's ok, accidents happen." He has also learned to calmly and confidently tell others when he's not ok with things instead of getting upset or walked all over. I love that the kids spend so much time exploring outside. She encourages imagination and independence. My son is learning how capable he is of so many things both mentally and physically. I read somewhere that the core of a child's personality is set by the age of 5. With this in mind, I took it very seriously who I left my son with. I wanted someone who I felt could offset our weaknesses as parents to help develop a well rounded little person. Both my husband and I couldn't be happier and only wish we had found her sooner. We will be forever grateful for the time our son did spend at Woodland. While we are excited to see him enter kindergarten in the fall and having another son whom is 17, we know we will never have it as good as Woodland again.

Both of my sons attend St. David's Day School--my oldest for the past three years and my youngest…read morefor the past six months--and I couldn't be happier with our experience. The amount of love, growth, and development I've seen in them here is truly remarkable. The teachers and director are incredibly warm and caring, and they make each child feel valued. Even the church staff goes out of their way to greet the kids by name, which makes the whole environment feel like family. The school is conveniently located downtown, which makes drop-off and pick-up easy, especially from east austin. I'm so grateful we found St. David's--it's been a wonderful place for both of my boys to learn and grow!

Our 2 year old son has spent the last year in Ms. Lauren and Ms. Julie's toddler class at St…read more David's, and we have been thrilled with our experience there. As a first time mom with a premature baby born during the COVID pandemic, I was very nervous to send him to school for the first time, and visited many daycares before choosing St. David's. It was very clear to me from the first visit to their welcoming classrooms that they are completely committed to the well-being of their students. For instance, despite the inconvenience, they all masked during the pandemic (many daycares did not) before vaccines were available to young children to protect the students, and they offer a remarkably low student-teacher ratio (a huge, huge plus that means that our son gets more individualized attention). When choosing a school, I wanted to make sure the St. David's facility was safe since it is in downtown Austin, and Head of School Ms. Kate talked to me extensively about my concerns and comprehensively answered every single one of my questions. I truly appreciated the time and effort she spent talking with me about this issue, and it was also clear to me that St. David's has gone above and beyond to create a completely safe and secure environment for their students, which laid my fears fully to rest. Throughout the year, Ms. Kate has been completely accessible to us whenever we had any questions, and she and our son's teachers have truly cared for us as a family. When our daughter was born in the middle of the school year, we asked if we could pay for our son (who was attending half day at the time) to attend one day full day to bridge a childcare gap when I had to stay in the hospital an extra day, and Ms. Kate and our son's teachers instead invited our son to attend full day for the whole week at no charge to us (!!!) which helped us SO much as we adjusted to our new arrival, and Ms. Lauren and Ms. Julie helped my son create a welcome home gift for our daughter! My husband and I were incredibly touched by their kindness and generosity for our growing family! The entire staff at St. David's, from the front desk staff to the building and maintenance workers, all know our son's name and say hi to him. They have all been incredibly helpful and kind to us as I was doing drop off and pick ups while increasingly pregnant throughout the year and then with a new baby in tow. We have also been so thankful for and impressed by his teachers Ms. Lauren and Ms. Julie! Our son loves them and they are in constant communication with us to let us know how he is doing--I feel confident that he is truly loved and nurtured while in their care. Both teachers gave him sweet individualized presents on his birthday, which touched our hearts so much--he loved them as they knew exactly what he would like!! Ms. Lauren always takes the time to talk to me during drop-off and lets me know about new things our son has been doing--new words he has been working on, fun or funny things that happened during the day, etc, things we can work on at home, etc. She even took the time to personally text me a sweet video of our son hugging another child, which meant so much to me! They also made lunch for him when I forgot his lunch at home one day so that I wouldn't have to drive all the way back with a new baby in tow. Our son's language development, which was a concern for us when he started school, has really taken off while in their class, and his socialization has greatly improved. Ms. Kate, Ms. Lauren, Ms. Julie, and the rest of the staff at St. David's truly feel like family to us, and we couldn't recommend them more highly.

You will not find someone who loves kids more than Mrs. Lori at All Stars Academy. I have seen…read moremultiple families follow her from where she was before, because she was just that good. She is well-versed in how to manage a room full of toddlers and she makes sure that all of those kids knows that she loves them each and every time they leave for the day. My son went 3 days a week, and would've wanted to go every day if he could. He was never scared about going, and it felt like a good, comfortable environment for him. I loved that when there were times that I needed to pick him up late, because my youngest son was still sleeping, Mrs. Lori would let me pay a nominal fee for the extra time. The flexibility was such a blessing for our family! We needed to take advantage of it many times throughout the year! The amount of songs and things that the kids learn is staggering. And they know all of their songs and are willing to perform them in front of their parents! They work so hard on getting those kids ready for their big moments. The graduation ceremony was the cutest thing ever! If we weren't moving to Houston, I'd be sending my youngest there in a heartbeat. We highly recommend All Stars Academy!!!

I feel it's important to write a review of recent experience. I know this school used to be much…read moresmaller but now with ratio's of 38 kids in one class I feel that new coming parents must know the truth. It pains me to write this review since I, for a long time, believed this school was a blessing and had such a positive experience with it. But unfortunately I and many other parents have been made aware of spanking and other questionable behavior by the multiple teachers and owner. The owner will deny it but I find it hard to believe that it's not happening when I've heard so many children come forth with unprompted admission to being spanked or seeing spanking. I know on the surface it seems like a sweet 90's nostalgic daycare but I firmly believe that what once was a small loving daycare has gotten out of hand with ratios and the teachers can no longer handle it.

Both of my children, now 9 and 7, started at Open Door as infants and stayed until they graduated…read moreto kindergarten. Entrusting your baby to a childcare facility is one of the most vulnerable moments as a parent -- you just hope and pray that your child will be loved, protected, and truly seen for who they are. Open Door delivered that and so much more. The teachers and staff are not just caregivers; they are a true community. Every child is celebrated. Babies are always held, toddlers come home covered in glitter and joy, and older kids are encouraged to explore, express, and grow. My children thrived there, not just academically but emotionally and socially. What makes Open Door so special is that it feels like a family. The teachers know your kids deeply, they cheer for their milestones, and they nurture them through challenges. Even years later, my kids still light up when we talk about their time there and have lasting friendships that stemmed from Open Door. If you're looking for a preschool where your child will be loved, valued, and embraced for who they are, Open Door is truly one of a kind and one of the true gifts of my life.

Lots of outside play, lots of art, social emotional learning, play based curriculum. The school has…read moreschool-wide potlucks for special occasions and it feels like a big community.