I cannot say enough good things about this preschool- my daughter loved her time in the yellow room and i equally adore the staff and their focus on nurturing kind and loving human beings. Before the school year started we were able to meet our daughter's teacher, Sally, with a one-on-one classroom visit and she took special care to both share with us about her experience and what we could expect in the classroom. The staff wanted to know about our daughter ranging from her interests to level of potty training so they could help her appropriately;-) I was relieved that my three year old didn't have to be 100% potty trained before we sent her. They also sent home a picture diagram of the classroom schedule for the day so we could talk it through with our daughter and she had much less anxiety about her first school experience. Throughout the year, the preschool and staff continued to impress me with their awesome hands-on activities, music curriculum (brought in by mcphail music) and opportunities for my daughter to learn social, academic, and motor control skills. The fall parent-teacher conference was focused on how our daughter was adjusting to school and the new structured learning environment. The spring conference was very helpful in learning where our daughter excelled as well as where she could use improvement (especially before starting kindergarten). I thought our teacher, Sally, did a great job of clearly and directly communicating with us. Judson's director, Kelly Hollis, was new in the 2017-2018 school year and she has worked hard to get up to speed with the school's activities and students. It seemed like the year had just started and she knew every student's name and any individual needs (dietary, behavioral, or other). Our daughter had a bee land on her hand in the playground outside of school hours and Kelly happened to be there and very quickly calmed our daughter down (even though she wasn't stung she was scared by the incident). Kelly called and emailed us at home that night just to check on our daughter. You will be hard pressed to find someone that cares about the children more than Kelly. If you are looking for a great preschool community to be a part of- I would wholeheartedly recommend checking Judson out! read more

In response to the last poster- I'm a parent of two children that went through Judson in 2012-2013. Judson preschool offers a play-based curriculum, which based on the latest research is found to be a more effective way to instruct preschoolers. Blind focus on numbers and letters and hard academics doesn't actually help children succeed in Kindergarten. It's part of why Minnesota and other states are breaking away from the rigor of No Child Left Behind. Any kid can memorize their numbers and alphabet, or watch PBS kids to learn. We want children to understand the foundations and JOY of learning. In terms of donations, we expected to donate so that tuition could stay low. Donations are typical for private preschools. In the Catholic school my son previously attended, the suggest amount of donation- and parent volunteer times- were given in writing and we had to commit at the beginning of the year! I appreciate that Judson was more flexible and allowed parents to choose the amount of money and time they could donate. As a working mom, I need that. Parents that are not happy have ample opportunity to voice concerns to the management and teachers in Fall and Spring conferences. The school also does a survey at the end of the year. Parents can also serve on the Board. Judson school was a wonderful experience for my children. We've been through a few schools and daycare settings, and it by far exceeded what is available in the market. Even the NAEYC-accredited daycare we tried fell short. read more

Our son was at Judson preschool for 2012-2013. Judson exceeded our expectations in every way! We were looking for a play-based program that would prepare him for the social transition from home to school and introduce him to "school" with a fun and positive first experience. We wanted him to come home excited from a day of new friends and experiences at school, not a backpack full of worksheets. His class at Judson had a curriculum with weekly topics and activities tailored to important skills for children of his age--conflict resolution, teamwork, communication and expression of emotions, fine motor skills, gross motor skills, pre-reading and pre-writing, science, math etc. But these were all incorporated into fun activities for the children. The lead teachers all have teaching degrees. I was glad that we were informed and updated on such an important safety issue. I was very impressed by the director's commitment to safety and communication with the parents. For the quality, Judson could be much more expensive than it is. I respect that they keep costs low so that it is accessible to more families. My son loved his experience at Judson, and I will continue to recommend it to other parents. read more

I was hoping for a pre-school experience that would prepare my child for kindergarten and instead what I got was a glorified daycare, filled with playtime, in various forms, (i.e. dress-up and playground activities). There was no structured type of learning anything academic; no letters, numbers or topics of interest. What I received constantly were numerous cumbersome and poorly written e-mails, about mundane and nonsensical issues. For example, there were several emails sent to me about a gate and lock that were being installed. Such maintenance issues should have been dealt with by the director without the need for an email all-points bulletin. I was displeased with "conference evaluations "of my child which provided no direction or input as to possible areas of concern or provided any recognition for skills gained. The most disturbing email of them all was the one that directed me (and the end of the pre-school year) as to how much money I am "suggested" to give as a monetary "thank you" to all the staff, who to write the check out to and in what way I could show my appreciation for the staff. I am appalled by the lack of professionalism in this school's staff. This pre-school is a waste of time and more so a waste of money. read more