I was so nervous about sending my daughter to day care. This place has made that all go away. From…read morethe director of the day care to her direct teachers. They talked to me when I called three times her first day. Also her main teacher in her room giving me all the details of my daughter's day and making sure she is cared for and helping her so much with her transition. Also the amazing activities they have for the kiddos.

This place neglects the children and most of the teachers do not treat the kids right. The owner…read moreand teachers talk bad on the kids as well as the parents. This is not a place that you should trust to take care of your children. I have had a experiences here and the staffing is terrible. They make your think they do a good job, but in reality the could care less about your child's well-being. I have worked in child care for a while now and this place is a joke in the business. I would never trust this place to take care of my child and you shouldn't either. I hope the new parents that have to send there kids to school would choose anywhere but here. This place is ridiculous, the teachers here do not do what they are supposed to and definitely can not take care of children correctly. These children are the face of the new generation and this is last place for them to get the care they need. I hope new parents see this and take into account all of the problems this place has. The owner is barely there and when she is the last thing she does is take care of the children.

A very bad experience for our family. My 3yr old son was treated so…read moreunkindly, it still breaks my heart That teachers could treat a child the way they did him. Never met the administrator until we withdrew our son. He only went here for 3wks it was so bad. Switched to another Montessori school that was night and day better in terms of communication with parents, nurturing toward children, facility, etc.

I researched over 10 different options and put our names on several waiting lists, before…read morecommitting to a school for my then 2-year old daughter. I was attracted to Global Montessori's focus on the development of the whole person - physical, social, emotional, & cognitive. With a shy and sensitive kid, I was hoping that this kind of a start to her schooling would foster more confidence and critical thinking skills than the typical preschool environment. My expectations clearly weren't high enough, since we've seen that, and so much more. She started in the Toddler room in the old GMA location, on the Country Club Plaza. We moved with the school into it's new Prairie Village home, and have been thrilled with the expanded facility and space, not to mention it is just down the road from our neighborhood. The teachers are so supportive, and patient, and hold actual degrees in childhood education and Montessori methods. My daughter is now in a "Children's House" classroom, with students aged 3-6. She is happy and confident and excited to see her teachers and friends, every single day. I wish I felt that way about going to work at my own small business, every day! I like that GMA has a partnership with a local organic, real food company that provides all of the GMA students with snacks and completely natural, whole food lunches. I wish that they had more customized options than the 2 offered - standard or vegetarian. Meals are served family style, and the children serve themselves, so custom meals are just not practical. I get that. But my little one is allergic to dairy, and the standard offerings tend to use cheese regularly. So we deal with the sniffles and mild milk allergic reactions at least once a month. I don't know how tree nut allergies are handled, so if that is a concern, you should ask the hard questions! As I look towards kindergarten and elementary school, I am confident that we are staying with GMA for the next few years, at least. I never intended to have a child enrolled in a "private school," beyond pre-school. We live on the KS side and pay the taxes to live in a great school district. But I cannot identify one single thing that the Shawnee Mission school district could offer for my kid that would be better than the foundation she is receiving at the Global Montessori Academy.

My daughter was at Canterbury for about 2 years. We absolutely loved Canterbury!!! The staff was…read moreamazing with our daughter!

Our child has attended Canterbury Academy at Small Beginnings for 3 years. We started on a flexible…read moreweekly schedule in the infant program, of which the school was very accommodating. It is hard to find a school that will offer a part-time, flexible schedule for infant care! We gradually made the transition to 5 days/week and couldn't be happier with the overall friendly, down-to-earth, and supportive environment of the school and staff. They have offered open and clear communication and support during all of the uncertainties surrounding COVID in 2020 and beyond and made sure to keep families well informed of any procedural changes due to COVID, etc. The school directors and staff really care about the families at Small Beginnings and we rest easy as parents knowing how much our young child LOVES going to school there everyday.

That place is going downhill with no brakes! My 2 year old attended CWS for a little over year…read more During this timeframe, I saw a major decline in quality of care and an extremely HIGH turnover of good teachers. My son got a new teacher every 2 months! I also witnessed several state regulations not being followed and teachers yelling at kids. Do not fooled by the colorful "exploratory" as it's a facade. I let never looked "played in" and I never seen any kids playing no matter what time I would arrive, my son never brought drawing home either. In my opinion, It's not a school; it's Lee's Summit's most expensive babysitting service. Do your research - I would not recommend.

My daughter spent almost three years at Creative World in Lee's Summit, from October 2009-August…read more2012 (ages 3-5). This was by far the best preschool experience she could have experienced. The teachers were loving, caring, and even gave us their cell phone #s when we left so we could keep in contact with them. There isn't high teacher turnover at that school, and most of the teachers were there for the three years that my daughter was. Creative World is not a typical pre-school, and it seems to be closer to a Montessori learning program. Kids learn by exploration and experimenting, and their Exploratorium allows them the opportunity to experience lots of different things. We only left because my daughter was starting kindergarten. If this location had a private kindergarten, we would've kept her there. After our first parent/teacher conference in kindergarten, we knew that Creative World had been the best place for our daughter. She was developmentally and academically ahead of the other students in her class, and I attribute that to the education and care she got while attending Creative World.

We were looking for a place for my son to attend a school where he can prepare for the next couple…read moreof years before he starts kindergarten. We saw Brighton Montessori was close to us and decided to call up and see what they were all about. I got one price on the phone when I called, during our sons first week (after all the paperwork was signed) we were charged a different higher price (stating that the amount was calculated wrong) so, ok we let that go and decided to continue on. He was sick 3/4 times within the first 3 months, again ok he was getting used to a new environment. Then summer came and there was at least 2 lice outbreaks in different classrooms. Then the outside playground is under these giant oak trees which provides great shade for the kids but also brought oak mites. My sons legs and arms were covered in oak mite bites all summer even though they said they sprayed the trees to get rid of the mites. The facilities are average and the toys they provide the children to play with are probably as old as the parents of the children are. The school smells a bit musty and was probably converted to a daycare as opposed to being a building built for it. Then came the 3rd price change where our costs were raised again (keep in mind all within a years time) where they also wanted us to back pay the amount difference because it was again calculated incorrectly. This is where it really started to go downhill for my son and our relationship with this "school". My son is on the spectrum and has his challenges when it comes to listening and following directions (but he's also 4 and is learning to deal with his big emotions) at this point it appeared as though people around the facility seemed to have issues with my son being there and anything he did at the school was scrutinized. We were demanded that he was to be picked up early multiple times, one time he had been there for a total of 90 minutes before I was told I need to get him (usually for behaviors that he learned by being there around the other children). He cried every morning before school because he disliked going so much. I make no excuses for his behaviors some of which is his learning but when we were looking for a school we wanted one that would work with him and his faults and try to help reinforce positive behaviors and help us while we could not always be around (which they were more than happy to say that they would and did with kids with his similar profile). Instead the staff gave up on him and chose to expel him giving us 2 weeks to scramble and find new childcare while demanding he be picked up early on his second to last day and then told he was not allowed back on his last scheduled day (leaving us to take time off work to have him covered-this was all within a years time btw). During the last months they would give him timeouts and force him to do things that he did not want to do while not offering up any alternative solutions that worked, which just triggered him more to act out. It appeared to us that the term "school" should be used very loosely as most of the staff does not seem to have any kind of formal educational training as far as I could tell, the school is filled more with caregivers/babysitters as opposed to anyone I would call a teacher. As you can tell if you've read this far, I have a pretty strong opinion of the school and how they treated my son. I do think there are a few people there that truly do care and do not agree with how the business is ran but it is what it is at this point and my son is now out at another school. In summary my family and son's experience with this school is a 1 (bc it could not go lower) if you choose this school for your child care I truly hope they have a better experience than my son did, I just wanted to share my experiences we've had.

I highly recommend this daycare. Our children have benefited from the Montessori philosophy that is…read morepracticed here, from interaction with older kids to sensory bins to creative play toys. The teachers are all so kind and are always teaching the kids in a really fun way - even for the two year olds. There is also always a fun party going on whether it is spirit week or fun summer water activities. The director is so great and knows each child's name. My oldest loves to see "Miss Ellen." We are really happy with this daycare!

Excellent staff led very competently and with great communication by the director, Ms Elizabeth…read more Programs have lots of activities and summer programs have lots of excursions. My daughter loves it there.

I could not recommend this place less. They cannot keep hold of staff to save their lives, and it…read morereally stems from Elizabeth the director. I have seen and heard her say things to her staff that is rude and tears them down. She will openly talk about certain children to anyone that will listen. I couldn't believe the things that she would say about a child. She will throw random diagnoses at kids left and right. She is incredibly unprofessional, she puts her staff in questionable situations, and she acts like she doesn't even care. It's really sad, please don't bring your kids here.

Still love this place and think very highly of the staff and teachers. We never worry about our…read morekiddo and she looks forward to going to Goddard every week. A++++

We've had such a wonderful experience with our son at Goddard. The teachers are incredibly caring…read moreand truly take the time to get to know each child. Communication has been excellent; we always feel informed and confident about his day. Most importantly, we've seen so much growth in him since starting here. He's learned so much and is excited to go each day. We're so grateful to have found d a place we trust and highly recommend this center to other families.

Winterset has been a fantastic experience for our family. The infants receive the best care from…read moreteachers you can tell truly care for them. By the time our son was 1, it was clear he was learning so much already, including sign language. That had only continued through the two year old and preschool rooms. All the teachers know every kid, making it feel like one big family and making us so comfortable having our kids in their care!

We have been at Winterset for almost 3 years. There have been ups and downs with turnover, but…read morethings have been wonderful since they got new ownership and a consistent director. My son loves his teachers and you can tell that a lot of the teachers love the kids as if they were there own.