I couldn't even get past the initial interaction with 'customer service.' I was asked for my name,…read moreprovided it and was told 'that's not the name I have.' Whoa, scary. Come to find out, The Young School keeps your info on file indefinitely even if you never tour or enroll your child. I inquired years ago when my middle child who is now 9 was one. They had no openings then. This means that they have had my info lying dormant for 8 years which I signed nothing agreeing to. I've gotten married, changed my name and had another baby since. None of this would have been an issue if the rep didn't respond in a suspicious tone when I provided my name. Instead of saying, "hey, I see you may have inquired about our center in the past, have you had a name change or gotten married?' It was more of a tone that conveyed suspicion. Just a weird interaction altogether. When I brought it to the attention of the rep she began to raise her voice and ask for even MORE personally identifying information. Lady I just want to know if you have any openings to start! May be a nice center maybe not, I would never know thanks to this initial interaction.

THIS IS NOT A REVIEW ABOUT THEIR CHILDCARE. I know that they're rated well for the childcare they…read moreprovide. However, trying to get information and a tour has been unreasonably difficult. They canceled a virtual tour of their facility twice. Also, Jessica Trail - the head of the school - takes too long to respond to emails. I figure they're not going to miss our business since they seem to have a long waitlist (this is just conjecture since I can't really get any solid information). Be that as it may, I still think it's reasonable as a prospective patron to expect follow-through and timely responsiveness (meaning no more than two business days). In the interest of fairness, I must add that Jamie Sultz (admissions?) has been quite lovely to speak with.

My family is so grateful to the teachers of Wilde Lake Children's Nursery. My child has learned so…read moremuch through his time at the school so far (mentally, socially, emotionally) and we are so excited to see how he continues to grow and learn there in the 3s and 4s classes. We absolutely intend to send our daughter to WLCN as well, as soon as she is old enough for the 2s class. My husband and I thoroughly researched all the co-op style schools in the area, visiting as many as possible and WLCN stood out to us from the rest right from the beginning. We were able to visit and stay through an entire day of school to really see how the school functioned and observe the teachers with the students, while most other schools either only allowed observation of class through a window or held open houses outside of class time. It was so helpful to get a real feel for what a day at school consisted of. Not only did we love the passion that the talented teachers all possessed, but we were highly impressed by the warm, welcoming atmosphere, the play-based curriculum, and the cleanliness of the school. All the teachers, parent volunteers, and other families involved at WLCN were so open and helpful once we joined the school - they immediately felt like a second family. Lots of things have changed since the Covid-19 pandemic began, but through it all, WLCN's teachers have continued to be there for us, providing as much virtual content as possible to help the children continue to learn despite the school closures at the end of the year. They never cease to amaze me! We love WLCN and look forward to our children continuing to learn, grow, and thrive there in the upcoming years!

This is exactly what we were looking for...A warm, welcoming, play based little school for our two…read moreyear old for a couple mornings a week. The lead teacher, Ms. Tammie, is connected, prepared and clearly takes great delight in supporting the growth of each student. The group is diverse and the kids are great.

My son attends LNS and he loves it! The teachers are very supportive and really get to know each…read morechild. My son has several serious food allergies and the teachers have been great about including him in celebrations and checking with me before giving him anything. The parents at this school are some of the nicest people and it feels like a little community. This is a co-op school, so each family must send a representative to volunteer approx once per month in class, as well as attend monthly meetings, help quarterly with cleaning the school, and other miscellaneous duties. It is not an overwhelming commitment but it helps for parents to have flexibility with their jobs to allow them to fit in everything. You cannot bring a younger sibling with you when you co-op. My understanding is that children may attend even if they aren't fully potty trained. I am also planning to send my 2 year old to LNS next year. Overall, it has been a positive (and affordable!) preschool experience so far.

My daughter is currently attending this preschool and we couldn't be more pleased. She has really…read moregrown and learned a lot, and she loves it so much she begs to go every day. Her teachers are some of her favorite people. I really like that they are attentive to each child's individual needs and what is best for them. It's a great school. I also love the cooperative aspect of the school. It really feels like a community and not just a place to drop off your kids. Everyone participates and makes it the best possible place for the kids to grow. I'm happy for all the people we've met and look forward to another 2 years there.

We've had a wonderful experience with Cradlerock Children's Center (CCC)! Both of my children have…read moreattended CCC, and our youngest is currently enrolled. From the start, it has been clear that this is a special place where children are nurtured, supported, and encouraged to thrive. This center is non-profit (the only non-profit early childcare center in the county), so you know that they are not just after your money, they really care about your children and their education. Tuition increases, when they happen have been extremely low. I was on the waitlist for almost 2 years (due to extremely low family turnover) for one of my children which speaks to the fact that they are offering a unique, well sought after program. One of my favorite things about CCC is the delicious and nutritious meals that are served every day and included in the price of tuition. And the best part is that its FARM to Table. No other preschool is offering that in the area. My kids are extremely picky eaters, but they eat all of the food served and this has helped me expand their palette and incorporate more nutritious meals at home. As a busy mom, having these meals takes one more thing off my plate for the week. The staff at Cradlerock is great and the center has really low turnover. There are teachers that have been there over 10+ years. My children have loved their teachers, and the staff consistency has made a huge difference in their comfort and development. The teachers are warm, welcoming, and really care about each child's growth academically, socially and emotionally. Ms. Amanda, the center's director does a fantastic job of balancing cost and budget but making sure there is delivery on effective high value programming and events. The admin and staff do a great job with communicating with brightwheel messages and newsletters to keep parents informed. She has also been leading the expansion efforts of Cradlerock Children's center's move to a new building which will happen in Summer of 2026 and CCC will be able to spread their goodness to even more families as they will be able to accommodate more families in a larger facility! The emphasis on social-emotional learning is one of the things I appreciate most. My kids learned how to manage emotions, interact kindly with peers, and problem-solve in real situations. Because of this thoughtful approach, both of my boys have made great friends and looked forward to school every single day. Another huge advantage for working parents is that Cradlerock is open on most calendar days, unlike many other schools that follow school system calendars, or have an insane amount of days off, the calendar at CCC is really great for working parents that need to go into the office everyday. Most importantly, the tuition cost is lower than many comparable programs, yet the quality of care, education, and overall experience is outstanding. We've always felt like we're getting great value for a top-tier early childhood program. I can't recommend Cradlerock Children's Center enough. If you are thinking of coming here, do it! It will be the best decision you've ever made!

Cradlerock has been an amazing experience for my children. We are going on our 3rd year and second…read morechild and my only regret is I didn't discover them sooner. My oldest thrived in both academics and social emotional learning. The teachers and administrators are incredibly knowledgeable and approach early learning in exciting ways! Don't get me started on the food and enrichment! The quality of the meals is unparalleled and my son loved growing food in their garden that he would then eat for lunch or breakfast. They have powerful enrichment classes such as STEAM and Fitness unlike anything I have ever seen in a preschool. Cradlerock Children's Center exceeds every expectations I have for preschool education (and I have very high ones ).

After three yers of going here the owner kicked us out.....The lack of teachers is a problem…read more There was one teacher in class as opposed to two. So kids couldn't go to the bathroom because not enough teachers were there...When my wife addressed this with the owner, the owner kicked us out of the school. Do Not let your children and your families fall under this dictatorial regime. The directors and the teachers(whom change on a monthly basis) are great. The owner is horrible. Plus the toys in the school are older then all of my kids combined. For the money she should be getting new toys for the kids yearly. Do not pay money to give this owner more incentive to keep this business model going

My son has attended the Goddard School for over 3 years, and he loves his teachers and other staff…read moremembers. He was identified with a speech delay to which the staff supports and accommodates his IEP therapies with ease. Pros: Great facility, provide your picky child what they want to eat, educated professionals, good curriculum (chess, soccer camp, sign language, etc.) Cons: pricey (pay for quality), high assistant turnover (typical)

We couldn't have asked for a better preschool experience. Ms. Ann and Ms. Dori were amazing. We…read moreonly wish we had started with them sooner.

A wonderful preschool offering programs for children ages 2-5. Small classes, caring teachers and…read moreoverall just a great learning environment. My child loves it! Highly recommended.

We really wanted to love this preschool because it checked so many of our boxes: a Christian…read moreenvironment, small class sizes, close to home, and a clean facility. Unfortunately, that's where the positives end. We took our child to several play days and open houses to help him acclimate to the school, his peers, and his potential teachers. I noticed some awkward micro-expressions from his prospective teacher, which were noted. I'm leaving out a bunch of specific details however it was evident that there was no interest or effort made by the teacher to collaborate or help our son thrive. It became obvious that the teacher had no interest in supporting our child, and I couldn't help but feel a strong sense of bias. They are beyond unprofessional-- they are disrespectful. After speaking with several educators, administrators from other schools, it was clear that the staff at Christ Memorial had no intention of welcoming our child into their school.

From the owner: Christ Memorial Christian Preschool was started in 1978. Our goal then and now is to provide…read morepreschoolers with a traditional nursery school environment and program correlated with teachings from the Bible. We strongly believe in Proverbs 22:6 "Point your children in the right direction~ when they're old they won't be lost" School begins at 9:00 am and ends at Noon. A typical day consists of free play, opening circle, crafts/art activity, large muscle developing time, a group lesson, snack time, rest time, story/music time, and outside play. The school day is planned and structured according to the needs of each class. There is a teacher and an aide in every classroom.

Military Montessori school. Your kids will come out with superb manners but will lack any…read moreindividuality. Poor communication as well. Please, if you decide to enroll, talk to the primary teacher who will be actually teaching your child as the front desk is there to give you a false sense of warmness.

My son (32 months) loves JBS-Columbia, and so does mom & dad. This school has provided us with a…read morelevel of comfort indescribable. Since enrolling a year ago, our son's Intellect has grown tremendously, the environment helps to balance and support his energetic nature and curiosity for learning. The teachers are calm, tenured and caring. The parent community is wonderful as well, we socialize with one another and make sure to catch phone numbers when we find our that our kids are really good friends. We are deeply appreciative of the JBS' community!

My daughter attended this school for two years. It's an amazing school with great staffs.read more

We are very grateful to this school for accommodating our daughter after the year had already…read morestarted, we don't expect they can do this for everyone but it's one of the reasons we loved it so much. The director of this school is amazing, she pours her heart, time, work, and love into the school, kids, activities, events, and ceremonies. The teachers are excellent as is the quality of the education. The behavior expectations are strict, but their methods are objectively effective and the teachers use proper disciplinary techniques (our daughter never complained about teachers shouting, yelling, or being mean like at other schools she's been at). Our 5 year old finished pre-K and is able to read, do math, and also learned history and geography. We recently took a long road trip and she often talked to us in the car about things she learned in school about the different states we visited, or historical figures we mentioned (She learned a lot about MLK, for instance). The school is wonderfully diverse, there is no religious affiliation so our daughter was taught equally about all religious and cultural traditions during the different holidays. We loved all the events, and ceremonies we attended, in the year our daughter was here we went to a few seasonal concerts were the kids sang and danced, as well as a trunk or treat, Halloween parade, earth-day activity, and a surprisingly robust graduation ceremony! We absolutely recommend this school to anyone in the area, preschool is a very important developmental stage for children and this school did a fantastic job setting our daughter up for success in K-12!

In the beginning of the School Year I trusted this place (The Director Michelle) to care for my…read morechild before and after care in my absence. This school does not have its own Bus or van so the kids use HCPSS School bus for the local school kids. The director stands at the stop while the kids exit the bus. My little girl who was 5 years old at the time (now 6) got left on the School bus because she said the other kids told her that my child wasn't on the bus. She didn't get on the bus to check for herself because she said that the bus driver doesn't allow her to get on the bus. I verified that with the bus company and the driver and that was a lie. I was told she never asked to enter the bus to check. Anyways, once the driver realized that my child didn't get off at the last stop, the driver returned her back to the school and in the care of the Principal. The Principal called me to let me know what happened. I was 30mins away at work. I was able to leave work, get my daughter from school and make it to the center and never received a call from the director to confirm or deny if my child was at School. When my child first started, I told her that I would always let her know if my child would be absent to avoid this traumatic situation. Once I got to the Center, I confronted the Director and asked her why my child wasn't taken off of the bus. Her response was. "Oh ___ was at School today?, the kids told me she wasn't on the bus!" I understand mistakes can happen but this is a mistake NO PARENT EVER WANT FOR THEIR CHILD! When I told the director that her response wasn't a good enough response and that I wanted an explanation for what happened. She told me in front of some staff "I mean it was a accident, I don't know what more you want me to say." It was so nonchalant. As I left the building there were other parents waiting on me in the parking lot because they had possibly heard what happened, as the director didn't even have enough courtesy to take me to her office and discuss the situation. As a result, I have since moved her to another before and after care where she was frantic riding the bus because of the situation. Now, she's in a summer camp and the first day I picked her up, they told me that she was very upset and crying on the bus because she was afraid she was going to get left on the bus because she wasn't sitting next to an adult. Although, this camp is amazing and they assured her they'd never let anything like that happen to her, this is a ongoing wound that continues to open for us. As it stands I'll have to put my child in therapy because this has been really traumatizing to her and those of us that love and care for her. Finally, I'll end this with, I NEVER GOT A LETTER, CALL OR EMAIL FROM ADMINISTRATION APOLOGIZING FOR WHAT OCCURRED. Instead they swept it under the rug but now that my child is still traumatized almost one year later, I'm going to contact administration or corporate for answers on why they never contacted me. Maybe Michelle never reported this situation. I'm going to tell all parents reading this to please look at other centers. I've been told other Brookfield locations are good but please stand clear of the one on Cedar Lane, under the Direction of Michelle. She is very heartless and should never be in control of keeping anyone else's child or children safe. This School failed us in a major way. I was going to post the email response I received from her, but I will stand clear of doing so for now.

This is not a "school" in the traditional sense. It is a daycare. The employees are not certified…read moreeducators, they have the 90 hour credit to work in daycare. All locations are not run the same even though there is one owner. We used this daycare for about a year. The employees were kind but there were a lot of inconsistencies. An example is two "teachers" in each classroom and one was very strict while the other was super lenient. The strict teacher did most of the instruction and the lenient teacher would let the kids have fun. That's confusing for small children because when they are disciplined for showing behaviors that were permissible by the lenient teacher, they did not understand why they were in trouble. There was a lot of turnover in all of the "classrooms" and when there was a "new teacher," parents were not immediately notified. This was a safety risk as the kids would not know all of the teachers names in case something happened. Also, you did not know for sure if all of the hired employees were vetted. At one point they would just ask if people were looking for a job. The employees were not dressed professionally. There was no way to know another child's parent from a staff member. Also there were times where the ladies were dressed inappropriately. Tight, short, and/or revealing clothing. It was disgustingly worse when the weather warmed. To be fair, the building was secure in terms of gaining access to the children. Also, one and only one teacher taught Bible verses. They did not enforce Christian principles in all classes because "all families were not Christian". That was strange that they would not teach these principles regardless being as though they called themselves a "Christian School." I mean is it not in their name?! Rhetorical. I want to give this place a one or two star review but I will give it a 3 because not all three locations seem to be run the same. Even though it's in Columbia, do not be fooled.