I would not recommend Toad Hall Children's Center based on my family's experience. We ultimately…read moredecided to remove our child from the program after multiple serious safety concerns and what felt like a complete lack of accountability from administration. Over time, there were several troubling incidents involving bullying, physical aggression, and threats made by another child that were not handled appropriately by staff. In one case, our child required medical attention after mulch was thrown into his eye during inadequate supervision on the playground. There were also situations where we were either not informed about incidents at all or only learned about them directly from our child afterward. When concerns were brought to administration, communication was inconsistent and unprofessional. We repeatedly requested to review footage related to incidents involving our child and were given conflicting information about whether anyone had even reviewed the recordings. The refusal to provide clarity or transparency only raised more concerns for us. We were also disturbed to learn about ongoing complaints regarding understaffing, classroom ratios, and concerns about safety procedures. From our experience, the facility appeared disorganized and unable to provide the level of supervision and care parents should expect from a childcare center. Child safety should always come first, and unfortunately we did not feel that was the case here. Parents considering this center should ask detailed questions about supervision policies, incident reporting, and staff accountability before enrolling their children.

We are very happy with Toad Hall! The employees are all very nice and they listen to any concerns…read more They have been very flexible during COVID as well. Happy to have found a place we can trust our with our little one.

My granddaughter goes there and her teachers were amazing. She was well prepared for kindergarte…read more She is reading now. Amazing Staff. Flexible hours and good hot meal for lunch.

Had my kid there he came home crying with bruises on him don't recommend this place if you want…read moreyour children in danger

Great school with great kids. The teachers teach and model respect and responsibility. The ESE…read moredepartment is on top of things and makes sure that IEP/504 accommodations are made available. Love having my son at SMA!

This school is just AWFUL. The staff is extremely ignorant, neglectful, and favoritism is a big…read moreproblem in this school, Mr.Gwatney says the children will get nowhere in life, he says they'll live like cavemen, and says they deserve to sit in a windowless room staring at a screen all day and he says they don't deserve to be outside, and he says they'll get cancer from eating chips.

We've moved a lot, so my kid's been to a few differnt schools: Imagine Palmer Ranch, Bay Haven, and…read moreLakewood Ranch Prep Academy. Honestly, this school is just as good. The teachers are great and always quick to respond. You can always get someone on the phone or email and get things sorted out fast. They also have a program Hawks for advansed kids. What really stands out here is how they handle communication with parents. It's way better then anywhere else. Every time I had a question, it got answered in minutes, not hour. Also, big props to the woman who answer the phone at the front desk - she's awesome! Seriously, I never seen a school do this part so good. And about grades - if a kid don't wanna learn, they won't do well anywhere. If they're motivated, they'll find a way to learn, even in the middle of no where with no books or teachers. The school's job isn't to motivate them - that's up to the parents.

My daughter went to Smarty Pants 12yrs ago and now my 4yr old goes. I can't begin to tell you how…read moremuch we love Smarty Pants.Ms.Long the owner really puts alot into her centers and she has the best graduations its a full production lol. The teachers don't just work there for a check they really love what they do and that's teach our babies.You know their a great daycare/prek because the waiting list be long to get in.I will always refer people there.Smarty Pants Rock

Wow. Condescending, aggressive, short-triggered, and threatening "discharge". To the owner: what…read moreyou said did not make me feel very happy, made me feel weary about my daughter being there, and I believe you can treat your customers better. I am a brand new customer, and here is my very first interaction with the owner: To give information on our parenting schedule, I asked (to her assistant), "can you write down your email for me to send to?" The assistant was happy to help and went to a surface to write it down. Owner needlessly replied: "[the email] is very easy, you can remember it. Your daughter kind of goes to Smarty Pants Preschool, it's just Smarty Pants Preschool @ (whatever popular email domain here) -- I would think you would remember that." Business Owners: how do you expect a parent to respond? My response, "I might not remember that. You don't have to judge me." She gave me an aggressive, glowing stare. And i watched her stare, waiting for what see had next to say or for the assistant to return. Then she says slowly, "Nnooo..." I asked to the assistant (who I thought was this lady's manager, "I would like to make a complaint on your worker here." (She was also very inappropriate with me on the phone yesterday, too, but that's a different story. Hey Smarty Pants! You have my permission to publicly release that phone call and of course sensor out my daughter's name. You can keep my name. I don't think you'd ever want that phone call to represent your company, to be frank!) She jumped up with excitement and said, "I'm the owner, very nice to meet you!" (Her hand extended to shake my hand.) -- I later asked for more information, but ya know what? I'll just look at sunbiz.org and see if there's another party I can send a copy of this to. I politely refused the condescending hand shake. It's a form of abuse, it's unnecessary, and I'm sure any customer would agree it is not a way to be introduced as the manner she presented. And I'm not interested in her ego--I'm interested in my daughter being in a safe, fun, abuse-free environment and what I can do to make the best of the day care. After that, she said something around the lines of her walking to the door to discharge my daughter. She presented to me the problems she had with: - my ex yelling at me outside of the establishment - she felt that we were blocking staff to leave. I double checked, and my ex and I were at the sidewalk clearly away from obstructing the door. - she had an issue with me calling the establishment about 5 minutes after that scene to make sure they had my information for future calls. And she was quite rude... I let that slide figuring, "this poor lady probably had a hard day." (The photo is when I called them and how long the conversation lasted -- so the owner can see after she claimed I can't be "calling at 6:15".) - she expressed that she said "no" because I had "inappropriately stared at her". We ended on a better note after the short talk and me receiving what I came for. On that ending, I said, "thank you. I will let you work on what you need to work on for yourself, and I am open to take any suggestions from you." Her reply, "*I* don't have anything to work on." Here we go again! I told her again what I had said, maybe a little differently, ("...you work...for yourself...and I am open...suggestions from you.", etc) -- and she appeared less triggered that time and seemed to get that I'm just a father looking to make sure they have info they need and I do, too. She had no suggestions for me. She extended her hand for a handshake, and I respectfully refused. I get it, some people get hurt by that, but I still have to respect my space for personal touch. I reframed the situation for her: she is basically asking for a touch, and I am not consenting/agreeing to it right now. As her being the owner of the establishment, I am happy to shake her hand when she has either resolved the emotional issues that she allowed to become associated with me, or when she simply disassociates those issues from me. For now, we agreed to set this instance to the side, and I will be listening to my daughter *very*, *extra* closely to be sure the owner's stress responses are not transferring to her staff and then transferring to my child. We are new there, and I have kept my daughter there because I do not believe that will happen, and so far I believe she is safe and will really enjoy her time. The owner then (at the end) helped me remember the situation with my personal/family number. My next step is the Better Business Bureau. I thought also to go to the land lord since we have nearly a 10 year relationship (just as long as smarty pants does), but I don't see how Smarty Pants can learn and grow from talking with the land lord. The land lord and I both understand that businesses have problems, owners get stressed, and people tend to allow the hurt of their past to make them too biased for their own good.

This learning center is just that, not a day care. The attention to detail in the curriculum is on…read morepoint. The very kind and patient teachers help the children learn audibly, visually, and kinetically. They figure out which way your child learns best and help emphasize and encourage the kids' desire to learn. My first two children both graduated from the Shining Stars VPK program and entered kindergarten reading at a 1st grade level! They are both flourishing in grade school and have highest remarks from their teachers.

Amazing Daycare/School, Fantastic, very motivating, compassionate, teachers/care givers, very…read morewelcoming place, very Christ like environment, and above all a great place to send your kids pre k-8th! I've been going to the Church that the schools in for the past 12 years and I've been going to the summer camp at this Church for 11 years and a counselor there for 5 of those years, and just recently have started working at school (Sunshine Academy). And it's been a big blessing for me to work with such an amazing group of staff and kids, everyone's so optimistic and faithful. So far it's just been a very beautiful experience. So if you or someone you know is looking for somewhere to either Be their church home or send their children to a school that has a very loving and Christ like environment then I recommend that you check out TheChurchAtBradenton(TCAB) Or SunshineAcademy&Daycare Hope whoever sees this knows that god loves them and whatever you're going through you aren't alone Hope you all have a blessed day Thank you

Both of my children have attended Sunshine Academy and our family absolutely adores them! ALL of…read morethe teachers there are wonderful, patient and kind. I am so glad I found them 2+ years ago. My daughter is in kindergarten now, but my son is still attending Sunshine Academy and there are times I wish I could just sneak her back into the daycare.

The director of this daycare center, Ms. Cayley, really went out of her way to enroll my two…read morechildren on short notice. I really needed emergency childcare in a safe environment, and she accepted us with open arms. The Director's Assistant, Ms. Amber, is also very knowledgeable and seems to be engaged in every classroom, communicating needs between staff and management. Although my kids and I had to recently change daycares due to my new job, we had an excellent experience at the school and would stay if we could. The Lead Infant teacher, Ms. Kaila, did a tremendous job transitioning my clingy 11 month old and really took the time to know him as a person. The Lead 3's teacher, Ms. Hayley, has super classroom management skills, which she uses effortlessly to engage a busy classroom while simultaneously pushing curriculum projects out. Overall, my family recommends this daycare to anyone in the Bradenton/LWR area for a supportive team of qualified teachers. And their outside playground is huge, has multiple pieces of equipment, and well-maintained, too. Very nice!

The owner of this company reached out to me and was very nice. She assured me that the problem was…read moresolved, the teacher was no longer working there. I was impressed that she wanted to make it right. My son is still going to a different school, but my view of this place has gone up due to this phone conversation.