I was a long time client of the childcare at the Chandler Hall facility, and had the most wonderful experience during the time it was being operated as the "Chandler Hall Child Development Program". It is truly unfortunate that this program closed and the YMCA of Bucks County came in and took over, as this was not for the better. Since that time, we experienced disappointment after disappointment. If you are planning on sending your child to this school based on what someone told you about their experience before 2015, you will be sorely disappointed. This is not at all the same program under the YMCA's direction. The YMCA is very sneaky, they raise prices on families every year and take away longstanding benefits of the program without being transparent about these changes. One day you just realize "hey, I have not heard my child talk about xyz in a while." You ask the director about it and find out it's been cancelled. Some examples of things that my child always enjoyed that were cancelled include weekly inter-generational programming (visits with the nursing home residents for mutual benefit of the old folks and children - this was one of the biggest reasons I initially wanted to send my child to this school), weekly music lessons, swimming lessons (stops, starts, stops, starts with various explanations), annual thanksgiving picnic, annual Mother's Day brunch, Halloween parade except for the oldest age groups (when I questioned this I was told it was "too much trouble"), and field trips during the summer camp program. With regards to the summer camp field trips, last summer the program brochure emphasized them and my child was excited. When we got to the end of the camp season, I realized there had been only one field trip - a walking trip to 7/11 on free Slurpee day. This was extremely misleading advertising and a big disappointment. The camp program was truly like glorified babysitting. I was expecting a lot more for $270/week! Policies are vague and the policy on annual vacation time, being able to take a week off and pause tuition, have fluctuated. There is lots of confusion. First it's not something they offer, then it is, then they remove it again. As time went on, I noticed an increasingly smaller amount of crafts/art my child would bring home. It just seems like the YMCA is very low-budget compared to other schools I've seen. They advertise that they include the child's membership to the Y in the cost of tuition. Every time I signed up my child for a class with the Y it was a problem. Whether the teacher stopped showing up for 4 lessons in a row (!), or the quality was very poor, I never had a good experience with a Y class. Since the YMCA took over, the facility is no longer cleaned well, and the entire school desperately needs to be repainted. There are no phones in some of the classrooms and when I needed to reach my child's teacher it was a whole debacle. The director is always in a random classroom and unreachable because they are so short-staffed. The turnover rate has been much higher than with the Chandler Hall program and staffing is not consistent. The weather related closure policy follows the Council Rock School District, so sometimes they are closed or delay their opening based on what Council Rock decides that day - but keep in mind, the school district is considering bussing in their decision! There were times that they were closed or delayed because of a lot of rain! This is very difficult on working parents, who are sending their child because they need to work! The local leadership at the Newtown location leaves a lot to be desired. When my child had an issue, I was the only one who cared about my child. Not the teacher, not the director, and not even the regional director for YMCA of Bucks County. In our experience, the leadership stands behind its staff no matter what the situation is, they do not advocate for your child and in our experience did absolutely nothing to help us. For us, they basically pushed my child out since they felt they were too much trouble. The only positive thing I can say is that the teachers in the infant and Kindergarten classrooms are phenomenal, with many years of experience and offer a lot of love. They have been at the location since the Chandler Program was still there. All you need to know about the YMCA of Bucks County will be clear to you when you have a problem. Not even the CEO cared about us. read more