22 years ago our youngest daughter attended Little Red School House for three years before…read moretransferring to public school. We recently attended a memorial for the woman who started it all, Mrs. Billiard. Our youngest is now 25 and still fondly remembers Little Red School House. Amazingly, many of the same teachers from so many years ago are still there, and they even remembered our daughter. We say this as not only was our daughter's experience excellent, any preschool that can keep the same staff for over 22 years is clearly well managed. One cannot always know the good you bring forth along the path of life, but Little Red School House helped our little girl become a strong and capable young woman. Thank you Little Red School House.

If you are looking for child care that is fun, safe, and productive, you should really look into…read moreLittle Red School House! My daughter has been here just over a year and we love it! I know my baby will be well prepared for elementary school when the time comes because the teachers at LRSH work with them on things like reading, writing, and even practice other languages like American Sign Language and Spanish! The school is also super fun! They celebrate every holiday with a party and have monthly bounce house day, popcorn day, and more. My kiddo marks up the calendar and really looks forward to everything the teachers have planned. The price of tuition is well worth the level of care and early education that the teachers provide. I 100% recommend Little Red School House for your littles!

The school's child-centered philosophy truly allows children to learn through play experiences and…read moreexplore at their own developmental pace. Their indoor classrooms and the amazing outside areas are intentionally designed for creative play and experiential education. The teachers do a fantastic job of creating a warm, open environment where students feel safe enough to ask questions, explore, and seek answers. But the absolute highlight of this preschool is the community. BPC has been serving Bakersfield's children since 1952, and being part of such a well-established institution celebrating 75 years is truly special.

This is possibly the best preschool in all of kern county. When they say we are all family they…read morereally mean it. The staff is very caring and listen to parents concerns. Parents are invited to participate as often as they want and they let everyone get really involved. They do so many different activities and experiences for the kids.

I can't believe that I haven't reviewed this gem yet…read more Lengthy review..... My wife and I relocated to Bakersfield after I got off of active duty. We're new here and don't have family, so welcoming our newborn into childcare was already daunting. The first place had her in the Kern County heat during the summer for 2+ hrs and second place made us to believe she was chunky. Needless to say, my wife and I lost a lot of sleep stressing about if our baby was safe and loved at day care, I even started working nights to ensure she didn't have to stay at the daycare "Lil Explorer's" for a lengthy period of time. Well, backing up two years ago, my wife and I toured Cal Ivy and she fell in love, me not so much. I was scared that one of their pet lizards would get loose and attack my baby while she was sleep "nonsense because the pets aren't in the classrooms for the babies." Well, low and behold, I called them up for a second tour and decided to give them a try. Instead of the pet lizzard getting loose- the love, empathy, and sense of security came out and drowned my entire family. My baby girl was in the most safe of hands with people who genuinely cared about her. She had such a blast and we were all so sad when she had to leave because we relocated to Houston, TX in August of 2019. God always has the final say! We ended up moving back to Bakersfield in Feburrary of 2020 and they had a spot for her. Our girl ran up to all of the staff and gave them hugs and I, of course because full of tears. It's an amazing experience seeing your child runaway to school and know she is protected and educated. She litteraly ran away from me at the front desk and was playing in her new class. Cal Ivy has been so good to our family and I know they will be good to yours " someone I reffered from another yelp review enrolled their kiddo and loved it." Thank you for always loving my baby and keeping her safe. We're so glad to be back home and have her in the safest, loving, enriching school in town!

This was called the Mercy Child Development Center until they decided to get out of the child…read moredaycare business several years ago. With facing impending closure and the possibility of the community losing such a invaluable child care service, Mr. Edward R. Paine stepped up and assumed financial responsibility and now Cal Ivy Prep has become the finest daycare facility in Bakersfield. I know this from personal experience because when my daughter first moved to Bakersfield her son was less than 1 year old and now he is 4-1/2 years old. He has been going to Cal Ivy all this time while his mother was working full time and completing her degree at CSUB. Since we lived locally at the time, I was afforded the opportunity of sometimes taking my grandson to daycare in the morning and picking him up in the afternoon. While spending time at Cal Ivy I got to know many of the the teachers, aids and admin staff. My distinct impression is that they are all caring, nurturing, compassionate and supportive people with good hearts. Oh I'm sure you could find a less expensive place to take your child if that is your prime criteria. However I can assure you that you will not find a finer daycare facility in which to leave the most precious gift in your life - your child.

My babies, 2 & 4 now, have been attending since August 2016 so where do I start? When we pick them…read moreup, we are given a half sheet daily report that includes the day's menu, the focus of the week, if they napped, important notes on behavior or rewards, and even emojis to tell us what their mood was like that day: happy, quiet, tired, excited, etc. As a parent and educator, I find this form of communication helpful as well as convenient. Here is some work we have up this month. I'm always excited to see what they will bring home next! Thanks to the team at Lil Explorers

I'm writing this to share my experience and hopefully help other parents make an informed decision…read more My daughter is almost 1 1/2 years old and has been attending Lil Explorers since she was just 8 weeks old. Unfortunately, since the administration changed in October 2025, the quality of care has significantly declined. There has been a very high turnover rate with teachers, which creates an unstable environment for the children. One of my biggest concerns has been safety. My daughter was repeatedly bitten by the same child, and there were multiple instances where I was not informed. I only discovered the injuries after noticing marks on her arms and legs when she got home. At one point, my daughter was bitten four times in a single day. I reported this to child Care Licensing in California, and they conducted a visit to the facility the following week. After that, I felt there was a shift in how my daughter was treated. I began receiving reports that she was "biting" and "fighting," which had never been an issue before--either at home or previously at the school. What's most concerning is the lack of transparency and consistency. On multiple occasions, I've received completely different explanations from different staff members about the same incident. Most recently, I picked up my daughter and found a bite mark on her hand that I had not been informed about, and I was given three different stories by three different teachers. While the director may come across as professional, my experience has been that communication is inconsistent and not always truthful. I strongly encourage parents to do their due diligence by looking up the facility's licensing history on the California state website and reviewing any complaints. At the end of the day, we trust these facilities to protect and care for our children. Based on my experience, I no longer feel confident that this center is providing the level of care and supervision that children deserve. I also want to add that my experience wasn't always negative. My son attended this facility from the time he was a year old and graduated in summer 2025. During his time there, I had a wonderful experience. The staff was always loving, caring, and attentive, and I never had any issues. It was truly heartbreaking to see so many of those amazing teachers leave when the administration changed, because they made such a positive impact on my child and our family. Child Care Licensing state of California https://www.cdss.ca.gov/inforesources/child-care-licensing the facility license number is 153808662 and 153808664

I still can't say enough great things about Cal Ivy Prep. Recently, CSUB went on a lockdown & they…read morehandled it amazingly. I wasn't the least bit worried because I knew these teachers had their procedures in place & they updated parents throughout. I love how they interact with all the children. I love the fun activities that the kids get to do, from the infant room all the way to the pre-k room. These teachers pour their hearts into every child. The facilities are always clean and beautiful. The education my daughter is receiving far surpasses any standard I could've imagined at this age. Truly, this is hands-down the BEST daycare & preschool in Bakersfield. Maybe even in all of California.

Great daycare, I had to find a new daycare because my son refused to go to his previous one all of…read morea sudden(always trust your gut!) and he absolutely loves all his teachers and little friends there. They are always clean, super friendly, love all the crafts they do. If you can get your lil one in, I'd definitely recommend it!!

Your response raises an important question: you repeatedly emphasize the responsibility to protect…read morethe other children, but who was responsible for protecting my nephew? If there were more than 15 documented incidents involving his behavior, then there should also be documentation of what your staff did to protect and support him. Why was my nephew coming home on multiple occasions with scratches and other marks? Why wasn't the same level of concern and protection given to him when he was being hurt? I understand that a childcare center has a responsibility to maintain a safe environment for every child. But that responsibility does not apply only to the other children. My nephew was also a child in your care, and he deserved to be kept safe, supervised, supported, and treated with compassion. Rather than responding by suggesting that this review was simply retaliation, I think you should take a serious look at the care my nephew received while he was at your center. Parents and families trust childcare providers to provide compassionate, professional, and competent care--especially when a child is struggling with behavioral issues. If your staff were constantly having to intervene with my nephew, then why were they unable to adequately protect him from being injured himself? That is a question that deserves an honest answer. This situation is about more than his dismissal. It is about the quality of care he received during the year he was entrusted to you.

We love the Learning Experience! - They have an app that…read moreupdates you throughout your child's day - Key fob security doors - Take home workbooks from class to continue learning at home - Events where children, parents & teachers can socialize My child has learned so much in the past year she's been enrolled here. She started right after she turned 2 and just turned 3 this month. This past year she's learned to recite her A,B,C's, can count to 20, and even asks questions like "mom, do you think this toy will float?" All children learn at a different pace, and I love how personable the teachers are with learning my child's needs. I am excited to see what else my little one learns this upcoming year as she officially starts preschool.

Save your money and take your child to another daycare center. My 2 year old son was here for 6…read moremonths and came home every month with bite marks that lead to deep bruises and on some occasions they broke skin and he was bleeding. When we asked what happened we were given a paper to sign saying they had to let us know but couldn't give us specific details. I understand this is probably law/policy but with the frequency by which it occurred it made me wonder whether or not these children were being supervised adequately. On one occasion we were told HE PUT BLEACH IN HIS MOUTH BECAUSE OF A BOTTLE LEFT OUT WHILE HE WASNT SUPERVISED. We started feeling uncomfortable sending him until we finally pulled him out. We also felt dismissed by the staff. For how expensive this place is, ITS NOT WORTH IT.

Great spirit driven school. The staff are very caring, helpful, professional. Our little one…read moreloves the people and the school. They are a Bible based school extremely and highly recommend.

olive knolls is a okay school but there sports teams have very bad sportsmanship and there line…read morejudges for volleyball were incredibly unprofessional.