I would strongly discourage anyone from sending their child to Sunbrook Academy. I apologize for the long review but want other parents to be warned and understand our experience so that they can make an informed decision about where they send their children, especially infants.
While our son only attended the school for a total of 8 hours, it has been nothing but less than favorable interactions from the initial drop off. When my husband and I arrived to drop our son off, the assistant director was on what sounded like a personal telephone call discussing another parent complaining about her. After waiting there for 5 minutes, she got off the phone, and did not know who we were or why we were there. We explained it was our son's first day and we were there to drop off. She walked us to our son's classroom where we met his teacher. Walking into the room, there was a single teacher getting bottles ready while 5 infants sat on the other side of the gate area, several of which were whining/crying. Most of the lights were off and the room is crowded and dark. The teacher said hello to me and my husband and asked me about our son's feeding/sleeping routine. We asked if we could help set him up in the room, which they allowed. At no point during this interaction did anyone say hello or welcome our son. We ultimately left him in the room playing with toys while the teacher continued to get the other children their food. Not once did we see her, or anyone, acknowledge our son before leaving. It was so discomforting that both my husband and I considered walking back into the room and taking our son home right then. I reported this to the director that morning around 10:00am. She apologized for the experience, explained it was an off morning and that she would talk with the assistant director as well as the teacher. When we picked up our son at 11:30am, he was exhausted, and had clearly been crying a lot. Upon our son's return to school, the second drop off was better.
The following week, our son attended his third and final day at school. When I returned to pick up my son, the school director, Michelle, was also in the room and the teacher was holding my son sleeping. They informed me that my son had hurt himself while crawling, resulting in a bloody lip and scratched nose. On my car ride home, I called the school and asked to speak with Michelle director about what had occurred so that I could understand better. Beth, the assistant director, explained that Michelle was on a tour so I asked that she give me a call back after the tour. After two days and five telephone calls/voicemails, I finally was able to get in touch with the school director. At no point did anyone return my phone call or call to see why my son was absent after an incident at the school. The incident itself was not an issue, as I know babies will get hurt as they learn to crawl and walk but it was how the school handled things following the incident that was the problem. Sunbrook Academy advertises itself as a safe and nurturing place for your baby to receive loving care and learning experiences. The Infant Care Program is committed to making the first transition away from home natural and easy for both child and parent. Our experience was anything but that. After several weeks of back and forth with the regional director or Cadence, I was finally able to review the video of the incident involving my son. It was as described but the whole ordeal left me very disappointed in the school and how they care for children. I unfortunately have heard more horror stories about this school over the last few weeks and had I known any of this prior to enrolling our son, I would never have let him attend this school. read more