My opinion of this daycare facility has changed drastically over the past few years, since it went under new ownership. It saddens me it has come to this but the experience my son and family went through was detrimental enough that I need to do what I can to feel I've done my part to ensure no other family goes through it. You can have the best daycare teachers and directors, who may love your children like their own - but my family has unfortunately learned that if you have a bad daycare owner, what a huge impact it truly can have. I strongly urge any current or expectant parents to look in to your daycare owners' education and occupational background. If you see nothing about education or community or, even worse, only experience with financial planning, forecasting, portfolio analysis cost savings, control and auditing - please know their intentions are in the wrong place. They dont care about your family's relationship with the facility or even your child's well-being. You are a dollar sign. Having to part ways was heartbreaking because of the nearly decade-long relationships myself, husband, daughter and son had built with so many of the faculty and families. The bigger and quite frankly unacceptable issue we encountered, however, was blatant, documented lies on the part of the owner, that put our son's social and academic well-being in jeopardy. The change we have seen in my son's overall demeanor after only being at another school for a couple of weeks has been mind-blowing. I hate to shine a negative light on a place that meant so much to us for so long and still has many good people at it but, as a parent, I could not forgive myself if I knew I had an opportunity to prevent another child from being in this toxic environment and didn't do what I could the prevent it by sharing our experience. read more

My two children went to Goddard (one from 18 months until Pre-K and the other from 12 weeks until Pre-K), and I could not say enough good things about the teachers and staff. Everyone was so accommodating and sweet with our kids, and the enrichment activities were great as well. We will miss the great people, especially the wonderful teachers! read more

Having previously taken our daughter to another daycare in the Mason area, Goddard was such a breath of fresh air. The list of our complaints for our old daycare were quite lengthy. High turnover of staff, teachers don't have enough experience, forgetting/disregarding our daughters milk allergy, not report injuries, leaving her in the crib for too long, classroom size, age of kids in the classroom poor communication and impossible to give management negative feedback (they were quite defensive). It probably took my wife and WAY too long to switch daycares, we just kept wanting to work with them. We figured that the parent/daycare relationship required work and communication, but not matter how much we communicated things never improved. Finally after having our daughter in the daycare for almost a year, we decided to make the switch. BEST DECISION EVER. As I said before Goddard is such a breath of fresh air. I was just hoping a few things would improve, but every, single, thing on my list is not an issue at Goddard. I can't really say for sure why this is the case, but I have a few theories. For one, they are owner operated and the owners are always there. Literally every single morning I waive to one of the owners. Secondly, they require teachers with experience and often the teachers have a degree in child education. Finally, the communication from management is really good. They are forthright about every single thing. Whether a teacher leaves or our daughter bumps her head (both of which are unavoidable), we get calls, we get emails. The other part of Goddard that is quite impressive is the fact that hey have a curriculum and actually follow it. I think our old daycare claimed to have a curriculum but they were barely keeping our daughter alive, much less teaching her something. Goddard has taught our daughter some sign language, some words , to clean up after herself, how to use utensils, how to interact with other children, etc. I mean, even what I just listed is such a small representation of all the things they attempt to teach her. So far I've had two experiences with daycares, and the experiences couldn't be more polarized. I would give our other Mason daycare a "D-" (b/c they at least fed her and kept her alive) and I would definitely give Goddard an "A+." read more

On his second day of care our 2-year-old somehow was able to split his forehead open to such a degree that we had to take him to Urgent care for multiple stitches. We were told he ran full speed into a door. This was the first time in his life he has been injured to the point of needed stitches. Our son had never been in care outside of in home care before and this was expressed to staff so they would be extra understanding if he had any difficulties in the transition. But within a week of starting at the school we began being given literal stacks of "report forms" on his behavior at school. These reports or their purpose were never really explained and they contained very limited information for us to figure out what was actually happening. The reports typically contained a single sentence detailing whatever "bad" behavior they felt warranted reporting but they never wrote what led up to the behavior, their responses to the behavior, or what steps were taken to correct it. One day we got three reports that had been written within one 10-minute period. To assist them with their difficulties we offered them a guide of what we do at home with him and what has been effective when he is having typical toddler behaviors aka not listening, having trouble transitioning to another activity, difficulty sharing, tantrums or even hitting. His previous caregivers and we have never had trouble with him beyond these issues and he is usually easily redirected if the same steps are followed. We had thought that they took our suggestions but weeks later they stated that they were not. They seem confused as to what is typical 2-year-old behaviors. They never offered to have a parent/teacher meeting to help work things out or even explain things further. In fact, the way they choose to inform you of any sort of problem is to spring it upon you without any warning when you are arriving to pick up your child in the evening. They do not make any effort to include both parents in these impromptu "meetings." You also do not have the opportunity to actually speak to the teachers in your child's room. These "meetings" are between you and the directors. So any information you are getting is already second hand. I, the mother, have never been able to speak to his head teacher longer than the 20 seconds I saw her on the first day. We are only able to communicate through a once a day note on their school's app. This unprofessional ambush method of communication is the way they informed my husband that we would have to find another school for our child when he picked him up on a Friday. Up until this point we were under the impression that things were actually improving at school since he had been getting less behavior notes/reports. So we were completely taken by surprise. They gave my husband a vague timeframe that we would have until the end of the month to find a new place. However, the very next week our son was at this Goddard was so chaotic we were forced to pull him out on a that next Thursday and did not take him back. It honestly started to feel unsafe to leave him in their care. Multiple calls from staff were made to my husband at work, apparently to just complain about our son's behavior. We were asked to go pick our son up early from school on multiple occasions because the staff couldn't figure out how to handle a toddler having a tantrum. Again, no one else who has ever cared for our son has ever had any issues beyond typical toddler behaviors which are easily controlled if you, as the adult, know even a little bit about age appropriate child behaviors. The worst thing they did was imply that the reason they were such complete failures was because our son was somehow abnormal. It was his fault that they were having these problems. They implied that we should have him evaluated by a doctor. He has been followed by a pediatrician his whole life, has met all his age appropriate mile-stones, and has never exhibited any behaviors that deviate from what could be expected of a two-year-old. So it is especially hideous for them to try to explain away their incompetence in this way. The general impression I have of this place is that they just want an easy paycheck from you and your child. They will not communicate effectively with you. They will not work in a partnership with you or alter anything to the individual child. And they will throw your kid out after barely two months if they do not conform to their ways of doing things. And if your child legitimately needs extra help or therapy this place is absolutely not for you. read more

I can't say enough positive things about this facility and the staff. My son, who has had a very difficult time getting used to daycare, has really taken to this school and the warm, kind, sensitive staff. He has to attend 2 separate facilities due to unfortunate circumstances and has already decided that he feels most at home here. He has gone from being scared and sad to being brave and happy. He has made friends and is extremely comfortable here. He actually asks me to take him here on his off days. It's amazing. Thank you to Karen, Corin, Angie, Ms Pam, and the rest of the Goddard crew for turning adversity into triumph. read more

The Goddard School was a blessing for me! I had a business trip in the area and needed a safe, caring and comfortable place to have my daughter stay during the work day. The staff was so kind and caring, I had total trust that my daughter was in excellent care! Thank you for being there for us when we needed you and when we're in the area again, we'll be back! Karen, you run a top notch daycare! read more

We had our son in the infant room for a few months and after being relocated, are SO sad to go. Karen, Corin and Angie are wonderful-so accommodating and helpful. They put this first time mother at ease! The teachers in the infant classroom have become some of our son's favorite people. He is clearly comfortable and well-taken care of at Goddard. It is truly a blessing that they use the Tadpoles app and sent pictures and videos daily! It is so nice to know that even as an infant, he is being challenged and stretched in ways that I would not have thought of! We will certainly miss the Goddard School and will have high expectations for daycares from here on out. read more

I couldn't be happier with my 1.5 year old son attending Goddard. I have seen such a difference in his progress since he has started there. As a Mom who was super nervous to drop off her first child to day care, I have to say the teachers made me feel totally comfortable. They sent me updates and pictures throughout the day to let me know how he was doing. So I didn't have to sit at work and wonder if he was doing okay or not. They provide a daily report with pictures and details of everything they worked on with that kids that day, so we can work on the same stuff at home with him. Most importantly, I have full trust in the staff/teachers. It is very apparent how much they truly love all the kids and care so much about each of them. My son gets excited every day we walk into school, and he literally runs to his teacher every morning and wraps his arms around her legs to hug her. If that doesn't make a Mom feel good that her son is happy being at school, I don't know what could. read more

Standard has gone significantly down in the last 1yr. Teachers look exhausted and unhappy at the end of the day. School is not interested putting any extra effort in the kids read more

We picked this daycare after moving to the area and I could not be happier. My younger started in the Infant room and I loved the space in the room and the caregivers. My older son was in preschool and seemed to enjoy going to the daycare. The children in preschool learn in different ways such as on websites, through games, through discussions and through actual reading and writing. My son loves showing me around his classroom every time I pick him up. The daily and weekly schedule seems well organized. The topics that are picked seem geared to get the children interested in learning. The teachers are friendly and don't seem to change as often which is a good thing. The staff at the front desk works hard to keep things running smoothly and is readily available to answer any questions. They also have a lot of off-hours functions and activities planned that are fun for the whole family such as 'Halloween trunk or treat', Valentine's day photo with parents, Art shows, Movie nights etc. read more