I love working at this Goddard! The directors are so supportive of the teachers and staff!

I too have to agree with Courtney F. We had our child in this school since the inception of them opening two years ago. We had concerns with the lack of educational experience of the owner, but decided to take a gamble since we loved the FORMER Educational Director. We also thought the school, with the way they describe themselves would have essential tools, resources etc since the owner clearly did not. Boy, were we wrong. Not long after starting the school, the Educational Director resigned due to not being able to get along with the owner who is a complete control freak (we heard this from multiple sources, including teachers). Unfortunately, it all went downhill from there. The school at this location is like a revolving door with teachers and assistants. There is no consistency or stability. Once your child is assigned to a room, there could be multiple teachers pass by in a given year. I know this happens in day cares but for the money we were paying a month, which was over $1,400, I would not expect that much. A few observations that I would share that are very similar to the above poster are: * The owner is clueless on how to run a daycare facility. I believe she was in sales prior to opening this up. * The Education Director (and yes, I too cringe given this girl that much credit of a title), is very rude and unprofessional on sooooo many levels. It is amazing she is allowed to interact with any of the families, let alone be the face of the Goddard School....And yes, my husband and I were appalled to hear about the Christmas gift list, as well as her favorite store to shop for her Christmas present was Victoria Secrets...Really??? You work at a daycare for Gods sakes, get a clue!!! We both are not surprised at all by this. Also, she only holds and AS in early childhood education. PS - Look at other educational directors in other schools/day cares/preschools to see their degrees...night and day. * Daycare violation report - Child Left Alone - see fox2now files or http://fox2now.com/2013/08/06/map-daycare-violations-in-st-louis/ * The rooms are very overcrowded and chaotic - But per the owner, it meets state minimums....Really, you're charging me more than my mortgage payment and you are "following state minimums". I would expect this from a KinderCare, not somewhere I am shelling out that much money for. Lastly, by no means is this a vendetta against Goddard, I have friends that have kids in other Goddard locations and they cannot believe the way this place is run. After doing more homework and intensive interviews with families across the area we decided to pull our child out from Goddard-Rock Hill. I need to tell you that the attitude and eagerness to go to her new school is unbelievable. I hope this sheds a little of our two cents and save you the aggravations we went through read more

My kid was 2 when we joined her. These are my experiences. a. My Kid joined in Little builders first and I am very much impressed by the care taken by Amy / Kelen. Leaving the kid for the first time in day care was hard for us and the kid. The teachers made sure that the kid adjusted well. b. Their PTO organization is good they do really good programs. They had a session about concious discipline which I think is good session. c. Sometimes, My Kid even after coming back home would tell stories about things which happened in her class ( Randomly...!! Sometimes she would make up stores :-) and sometimes she would talk about her friends & teachers")...She likes her time at the school. d. Owner Jody is nice person. She knows her stuff and very active. During the first weeks for kid she was helpful in guiding us about things which we can do which will make the transition easy... e. Their summer curriculum is very good. My kid enjoyed all her summer weeks... f. I did not find any curriculum on Music. My kid like music so she might have enjoyed it. g. The teachers also communicate with the parents through email on what will happen next coming weeks. This is nice.( They Over-communicate !!! and I like that..)... Overall I really liked this school. We are moving to texas and are very unhappy that we are taking out our kid from this day care....Hope we will find a good daycare in Texas... read more

Disclaimer: Our youngest child is a former student at this location. I am writing this review after we withdrew him for fear he would be mistreated had it been posted while he was still enrolled. There are so many reasons to avoid this facility, it's hard to pick just one. So, I will list as many as I can stomach. 1. Despite what the clueless administration will tell you, The Goddard School in Rock Hill is NOT A NUT-FREE FACILITY. This is of utmost importance to us because our child has a fatal peanut allergy. A few days before Halloween, my husband found a bag of Snickers on a table in our child's classroom, well within reach of any child that can walk. The highlights: - Two of our child's three teachers either didn't know he was allergic to peanuts or didn't think it was severe. - The teacher who didn't know about the allergy was also unaware he had an EpiPen. - When I initially spoke with the education director (and it pains me to give her that much credit, she is so appallingly unprofessional), she threw the teachers under the bus, never apologizing or taking any responsibility for the egregious training issues. - The education director followed up with me a few days later as I was walking to my child's classroom. She began speaking to me while I was walking in front of her. Never addressed me by name. I only turned around when I heard her say the name of the main teacher in our child's room. I listened to her, wondering how on earth you could even justify their flip attitude about my child's life, still not apologizing, when she takes the tone of an insolent teenager and walks away. I said, do you not like the response you're getting from me? She said, no, you're rude. Excuse me??? This happened right in front of the owner's office. It is important to note that this person and the owner are soooooooooooo obviously BFF's and they run the school like it's their own little clubhouse. My husband would call this a "vanity business," one where the owner has too much money and is sorely lacking in sense. - Dumbfounded, I picked up my child and left. Once I was safely out of the parking lot, the owner called me. I am embarrassed to say that I cried during this conversation. The combination of sheer rage and fear that I was leaving my child in the care of women who were so uncaring completely unraveled me. The owner never apologized for the nuts, her BFF calling me, a customer, rude. I was told that we all needed to treat each other with respect. I wholeheartedly agreed. I suggested that the education director get some customer service training because she obviously has no idea how to treat one. In response to the concerns about my child's allergies, the owner replied was that there were children at the facility with much more severe allergies than his. Wow. And yet, we stayed! Doormats! The only justification was to keep the child from the horrible transition to a new daycare. My husband met with the owner the following week and finally wheedled an apology out of her. He requested the education director apologize to me. Never happened. 2. The gross lack of professionalism from administration. In the 7 months our child was enrolled at The Goddard School in Rock Hill, the owner never once spoke to me...until her little friend called me rude. We pay this place $995 a month and the owner can't be bothered to speak to a parent? 3. The education director needs to be FIRED. She called me rude, she doesn't respond to emails, and the best is yet to come: someone from the office sent a list of Christmas gift ideas to the parents. The first list? Was for the owner. Tacky tacky. Second list? The education director, who stated one of her favorite stores was VICTORIA'S SECRET. There were also lists for the assistant education director (didn't know they had one), and the cook. And the teachers' lists? At the end. Which brings me to my next point... 4. The administration and teachers do not get along. Instead of getting an extra bathroom in our child's classroom (there is one toilet for almost 20 4-year-olds), they are focused on making the facility a toy testing center. Who cares?! The teachers were not pleased with this additional and meaningless workload that was dumped on them. But the girls in the office aren't doing the work, so what do they care? 5. Once outside time dwindled due to the weather, we were asked to provide a cup for our child to drink water out of during the day...presumably so the school wouldn't have to pay for them. Again, tacky. For a grand a month, I shouldn't have to bring in a cup for my kid to get a drink of water. 6. The last straw was this week, just the education director needling us about the sick policy. But you know what? I've had enough of her smart mouth and pissy attitude. I hope the word gets out and the school loses more business before they really hurt a child. read more

After reading the previous reviews, I felt compelled to write one as well. I generally do not get online and write reviews, but I feel that the two reviews on this website do not accurately portray this childcare center. We have had our son at The Goddard School in Rock Hill since they opened in January of 2012. We have had ZERO complaints/problems. Our son goes to school every day with a smile on his face, and often when I pick him up, he doesn't want to leave just yet. He often talks about his friends and teachers at home, and we are always popping in his old classrooms to give his former teachers hugs. He loves this school, and as parents there is nothing better than knowing that your child is in great hands 40+ hours a week when you can't be with them. I can count on one hand the number of times I have even heard a child crying while in the school. My mother has worked in early childhood education for 30+ years, and is also very impressed with this school. It really doesn't get better. I would recommend (and have) this school to anyone looking for a loving environment to send their children to. I feel the need to address some of the below posters issues. As a very involved parent at the school, I feel that I can shed some light on some of their problems: 1. The owner is very passionate about the school. No, she didn't have any daycare experience prior to opening up the Goddard School. However, she sent her own kids to another Goddard School and loved it so much that she wanted to open her own. That's what passion is all about. She is an extremely smart woman that now knows everything she can and should about owning a daycare. 2. Regarding the Christmas wish list that was sent from "someone from the office." This list was put together and distributed from the PTO. I know this because I am a member of the PTO, and I sent this list to the parents in my own child's classroom. Many parents expressed interest in knowing a little more about the teachers/administrative staff for any gifts that they wanted to give. We compiled a list for everyone, and even went around the owner and office staff and got their lists from their own internal Secret Santa to share with the parents. And yes, Victoria's Secret was on someone's list. Can we all grow up and admit that Victoria's Secret is a retail store that many women like and shop at? If you're "appalled" to hear that someone likes to shop there, you must not get out much. 3. Daycare violation report. If you take the time to read this, you will see that the owner herself is the one that reported the incident. It was within 3 months of the facility opening, and a teacher did make a big mistake. She also lost her job immediately for it. She also states in the report that she loved working at the daycare and hates that this is now on their record. The parents also chose to keep their child at the school, and admittedly stated that they wouldn't have even known what happened had the owner not informed them. She did inform them, however, because that was the right thing to do. She also turned her own daycare center in to the state for the incident because it was the right thing to do. 4. I have never felt like the rooms are overcrowded and chaotic. In fact, I've felt the opposite. The infant rooms only take 8 babies each. This is much smaller than almost every other daycare center I've ever been in. As the children get older and more children are added to the classrooms, the rooms get much larger. My son is in a classroom now with 20 kids and there is plenty of room for all of their different toy stations, tables, reading area, computer area, etc. The classrooms are all very structured as well - I have rarely experienced "chaos" in any of my sons classrooms, unless the kids have just come in from outside and are winding down. But the teachers are all very good at helping them through those transition periods and it doesn't last long. I'm sure every daycare/preschool experiences this. 5. The teachers/administration at this school take food allergies extremely seriously. I have seen this first hand with a little boy that is two weeks younger than my son and has been in every class with my son. This child is extremely allergic to MANY food items. The school takes every effort to keep this boy safe, to the point of not even serving eggs and some other food items in his classroom to any of the children. The school does not advertise to be a nut free facility. They do not serve peanuts to the children, instead using soy-nut butter in most instances. However, peanuts are allowed to be in the school - just not served to the children. I have asked this question when wanting to bring in a treat for the teachers containing nuts and I was able to do so. For anyone considering a daycare in this area, I would urge you to check this one out for yourself. I think you will find that you agree with me! read more

My son has been at the Goddard School Rock Hill since he was 4 months old. My wife and I are more than impressed with the attention and care he receives daily. He has some severe allergies for which the staff have gone way out of their way to accommodate. It is hard for us to leave him everyday with his allergies, but his teachers are attentive to our instructions and treat him as one of their own. We receive multiple email updates everyday and we really appreciate that. It makes the time away from our son a little easier. read more

The comments posted by Courtney F. and Sarah B. are very upsetting to me and are not even close to the experiences that I have had with the Rockhill school, the owner, the Education director and all of the teachers. I never write reviews, but I felt the need to respond to these allegations because I was afraid that good families might read these negative comments and choose not to send their kids to what I consider to be one of the best preschools. My son is one of the kids that Jody was referring to when she said that there are kids with very severe allergies at Goddard. The prior daycare we were at (which was more expensive than Goddard btw) had no allergy policies in place and literally almost killed my child. We went to the Rockhill Goddard as a last resort. At the time I was considering becoming a stay at home mother because I couldn't trust a daycare to properly handle his allergies. This Goddard, including the owner and director, has gone above and beyond to ensure my son is safe and included in the school. They even work with me to set-up an hour-long training for any new teacher he has so that I can educate them on his specific allergies. In addition, they have even gone so far as to find alternatives to eggs for his specific class because his egg allergies are so bad. The cook (whose name is Dave btw) works with me constantly to determine what school-provided foods he can eat and is always so helpful and careful with his foods. All of the teachers are trained in dealing with anaphylactic shock and the use of an epi-pen. I cannot stress enough how helpful they have been with his allergies. As far as the Christmas lists go... that was an ideal that was promulgated by the school's PTO and not by the owners. I thought it was very helpful and yes I was even glad they gave me a list for the cook (again his name is Dave), as I am appreciative of everyone there because they all work so hard for our children. As far as the turnover... they have turnover because they hire a lot of bright students who are working on their education masters or whatnot. Most of the turnover is at the assistant teacher level and not many of the head teachers turnover. This I do not feel is any different that what you would see at another daycare. What really matters most to me is that my two children go to a school that fosters real learning in a safe and fun environment. My children love school and love their teachers. The owner and directors are always waiting for them before we leave to give them hugs good-bye. My children are very independent because of the lessons they learn at school. They know yoga, Spanish, sign language, numbers and even perform science projects. The school went above and beyond to work with my oldest son on potty training. The summer program activities are so great that sometimes I wish I were young enough to attend. This is a great school and I just hope the owner and education director do not take offense to the negative comments herein. My children are the most important things to me, and I would not write this review if I didn't feel strongly about the Rockhill Goddard School. read more

When I was four months pregnant (Jan 2012), I inquired about how long the wait list was for infant care. I was told that a spot would likely be available for my child by June 2013 (17 months later). Based on that information, I decided to pay the deposit as a backup plan - in case we ended up unhappy with where we did end up sending our daughter. I never would have wasted my money though if I had known that was not an accurate representation of the wait list - at a minimum we are looking at 29 months!!!! Today, I received my first call ever from the Goddard School - Rick Hill. They were calling to update our wait list info from 2 years ago!!! When I pressed about when a spot would actually be available she vaguely said "maybe sometime this year - spots could open up in the 2 y old room". That is at a minimum an entire YEAR later than they told me when they gladly took my deposit money and completely misrepresented the expected date of an open spot. Based on this misrepresentation, I asked that my deposit be returned. Pretty ridiculous that they still maintain that the deposit is non-refundable when after 2 years there is still no foreseeable spot available. By the time a child is over 2 years old the options for child care open up dramatically - seems like a bait and switch to accept deposits for infant care when no spot will be available for 29 months (at a minimum!) at which time - you have many other good options. I would recommend prospective parents take a look at Webster Child Care Center. As a non-profit (as opposed to the for profit that Goddard is) they have better student teacher ratios in their classrooms for slightly less tuition. Our experience there has been amazing! They also accurately represented their wait list. read more

This is an excellent school for a child of any age. We were selecting a school for our 3-year old 2 years ago. We went through a lot of child care centers and were stunned how clean and well organized Goddard was. Our daughter spent two very happy years in Goddard and learned so much. She completely loves being in this school. Completely disagree with Sarah and Courtney below. Class size is perfect and school is extremely safe. Ms. Jody does an excellent job running the school (yes, it's a business Sarah and Coutney, duh). Ms. Lindsey does an excellent job as Director (with the help of Ms. Kelen and Ms. Lacey of course). Teacher turnover is very small and my daughter has had the same few teachers since she has been there (Ms. Katie, Ms. Amanda and Ms. Heather are the best ever!!!). Social development and learning through play is exceptional. Not a single complaint, only positive remarks. read more