Northside's teachers are outstanding. Really amazing, warm, progressive school. Northside taught my children how to become thoughtful, curious, articulate, empathetic and engaged humans with a thirst for knowledge, who know how to problem solve and collaborate. My son is thriving in every way possible at Northside. Graduating kids get excellent placements typically at their top choice of schools. My daughter went to the High School of her dreams. read more

As another parent has noted below, this school is run like a business, not an institution of learning. While the administration pays a lot of lip service to the Reggio Emilia philosophy, that's all marketing and zero substance at this school. Reggio Emilia at its core is adaptive and flexible; the goal is tailor the educational approach to the learning style of each individual child. Contrary to that approach, the teaching staff (who, it must be said, are mostly very kind and caring) are trained to follow a single approach that is applied to all the children. My child attended the 2's and 3's program. When I observed that some of the classroom approaches were too rigid for her in some ways, and not challenging enough in others, and that the environment was in some ways not conducive to her learning style, I made suggestions to the administration about ways to adapt the setting to better suit her needs. My requests, which were trivial in scope and would not have posed much of a challenge from a budget or logistics perspective, were largely ignored. Instead, I was advised to hire an additional teacher, at my own expense, to work one-on-one with my child because her existing teachers were "too busy" with the other kids to handle my requests. Imagine that: after paying a tuition of over $15,000 per year for pre-school (which was more than I paid for my excellent private college!), I was told that in order to meet my child's educational requirements, I would need to pay for another teacher, an additional $120 per hour! Like the other parent below, we moved our daughter to another Williamsburg school, which has smaller class sizes, and an administration that cares about cultivating a healthy environment of learning. The people who run Williamsburg Northside care more about cultivating a healthy bottom line. read more

I send my 1 year old daughter to the ITC and am so happy with her wonderful transition to school life. She has greater cognitive development and is more physical than her cousins who do not attend daycare. I have the upmost trust in her teachers, and while there is sometimes confusion at the end of the day regarding how her day went, I know that if there was anything significant to report, I would have already known about it via phone call. I love the weekly blog updates that I can stalk while at work and the children in her class will get to grow up together in the next class. I am thrilled this school is growing and looking forward to the new facilities in the coming months. read more

Our child attended the 3's program for a year at Williamsburg Northside School and did not like it at all. For an outgoing child our son never fully adjusted to the school and had nightmares after attending preschool here. That was unsettling for me. Every school and family has different needs and after a lot of research and close friends raving about it, this school was a huge disappointment for us. The teachers seem overworked and underpaid and don't really seem to "see" each child's unique ability, at least that was the case with the 3 teachers my child had. I always got an undertone of my child's teachers gravitating to a certain gender and child temperament, which is heartbreaking because each child holds such wonderful gifts if given the chance to express them. Furthermore, when any minor concern was voiced to teachers or staff they were brushed off. For the amount of money this school costs that is a true shame. What a horrible way to run a school and make parents and students feel welcome. My child attends another school now and has had a wonderful transition and no more nightmares. He gets along with everyone, at least that's what his teachers currently tell me, and that is the child that I learned to know from birth. At WNS my child's teachers told me he was a loner, which was very out of character for him. So I'm not sure that the staff is as attentive to ALL students as many people believe they are. Please don't believe the hype about this school, it is extremely overrated. read more

I've loved watching my daughter blossom over the past year at Northside. She just turned 4 and is at school every day until 5:30pm with after school activities and extended care. Her teachers are incredible and the other kids & their parents couldn't be lovelier. My daughter is learning so much and has really come out of her shell. Today we had parent / teacher conferences and the level of detail put into her evaluation was truly remarkable. I'm so glad I didn't pay attention to the negative reviews on here. No, it's not cheap but you pay a similar amount for a full time nanny in the city. When you think of what you get in return it's a bargain! read more

My daughter went to this school for 3 years and I never was really that impressed but it was the only school in town. If you can find another school, which now there is Bright Horizons, I would definitely do that. They are money sharks, only care about taking as much money as possible from you, and don't care about the children or their well being. Here are my complaints. - One year the teacher said she could not take parent teach reservations through email. This is the most obsurd thing I've every heard. I work a lot of hours (not at home to fill out paperwork) and was so surprised they couldn't communicate through email when they are suppose to be a paper free school. - After three years of my daughter going to the school they did not accept my son. Siblings are suppose to be guarenteed in. I had to call and complain several times for days before they finally let him in. - One day my daughter wore her princess shoes to school and the teacher wouldn't let her in with them. I don't think she did it on purpose but she strictly said to go outside and change them. This is after my daughter had been out for a week, so her first day back was already a change. She ran outside and started crying and the teacher did nothing. I understand she is trying to run a class but when she saw her crying she really should have tried to explain. I really wanted to just take her out of the school at that point. - This is a glorified daycare in my opinion. My daughter has learned very little in terms of learning the alphabet and numbers. She is going into Kindergarden and can't count to 20 yet or say the alphabet or even recognize all the letters. I thought she would have been a bit more informed on these key concepts than what she has been to date for heading into Kingergarden. - We unexpectedly got moved out of state and I asked for a refund and they denied it. This is after I heard they had given out refunds as they chose to others. The worst part is the admission coordinator was so cold about it, making it clear that they are in this for one thing and that is your money! read more

My 2 year old attends and loves this school. It is very clean and bright, with large classrooms and small classes. There are 3 adults at all times for a class of ten. Also everyone that works here either has a masters in education or is currently in grad school. It is NOT cheap but we feel if you can get it together, it is worth it! read more

My son has had an awesome experience here. His growth in speech, motor and social skills in just one year has gone above and beyond our highest expectations. They also helped potty train him! He loves his school and he looks forward to going every day. I'm so happy with his progress and his delight in learning! read more

I pulled my son out of this school two weeks after attending. He was In the 3's program, and the first time away from me. His classroom had a "dress up" area where they only have 8 princess dresses and 1 construction vest. The ratio of boys to girls in the class was 10 to 5. I specifically asked the teacher for my son not to be assisted in wearing a princess dress. They disregarded my asking and put on two dresses on my son. I had a meeting with the principal and asked them to have other costumes in the class even non gender ones such as a pizza or planet. All the faculty did was make it seem as though I have a personal problem. They have no respect for parents and did not even apologize. Out of 18 thousand dollars I was refunded 5. I am happy I pulled my son out of this brain washing school. They kept telling me that my son choose to wear a dress, they did not have a any options there!!!! 8 princess dresses and 1 vest! They seem like they are conditioning the boys in this school. read more

Our child attended Williamsburg Northside School (WNS) for a couple of years (first at the Infant and Toddler center and then at the 2's program) because there were no other options in the Williamsburg area. Although we liked the specific teachers that took care of our child (they were sweet), I cannot say the same about the school's administration. They don't seem to care about the kids and their education but are far more interested in shaking the parents down for their money. Unfortunately the teachers don't see any benefits of this considerably high tuition institution as many of them have to take 2nd jobs after school. As a result there's a massive turnover and the good ones leave. Many parents I've spoken to have said they were very disappointed in the repetitive nature of the school's program which doesn't foster independent thinking or growth. Others have said that WNS is not transparent and hid the fact that their children were not receiving art or music weekly which they found out only when they asked their children. When the parents brought this issue up to the administration to correct, they were simply brushed off. We finally decided to pull our child from WNS as a great Montessori option opened up in the neighborhood and we are so thankful that we did. Our child has developed to be more independent, is far less shy than at WNS and is making huge strides in all areas of development including adding a 2nd language. Do yourself and your family a favor. Please do the research and look at other options in the neighborhood. You will be glad that you did. My recommendation would be to stay far away from WNS. It's a money making corporation more interested in your wallet to help with their expansion costs than in your child's development. It's too bad because once upon a time WNS really cared about the children but the current neighborhood consensus is that the school is now failing miserably and many parents are seeing the light and are sending their children elsewhere. read more

Both my kids are attending Williamsburg Northside--my 5 year old is currently in Kindergarten but started in the preschool and my 3 year old is in the preschool now (in the 2s program). I can't say enough amazing things about this school. My first kid is a shy kid and had a hard time starting school but he had three incredible teachers (which us parents literally referred to as "angels"--they were so sweet and loving). One teacher sat with my kid on her lap every day for three weeks making him feel comfortable and loved and eventually he started to love school. He made great friends-2 of which are still his best friends even though they attend separate schools now. The other parents were what made this such a stellar ear--seven or so smart, funny, warm women (many like me pregnant with their second child) who became friends and confidants throughout the year, who I looked forward to seeing at pickup and for playdates. We didn't think twice about reenrolling him for the next year. My second kid also had a hard time at first but has learned to love school-he has his first real friends and has really blossomed this year-talking more, understanding more, potty trained and most importantly, a good hearted and well behaved kid. The building is welcoming and the staff is always friendly. Even the receptionist knows both my kids names. Every day is full of learning activities including art, music, reading, cooking, building and playing in constructive ways both outside on the roof and inside in the gym. The teachers have created such a nurturing and enthusiastic environment. I can't imagine sending my kids anywhere else. read more

The positives is that WNP has a fabulous facility with both a roof and an indoor play area. They also offer a mix of programs (2-3-5 day + summer camp). They have a fabulous art teacher that the kids get to visit weekly. In classroom, the experience is very dependent on the teacher you get. The administration is not involved in the daily goings on in the classrooms and overall many parents feel frustrated that there is so little oversight. They also ask for a down-payment before any of the other private schools, which can be frustrating. I've heard great things about the ITC, but for preschool look at WNS, Carrig and some others as there are some fundamental differences in the way schools are run. read more

My nephew and both my kids are attending williamsburg preschool and I just can not believe that all of them really enjoy being there. It's going to be almost a year now since i enrolled both my kids there. They have such amazing teachers that my kids don't feel the need to go back home. read more

WNS is an engaging and exciting place for young minds! My son attended this school for three years and I am glad he started out here. He received the foundations needed for a healthy educational beginning. Most schools start drilling their young minds with academics, academics and more academics, however WNS focuses on the development of social emotional skills early on, which is the key to a successful educational beginning for any child. Thus, children automatically develop a love for learning and sharing their thoughts openly. Teachers aren't driven by test scores but are driven by the thoughts and ideas of their students. read more