Our kids have been to Birch Tree (BTA) over the past 4 years. We've had an amazing experience, and…read morerecently realized how exceptional it is compared to other daycares. We took for granted the high quality care and high standards set by the management and staff. We took a short break and moved our youngest to another daycare for a month just to be closer to our house (national chain daycare in Kenmore), and it was literally night and day. The other daycare was subpar in quality and extremely short staffed, even though the tuition was comparable. We decided to move them back to Birch Tree, and drive the extra miles. What we love about Birch Tree is the management, warm and caring teachers who give lots of hugs, home cooked food, facilities, quality education, classroom camera and Bright Wheel App. Despite the locations expansion, BTA still feels locally owned and the owner Natalie and head of schools Jessica are very much involved in all of their schools. You will still see them in-person floating around the different locations. They generally know all student's names, and the local staff are always friendly and greating parents. They hold their staff to high standards and also expect the same of parents. Kids are well behaved, they wear inside vs outside shoes. Food is better than my home cooked meals, classrooms are modern with high ceilings and large windows, and all teachers have open communication with parents via the instant messaging feature. The admin staff is also on top of communication, and they have an abundance of teachers and admin staff. They also offer weekly PE, music, and Spanish classes which are all included in the price. They also offer parents night-out occasionally, and host events and weekly summer field trips for pre-k. You can do 3, 4, or 5 days a week. Speaking with staff, they enjoy working there and say that there's opportunity for them to grow and take on different roles within the school or office. Other parents we've met have moved from other daycares to go to BTA and seem very happy with BTA. They have well prepared our oldest for kindergarten and we are so thankful. None of these things we observed with the national chain daycare.

Just in case Natalie will explain my review from below in a long and overwhelming format. But you…read morecan always give me a red heart after you enrolled you kid and really learned about what I said in a hard way. And, you are welcome. We enrolled our child here for a few months and experienced so many problems that we decided to withdraw. Honestly, it's hard to put everything into words. If I had to sum it up in one word, it would be chaotic. The management is extremely disorganized, and it shows in every aspect of the school. They promise everything during the tour, but nothing is actually realized. For example, my son's potty training regressed while he was here, yet on his very first day at his new school, he was completely successful again--clearly showing where the issue was. Staffing is a major problem. The school feels understaffed, and instead of hiring enough people, they move teachers around constantly. Teachers are pulled from classrooms to cover the front desk, which leaves children without consistent caregivers and disrupts their sense of safety and stability. Sometimes multiple teachers sit at the front while classrooms and playgrounds remain short-staffed. When teachers are missing, children may be moved into other classrooms without parental consent or proper camera access. The facilities and environment are also concerning. The classrooms and floors are often dirty, even in the morning when children are first dropped off. The food quality is very poor, meals look like leftovers, often just cereal porridge with tiny bits of vegetables or meat, and not the organic quality that was promised. Supervision is lacking both indoors and outdoors. There are no cameras outside, and playgrounds are regularly understaffed. Our child was seriously injured outside and no report was provided. During one unannounced visit, I even witnessed children crying hysterically with no teacher comforting them, while other teachers raised their voices harshly at kids in full view of parents. Another disturbing concern is the culture: the school head's own child is in the school and acts as a bully in the classroom without intervention. Other staff members' children also receive special treatment. If teachers dislike your child, they may even allow or encourage other children to mistreat them. To make matters worse, they openly supports physical punishment, something every other preschool we toured explicitly prohibited. Unfortunately, our child experienced this firsthand. He was two years old, but punished in a harsh and rude way. The teacher had segregated and neglected him during nap time. We are contacting the agencies for the abuse. Hopefully they'll get punished soon. Communication with management is evasive and never provides reassuring answers. Overall, this school fails to provide the safe, nurturing, and trustworthy environment that children need. I cannot recommend it.

Both of our children attended Chestnut Hill Academy, and our youngest just graduated from 5th grade…read morelast week. Throughout their K-5 journey, every teacher was exceptional, supportive, and genuinely caring. Communication between teachers, staff, and parents has always been outstanding. We love CHA's focus on community building, leadership, strong academics, and the emotional well-being of its students. Both of our children loved their time at the school and formed wonderful friendships that will last a lifetime. As parents, we have had the privilege of watching our children grow into confident, resilient, and well-prepared middle school students with strong leadership skills and perseverance. We are incredibly grateful to the entire CHA community for the positive impact it has had on our family.

Our daughter attended CHA from kindergarten and will be completing 4th grade this year. The school…read morehas been incredibly supportive from the beginning. Each of her teachers from K-4 were engaged and provided regular feedback on matters related to academics, social, and well-being. We really enjoyed the school programs from performing arts, field trips, winter activities, and leadership opportunities. CHA also did a great job connecting parents and building a strong community with the school.

My son has been in this school for almost a year now. My experience so far has been really good. My…read moreson has learned many mandarin words, learned to clean up, learned to play with others.The teachers are caring. Her main teacher has a master degree in education. The director has been really nice and supportive.

Very scary my child was yelled at there by director. This is scary for small children I saw it at…read morepickup and it made me sad.

As a family, we had a terrible experience with this school. I will not give details on this…read moreplatform. You can reach me if you have questions. dilanurkomar@gmail.com

Sometimes I see online reviews for an item that someone just purchased, and has only experienced…read morefor 5 minutes, and I question how helpful that review really is. "I just got this roomba 2 hours ago and it is the BEST!" This is not one of those reviews. I think it was almost 12 years ago, my daughter started at The Little School in 1st grade. She was a sensitive, talkative, curious young girl. She enjoyed art projects, and writing stories. She struggled a bit socially, sometimes feeling more at home with her thoughts and the trees than engaging in play. At the Little School the teachers there got to know her well, understanding her as a learner, and identifying her strengths and weaknesses. Her first teacher identified that while she may rarely be the first one to answer a question lobbed out to the group, he found that she was often the one taking the time to seek the deeper understanding. We loved that The Little School takes the time to recognize that attribute and celebrate it for what it is instead of penalizing her for not always being the first. While at The Little School until she outgrew after her 5th grade year, she practiced her social skills, made friends, and was supported by the educators there in learning communication skills and conflict resolution skills to navigate the inevitable challenges that accompany navigating school. After outgrowing she went on to a another local private school, and we were really pleased how prepared she was for Middle and High School there. Not only had she learned the important academic skills, but she also quickly made herself known in her classes because The Little School taught her that she has valuable ideas to share, and that her educators are expected to be her partners in her education. She was able to appropriately speak up in class, ask questions, and contribute to conversations. We believe that her formative years at TLS were vital to developing that confidence. She graduated high school recently near the top of her class and is now at a UC school as a freshman. In case you are thinking that The Little School is only a good fit for loquacious, nature-loving girls, let me tell you about my son. He started at The Little School about 11 years ago in kindergarten. He was twitchy and restless, kind and caring, and loved playing pretend games with building toys. He had a super-quick mind, and could memorize facts and trivia easily. While at The Little School, until he outgrew after 5th grade, we love that they challenged him in the areas where he needed improvement, without getting overly distracted by his twitchiness. They made accommodations for his physical energy, recognizing that even though his eyes were darting around, he was listening carefully, could remember virtually everything said during the lesson, and could immediately apply it. They challenged him in his writing. Pushing him to get better at punctuation and grammar, and flesh out his ideas further. He did not always like it, but we watched as they encouraged him to try harder and expand on his writing. This summer he spent two-weeks at a science camp hosted on a university campus, learning about the microbiology of cancer, and in the fall he will start running-start at Bellevue College as a high school junior. He is looking forward to the challenge and the variety of classes that will be available to him. He is FAR less twitchy, gets along well with others, and remains friends to this day with people he met at TLS. In case you are thinking that The Little School is only a good fit for sensitive, talkative, curious little girls, and twitchy, clever, gentle young boys, let me tell you about my other son (don't worry, this is the last one). He started at The Little School about 7 years ago in kindergarten. He was a typical little kid, played really well with others, loved playing competitive games outside, but also played imaginative games with stuffed "lovies" inside with boys and girls. As he grew and matured, the TLS educators, just like with my other two kids, learned about his strengths and weaknesses and encouraged him along the way. He had a severe lisp when younger, but the lovely thing about TLS is that they walk their talk when it comes to belonging, kindness, and community. I don't ever recall him coming home sad or upset because someone teased him about the way he talked. He was a confident, charismatic social leader by the time he outgrew at the end of 5th grade. Their outdoor education/physical education program there nursed his athletic abilities and as a 5th grader he was helping the TLS mountain beavers win ultimate frisbee games in the local league, as well as teaching his classmates about other sports which he played outside of school. He is now an 8th grader at our local public middle school, where he is in advanced math, loves social studies, and was invited into their selective programs for young mentors and leaders.

SMS has provided foundational learning experiences for my three kids over the last 6yrs (youngest…read morestill attending). They are at an excellent location, easy commute from our work places, and have an excellent family-like staff & environment. Highly recommended!!!

I highly recommend SMS. It is the best and one of the most mature Montessori schools in the Redmond…read morearea. Family run and teachers stay for decades. I cannot say enough good things about them - they are excellent. The front desk staff, Jane especially, greet you with smiles and any information you need as well as help for any issue. Teachers are attentive and thoughtful, and they communicate well to parents. For issues and concerns they pick up the phone when you call, they do what they say they will do and most important - our kids loved their teachers and we parents got to be proud of our children's development. I had my two girls go through their pre-school program in 2014-2020 time frame and I couldn't be happier - big shout out to Mrs. Kerr and Mrs. Digdhe in class room 5!

Lakeview Montessori provided the best experience in early childhood education for our children and…read morewe are so grateful that they attended the school for many years. The school's approach to child-based learning was a wonderful introduction to the Montessori method, which has set our children up incredibly well for the rest of their education and life! The school's facility is large and open, with beautiful outdoor play spaces and lots of space in each of the classrooms. The teachers are highly qualified and especially caring. Every day our children spent at the school, we know was a day well spent where they learned many subjects, experimented, socialized with peers and were nurtured in a trusting and safe environment. The school's Director, Jayme, runs an amazing establishment and Montessori program. It was very comforting for us to see Jayme and the other teachers and staff everyday. They all knew our children, our family, and made the school a welcoming and inclusive place.

As parents, we are so thrilled that Lakeview Montessori School was an option for us. We have two…read morechildren, a boy and girl, and we spent a total of 6 wonderful years at the school. The educators and administration of this school are deeply trained in the Montessori method, and our children were so very well prepared for primary school when they started. We also had a dear teacher and teacher's aides through their time at the school, who cared deeply for our kids, and we miss them! One of the amazing things about this school is the approach to learning and "work." The teachers instill a fundamental desire for students to enjoy their work and gain a deep sense of autonomy and pride that comes from putting their best foot forward. Our son thrived with the pre-math curriculum and he now routinely scores in the 90th+ percentile in math, science and reading in primary school. The learning atmosphere and guidance in personal growth at a young age was top-notch at this school. Lakeview Montessori provides a high level of early learning. We are so grateful to have attended, and that we have this wonderful school in our community.

To recommend DWs post from 10 years ago - this is statement is still accurate in 2025…read more This school is fine for easy-going kids who would do well anywhere. They absolutely do not focus at all on the social or emotional development of the children. Any and all problems are considered the parent's problem to fix. They also hire teachers with no secondary education background, and have no business calling themselves a dual accredited school when they can't support a class structure - it's chaos in there

heaven. i attended this school from pre-k up until 3rd grade and it was the best school ever. i…read moremade so many friends and so many memories and every day was a good day. i now have PTSD because in 3rd grade i was criticized by some teachers for having special needs and was sent to a crappy public school against my will that was absolute hell and i also got PTSD from that school. so i have trauma from being practically abused by being transferred to a terrible school against my will but it was worth it

Words can't even begin to express by gratitude to the faculty and staff of Eastside Prep. My…read moredaughter began in 7th grade and now is a senior. My son started in 6th grade and now is a freshman. I am truly convinced that both of my kids are excelling in school and in life because of the enriching environment that this school has provided. The kids at this school are learning from experience. They are truly interested in the subjects they are being taught. I can tell from the highly intelligent debates that occur around our dinner table, that the education that they are receiving is engaging and inspiring. The teachers and staff truly KNOW who your child is, what their interests are, and what their strengths are. Each child is accepted and encouraged.

My child loves this school, she has been here for two years now and she has never been to a better…read moreschool. When I pick her up from school she says that she had the best time. She loves all of her teachers and I love them as well. I think this school is great for her and I am sure the same applies to your child. I would definitely recommend this school to the other parents out there.