I can't speak highly enough of Bright Beginnings, my daughter flourished there and I truly felt it was the perfect environment as her first introduction to school. Every child is different so I can't speak for other parents, but here are the main points that made me choose and stay with BB:
- Right-sized class: teacher to student ratio was just right, where my daughter had enough diverse interactions with various kids while still getting a detailed report on her every day when I picked her up
- Space: the inside space is decent sized and spans two floors. I loved the fact that the school was in a corner of the building and had top to bottom glass windows on the first floor (hello sunshine!). The room was always clean and tidy, even at the end of the day which was amazing to me how they could manage that with so many kids
- Outside play: kids get to play outdoors in a private park right outside the school (shared only with other residents, not open to general public), and they don't even have to cross any streets. Throughout the summer the water spray is turned on and my daughter really enjoyed running around and getting wet everyday. During the colder months the kids have an awesome play area in the lower level with a rock wall, basketball and a ball pit. My daughter still talks about that ball pit even to this day!
- Food: great healthy variety. They don't load up the kids with fruit punch or even juice, just water and milk. Healthy snacks like veggie straws, edamame, seaweed and animal crackers.
- Attentive: the teachers at BB are top notch! The director, Allison, is excellent. She's kind and gentle with the kids yet firm, which is exactly what toddlers need to encourage appropriate behaviors (and discourage inappropriate ones). She's detailed oriented with the lesson plans and always seeking for feedback from parents to improve. All the teachers - Taylor, Jake, Hunter, Sam - have made such a huge positive impact on my daughter by providing a warm and nurturing environment. Even throughout the pandemic, the entire BB staff worked really hard to keep up with maintaining connections with the kids. As an example, my then 2 year-old didn't take to virtual learning very well and I was struggling to get her to adapt to interacting with a computer screen. Allison pre-recorded a lesson plan over the weekend just for my daughter so that I can play it for her more frequently and encourage her to engage with online learning. It's examples like these where BB goes above and beyond that made me feel like they were an extension of my family
Lesson plans: good variety of physical stimulation and academic lessons. My daughter learned the entire alphabet, numbers 1-20, concept of patterns, even learned how to spell her long name, before she turned 3. She baked cookies, had dance parties everyday, and learned yoga moves that her daddy doesn't even know about!
If you're still looking for a pre-school, look no further, you won't regret it! read more