West Coast Sitters is an extremely professional company to do business with. I know from experience…read morethey care about their clients and nannies while valuing their time, and the exceptional care being being provided to the babies and children. I would definitely work with them as they genuinely care about being on top of everything.

As a parent of two young children, it is stressful finding the right nanny, someone you will…read moreactually trust taking care of your kids. After all, you are inviting someone in your home to nurture your babies. Especially for us as we recently moved to BC! What I can say is this: hands down working with Mahsa was a dream come true. She carefully and dilligently worked with us and found someone who I honestly think is the best nanny in the world, and perhaps one of the best humans! Our daughter has become so attached to our nanny, she treats her as member of the family. So loving, so nurturing. We are so blessed to have worked with Mahsa, it changed our family for the better. I don't know what more to say, other than I cannot recommend West Coast Sitters enough! As the sang goes, you get what you pay for. Our experience w/ West Coast Sitters was double outstanding. If you are in need of finding a nanny or highly qualified baby sitter, boy it's sure worth it to give them a call... Kevin

Pastry Training is located on Renfrew St near Adanac St…read more Chef Marco Röpke has over 30 years pastry experience and he worked at different world class hotel as head pastry chef. I love bread and want to make my own bread. That's why I would like to take his class and learn his secret of making bread. He's great and his class is well-organized. The class was pretty intensive and we had to make 7 different breads in 2 classes. Further, I never bake so..... It's challenge to me! I had learnt the below Asian breads in his class. Purple yam and tofu bread - the color so beautiful and sounds so healthy Japanese green tea and red bean paste bun - it's so delicious Panda bear bread - So much work but it's so soft and cute Japanese shiso and seaweed baguette - I like baguette and taste good Hokkadio milk toast bread - it similar to brioche, it so soft and pretty bland Black sesame buns - it's absolutely my favourite, the bun pretty soft and black sesame paste pretty strong favourite. Chinese coconut buns - My hubby gave me 2 thumbs up and probably good tho... Just be expected - Knead is the major process of making bread. NO stand mixer or bread maker in the class. Highly recommend his class to any bread lover.

I have been on the lookout for a good chocolate making class for a couple years now. As luck would…read morehave it, I was going to be in Vancouver the same time Marco Ropke was offering his chocolate training course so I jumped at the chance. For a good measure, I signed up for the cake decorating class 1 as well. What the heck right? Let's broaden my pastry horizon all in one go. Now these classes aren't cheap. You pay between $195 and $215 per two-day class, and a full course can run 8-9 classes and a deep hole in your pocket. You do get a discount if you buy the whole series, but not if you mix and match 8-9 different classes (e.g. mixing pastry training with chocolate and bread.) Doh. :p Was it worth it? The real proof will be when I buy all the necessary equipment and try it out at home, but so far I feel like it was time and money well spent. Before class, I'd tried making truffles and pâte de fruits and they didn't turn out well -- I mean they didn't turn out at all. My pâte de fruits was a soupy mess and my truffles were, uhm, let's just say I served them frozen. Sometimes, there's more to making something than the recipe says. And these little tips you learn in Chef Marco's classes. The classes are fully hands on. Class size caps out around 12 people. For each technique and recipe, you first watch Chef Marco do a demonstration up front, and then it's your turn working in teams of two. What I like really like about these classes is that there is plenty of opportunity to practice. Don't feel confident about tempering your chocolate? Well do it again. And again. Now have to temper your chocolate at least 4-5 times in a two day class. Now practice hand dipping 60 chocolates. The opportunity to do this with the guidance of an experienced instructor is why taking an in-person class still trumps watching a YouTube video 100000x over. I still feel like I have a lot to learn, but at least I got a head-start honing the techniques. :) Let's talk about Chef Marco's pedigree. How does a background as an Executive Pastry Chef at the Ritz Carlton & JW Marriott Hotels in Beijing during Beijing Olympics sound? Or the fact he's a 4th generation baker having started back when he was 6? Sometimes experience and talent doesn't translate to instruction, but here you definitely get the benefits of someone who's, as Chef Marco says himself "done this a few thousand times." It sure says something when you find among your classmates pastry instructors from other local schools! Classes fill up fast -- some of them book up months in advance, so if you're interested, don't wait! The course availability on the web site is a bit slow to update, so it's best to call in about signing up. For now, I'm content to get home and start practicing, but I look forward to a future trip to Vancouver for future technique classes!

Eagles Nest's free preschool supports Indigenous children prepare for kindergarten. They are…read morenothing but amazing hardworking teachers! Eagles Nest incorporates culture into the program and they have an elder onsite teaching. My son plays outside 1-2 times per day when he attends "school." During Covid-19 the teachers have been preparing curriculum boxes for the children. Thank you!

My daughter was at this daycare from age 1-2. I cannot speak highly enough of this daycare. We…read morefound the staff warm and accommodating. They happily tailor to the parents requests (eg. please serve her fruit before bread). I was worried about her sleeping with other kids for naptime (thought she wouldn't sleep) but she had no issues. The space is nice and bright and they go out often for walks and to the fire station. They also go downstairs to the gym or preschool to play sometimes. The only problem is getting in - like most Vancouver daycares there are long waitlists. We had her on since I was first pregnant.

Our child was at LMM for a year and a half, and I believe he learned a lot there. The instructors…read moreAubin and Cindy are firm but kind. The thing I found most lacking however was communication with parents. We never knew what the kids were doing at school. No photos, no newsletters, email updates, no work is ever sent home, etc. As a parent I was disappointed, and the teachers were not open to feedback and very strict about their systems. Our new Montessori is a breath of fresh air and our child is more relaxed as well. LMM is a good school but just not the right fit for us.

Our daughter is in her second year at Little Mountain and we could not recommend Aubin and Cindy…read moreenough! They are both warm, kind, and truly care about their students. Our daughter has flourished during her time there, and Little Mountain's program provides a great a great academic foundation balanced across math, the alphabet/phonetic reading, language (including French), and art. Their teaching is based in Montessori, however we have found their approach to be less strict than other preschools we considered. They have a great philosophy of enabling kids to be kids, while instilling the discipline and structure of a Montessori program. Every day our daughter runs right in at drop off, excited to see her friends and teachers, and then comes home afterwards with something fantastic she's learned while there. We are confident that our daughter will be so well set up for elementary school (and beyond!) after her time at Little Mountain!

This review is for Oakridge Montessori School. My child went through most of the Junior…read moreKindergarten year. Unlike teacher communication at OMS, this review was written 100% without the use of AI. OMS, if you would like to respond, please consider not using AI. Prospective parent: Unless you are ultra-wealthy and have at least one caregiver who does not need to work, stay away! (You might also like to own a Tesla). You will need all of the above to shuttle your child back and forth to many field trips and special events (not on the school calendar) that last ~2-3 hours in lieu of actual school, plus you will need to pay extra for every single one of them (plus up to $10k more for auctions...as the principal said, "It's Report Card Season!"). Essentially this is an (aspirational) feeder school for elite private schools in the area, and tries to behave like one. Oh, and you should also read/write Mandarin and have the WeChat app in order to participate in the parent group. This school has absolutely nailed their target demographic. I don't think the school needs to change, because it works well for said population. I'm writing this review so that those who don't fall within this particular demographic can go in with eyes wide open. We didn't, clearly - because who can really be that choosey about childcare in Vancouver? - but I think a heads up might have helped. OMS is a self-proclaimed "organic Montessori" school. They do screen time, and they seem a bit light on some other parts of Montessori (my kid reports that they don't really clean their environment, for e.g., though I take their report with a grain of salt). What concerned us early on was the use of reward/points systems to motivate behavior in the classroom through their ClassDojo App (which, btw, suits the school well - always asking for money - and which we hate with a passion). To the school's credit, when I raised this issue with the teacher, the school principal(?)/"Director of Education" called me and addressed it, claiming it was a communication error and that the points were not to be used with this age group, only Grade 1 & up. They did seem to stop using it after this. (Though are points really appropriate for Grade 1 & up in a Montessori school?) Continuing to give credit where it is due: Teachers and staff have taken the time to answer our concerns, and have called us during what I am guessing are their lunch breaks. While the AI responses really rub me the wrong way - because these are the people teaching my child to read and write - I acknowledge that being in charge of 16 4ish-year-olds is really no mean feat. I do believe that the staff and teachers care about the students. Moreover, my child did learn to read and write quite willingly during their time at OMS. IN SUM: Our family is an outlier at OMS - we don't own a car, we aren't trying to send our kids to elite private schools, and having to pay $55 per adult to attend my child's "Spring Tea" concert (which is 1.5 hours long with no regular school) is a bit painful. And so attending this school has been a bit awkward and logistically burdensome for us. You might say there was a mismatch in values, but of course no daycare or school is going to mesh with our family's culture completely. No irreparable damage was done, we did our best to make a few friends among the parents, my child has been mostly happy......but we will not be continuing our "OMS journey".

Expensive! 2.5 hours a day! 3 programs running a day. No wonder the teacher turnover is high. It…read morefeels like a prep school for private schools with charges for every extra detail. Fees are going up $5000 next year, insane.

I also looked at this Montessori school and it's decent. The location is their best feature. There…read moreis staff turnover and the materials are just OK. The reviews I've read are good but it's more of a first impression from my visit a few years back.

Since our son had just graduated from Monarch this year, I feel it's time for me to update my…read morereview on this school. This school is definitely one of the best decisions we have ever made for our son, and this was specially evident in his transition to his elementary school education. Not only does he flourish in mathematical and analytical thinkings, his behaviors at home and at his extracurricular activities have also demonstrated his improvements throughout his life at Monarch. The principal(Ms. Grace) and the teachers(Ms. Paige and Ms. Julia) have put so much time and efforts into their kids, and the community there(among the parents and kids) is just fantastic! Just like what we have told Ms. Grace, it's really sad that Monarch doesn't have classes after kindergarten, otherwise we would leave our son there for as long as he could.

My 2 year old and I love this place! The teachers are great and so knowledgeable about children and…read moretheir needs. COVID measures are in place and kids put used toys into a separate bucket for sanitizing after class. Highly recommend, especially for little ones bored at home without many opportunities to socialize with others.

I put my son in a class. And I was with my daughter in the play gym. And after my son was done his…read moreclass then his teacher brought him into the play area. The front desk charged me as a playtime. Then when I called to ask about the charges she hung up on me. She didn't even properly discuss the issue. And when they said they had a promotion for 30% off and I had two kids, she said I couldn't get it off the transaction. She said I could only get 30% off of one kid. Then the other transaction was for the other kid. The place is cool, franchise is nice but horrible customer service. Bad experience.