This is a gem of a school where all 4 of my children attended from K-8th grade. I love the school…read moreso much that I returned in 2021 to teach. I am a CA credentialed teacher with a masters in Education. Most of the teachers have been teaching at OLMCS for over 13 years and are amazing. My children were always treated with respect and had a top notch education. 3 are currently in college at Cal Poly, University of Utah and UCLA. OLMCS does not receive funding from the state therefore it is tuition based and is partially funded by the archdiocese of Los Angeles. The level of education far exceeds the cost of tuition and we do have parental involvement to help make it the community school that it is! It's not for everyone, especially if you don't want a hands on experience with your child's education or don't feel that morals and values are important. Every student at OLMCS has their own laptop or iPad and our Sports display is filled with trophies from our league which includes all of the private schools in Santa Barbara. It is an amazing school where your child is treated like family and nurtured from Pre-K- 8th in a loving and academically rigorous environment.

A jewel of a parish. Lots of great family activities and solid scripture studies. Beautiful Church…read moreand great school too.

The Montecito Family YMCA is a beautiful and welcoming space that clearly has whole-person wellness…read moreas its top priority. I was staying near Montecito for a while and needed a place to work out. I'm usually a pretty hardcore gym person, but something about the Montecito's Y website was extremely attractive so I decided to give them a try. I was going to schedule a tour on the site but did not since I couldn't be certain of the time I'd be able to get there. The website was very inviting and said something like "...or just stop on by..." which I did, I was greeted so warmly, and so enthusiastically by the staff (John, along with 2 lovely ladies whose names I did not get) that it felt both unreal yet fully genuine at the same time. The facility, while housing modern equipment, feels like a throwback to a simpler time, with multiple workout areas, some partially outdoors (awesome!) and a great pool that's heated year-round. Every member I encountered offered a warm smile and a hello, and extra touches like a wide array of flowers for sale are wonderful. I was set to be in the area through the New Year for a job that unfortunately ended prematurely. Still, I'm so grateful to the team at the Montecito Family Y for inviting me in so beautifully when I visited, providing all the equipment I needed for a full workout, and for existing as a beacon of community at a time when our world needs it the most.

Love this location, the workers + lifeguards, and the pool. They all work hard to make sure you…read morehave a good experience. This review is solely for the male locker room. I don't know what the best solution is for this but it's a mess in terms of behavior. Nobody follows the sauna rules and brings in newspapers, headphones, food, and one guy even put his gross soaked workout clothes over the heater to dry! Just absolutely abhorrent, inconsiderate behavior. One man recently brought a huge glass bottle inside to drink with the other day, and a few of us were worried what would happen if it fell off the bench. We're all barefoot, after all. Sure enough we all heard an explosion and lots of loud cursing (classy) from the locker room later, and it turns out he dropped it and it shattered all over the changing area floor. A worker gave the man a broom but didn't say anything about why the guy brought a huge glass juice bottle out in the first place. I wouldn't feel safe bringing my kid here if they're so laid back about broken glass on the ground. Not sure what the point is of having a huge rule list taped on the sauna door is when nobody enforces it. People also take super loud phone calls as well despite the no cell-phone sign. Watch your feet if you're in the men's locker room, cause with the rubber mats with holes in them, there's no way they cleaned all the shards out unless they removed the mats and cleaned. And we can all tell from the wet mud stains in between the gaps whether or not this will ever happen...

I have two children enrolled in school here and they have been so good to us as newbies to the…read moreneighborhood. They're great community builders as well hosting family get together so the parents can get to know each other as well as the children. The teachers are warm and welcoming and my children love it there. Montessori is such a wonderful way to help children learn and flourish. My boys are so much better behaved after learning the Montessori way and this school really helps with that.

A real gem in our community. From the moment you walk through the blue gate you are enveloped in a…read morewarm and nurturing environment where children can blossom into their true and confident selves. The teachers are caring, competent, and guide your child through their learning journey with a perfect balance of love, respect, and support. Our daughter attended this precious school for 3 years and has now started K. All the tools she was provided with at Sunrise have helped her ease into this transition. Sunrise is not just a preschool but truly a home. Thank you Felicia, Jennifer, Jean Marie, Margarita, Kimberley, Rosie, Nina and big Jason for all your love and wisdom.

Danielle Monroy is the owner and director of Creative Care for Children, and she does an amazing…read morejob! Both of my children attended Danielle's, and both my kids loved it. Danielle has a wonderful focus on art and outside play - in the summer it is not unusual to see a handful of kids laughing and playing in the sprinklers in her gorgeous back yard. Her facility is amazing - a HUGE backyard with a Victorian wooden playhouse, lovely grass area, children friendly vegetable patch and flower garden, multiple climbing structures, and a paved bike path. Though technically she's a childcare and not a preschool, she still takes the time to teach the older children their basics. My son attended Danielle's until kindergarten, and I felt that he was well prepared for his first day of real school. Do yourself a favor and go check her out - you'll and your child will be happy you did!

We searched and searched to find the perfect preschool for our 2-year-old. We toured all the…read morehighest rated schools in SB and weren't excited about any of them. And then we found Danielle. We couldn't be happier! She's caring, attentive and it's abundantly clear that she adores the kids. It's not a standard school - it's out of her home, in a residential area. But, she has a fully equipped, expansive backyard where the kids run free and explore. Danielle has a master's degree in early childhood education and believes in the importance of outdoor learning. There are numerous daily art projects and most are nature based. Inside, there are wooden Montessori and Waldorf toys as well. I've also noticed that she spends a lot of one-on-one time - teaching and reading to the kids. We are so glad to have found this affordable, small little school where our daughter has thrived.

Great place to send your children everyone is so kind they even have a big area in the cafeteria…read moreFor great events

My daughter has attended this phenomenal preschool since she was two years old. She is now four…read more I am so over-joyed with the loving, attentive staff and curriculum. I feel that she is safe, taken care of, loved and educated. Her classmates are her friends that she looks forward to seeing every school day! There are fun family activities, field trips, interactive games for the children to explore...and the art at this school is beyond words. The formative years in life is the most important, so I believe one must trust in the best school to our most prized possessions, our children!

Nothing Short of Magical…read more We joined the Child's Play (CP) family in January 2014 when our oldest daughter turned two. I say "family" because that's exactly what Child's Play has become for us. We've felt so lucky to meet and connect with the teachers and families of CP. Our oldest daughter has since "graduated" to kindergarten (but still comes back for the occasional half-day) and our youngest daughter is in her second year there. Some things you'll notice when first tour the school: - Creativity seeps from every nook and cranny. Glitter, paint, straw from the play yard, and student artwork cover every inch of the CP Westside cottage. If you need a sterile institutional like environment, this is not the place for you. - Messy = Learning & Fun. It's always been our philosophy that if the kids aren't getting dirty they're probably not having fun. The CP students dig in, get their hands, hair, face, everything dirty, learn a ton and love every minute. - Donna saves it for the kids. You'll read some reviews describing Donna as "jaded" or "curmudgeonly," which makes us laugh. True - she suffers no fools and could care less about giving parents rainbow covered warm-fuzzies (you're an adult, get over it). What's also true - Donna adores and respects her students (and they respect her in return), her focus is on the health and safe development of her students, and she does it all with an air of whimsy and magic. This is the same woman who painted green footprints on her shirt and across her face to convince the kids she'd been run over by a leprechaun, who goes ALL-OUT for the annual Halloween festival, and when the kids are inspired to create something helps them execute their idea no matter how big or seemingly impossible, like turning the front room into a sloth habitat, building a huge cardboard robot monster, or creating a circus where students choreographed their own performances and organized ticket and popcorn sales. No school is perfect though - it's a little unorganized and if you have a group of parents not willing to pitch-in, it drags down the school's ability to execute on some of the bigger events like Fiesta Parade and Halloween. Additionally, the teacher turnover is high (with the exception of Daniel, who has been there for years and is the embodiment of music and fun). Every teacher at CP has been awesome, we only wish some of the really great teachers would stick around longer. That being said, this is what my children have learned during their time at Child's Play: - They were both potty-trained by 2.5. Woohoo! - How to recognize emotions and express them with words (instead of acting out). - How to navigate social situations where they might feel left out. - The importance of self-reliance (cleaning up, putting on shoes, getting your lunch out - doing lots of little things on their own). - That if they keep trying they are capable of incredible things they never thought possible. - That maybe, just maybe magic is real and all around us. We were a little concerned by the lack of formal teaching of numbers and letters, but all of that has come with time (my kindergartener is reading first grade level books already). What's been most impressive though is how Child's Play has helped teach our girls just to be kind and helpful little human beings. We will forever be grateful for being invited into the Child's Play family.

Child's Play is truly a hidden gem. We're on our 2nd child growing up in this wonderful little…read morespace. There is a big focus on outside play and creative arts/crafts and cooking (pre-Covid) that our eldest son really enjoyed and thrived within to include weekly art and dance classes for the kids. The teachers really encourage independence and creativity within the confines of a group setting of children that really learn the important early lessons of respect and appreciation for one another. Our oldest son was wonderfully prepared and ahead of kids at the Kindergarten level entering pre-K and knew how to read/write his name, count and do simple math in this program that carved out a "K-class" for the older elementary school transitioning kids. Donna, Daniel, Laurel and Lindsey are wonderful teachers and I would HIGHLY recommend this program for any parent looking for well rounded loving learning environment for their little.

Love this place. Been here for 6 years, all 3 kids go here. All teachers we have had have been…read moreamazing, tremendous energy, engaging and caring. Small class sizes. We are so lucky to attend.

This school is as good as it gets. They have the resources…read moreto give our children the best of the best. Small class sizes, violin lessons, science lab, organic gardens, parent education classes, student trips to DC, teacher in services at Harvard....I could go on and on. This is a public school but is better than most private schools. We are fortunate our children go here.