The Goddard School of Rochester Hills is great! Our now 9 month old started the day they opened…read morewhen he was 4 months old in the infant room. He quickly bonded with his teacher, Ms. Katie. It is obvious he feels comfortable and is happy each day when dropped off and picked up. Both the owner, Sandeep, and director, Amee, are extremely personable. They keep an open communication line between the parents, teachers, and themselves; making it easy to feel confident and comfortable with leaving our little boy in their care. Our little one is crawling and beginning to want to walk, so he will be moving to the First Steps room in the next few weeks. We expect to feel just as confident in his new teacher and for him to continue learning and developing as he has. We would definitely suggest The Goddard School to anyone!

Goddard School at Rochester Hills, MI has made child care and preschool feel like home. Our…read moredaughter is 20 months old and as new parents, we had no experience with child care facilities or preschools. It was difficult to choose a location. We wanted a place that would be safe, educational, and close to home. We found what we were looking for and more with Goddard School of Rochester Hills! Our daughter is being cared for by people that truly care about her and want to see her succeed in life. We love to hear daily about the things that she is experiencing and learning. The Owner, Director, all the teachers and staff are exceptionally nice and very passionate about their profession and they interact with every single child individually and make them feel special and warm without anyone being left out. Overall, this is a great place and I would highly recommend it to any family. -Sushant & Sudnya

Not a real Montessori school, demonstrates blatant disregard for student well-being. Your money…read morewon't go towards your child's education here. We withdrew after 7 weeks. Where to start... When my older son was so riddled with anxiety one day he refused to get out of the car at drop-off I knew I had to spend some time in the classrooms to see first-hand what was going on. Up until this point we had heard stories from the kids, were suspicious of the lack of work being done, and had already had a meeting with the headmaster over a separate safety issue that was going on at school. What I found when I visited the classrooms was virtually no academic work being done, the core components of a Montessori program not being delivered, and a hazardously frigid cold building. HAZARDOUS SCHOOL BUILDING. At $17k+ tuition, you'd think a school would have basic necessities like heat. I've attached a photo of the thermostat from inside my 2nd graders classroom on the day we pulled him out of this place. 52 degrees in the 3rd week of October. I was told it was "too early" to turn on the heat. See attached violation from the City of Pontiac building department for no heat and not maintaining a temperature of 68 degrees. This citation was a week after we left. Let that sink in that another week went by before they corrected the issue of freezing cold classrooms. FALSE CLAIMS TO BE A MONTESSORI PROGRAM. This school claims to be "fully accredited" and we were told (in writing) that they were a member of AMS (The American Montessori Society), yet when I verified their membership status (see attached letter from AMS) I found out they haven't even been members since 2020. NO INDIVIDUALIZED OR CHILD LED LEARNING (i.e. not Montessori). Kids had same lessons assigned. The Upper Elementary and Middle School are grouped together under the same lead teacher (we were not told this when we signed up). Montessori should have a 3 year age range, not 5. I observed my 4th grader and my 7th grader working on the same materials, and that work was way below even the 4th grade level. The teacher (Ms. Carey) admitted to giving my 7th grader the wrong math and science work for the previous 7 weeks. Ms. Carey admitted that our kids at 7 weeks into the program did not have the materials or the adult support to work on anything beyond what was setup for the classroom for the start of the school year. CHAOTIC STRESSFUL ENVIRONMENT. A Montessori learning environment is supposed to provide a peaceful and quiet environment where students can work uninterrupted for long periods of time. This environment was so chaotic and full of constant interruptions (including flying sharp objects being thrown across the room and other safety issues) that my kids were nervous wrecks. My older son's friend was hit in the face with a pair of scissors that someone threw. DOCUMENTED LEARNING LOSS. In the 7 weeks we attended this school, my kids went from having great grades and high scores on their academic testing from the end of the previous school year in Math, to failing the math placement tests for the school they attended last year. We now are paying for weekly private tutoring to get caught up. This is all well documented.

No academic for earlier years , treated as a daycare , huge waste of time and money!!!! every…read moretime I asked my son what he learnt that day , he would say nothing I was just allowed to play with dolls!!!!!!!!

My wife and I have sent our children - currently ages 4-and-a-half and 6 months - to School Bell…read moretwo days/week since they've been alive. About six child care centers exist within a 5-mile radius of my home, so the initial choice of School Bell was made after a fair amount of research and visits. I'll talk about the positives in a moment, but it's first worth noting why we're leaving. Due to various staff changes/leadership morale, the PreK program has, to my eyes, become little more than a glorified babysitting service over the last year. My older child, to me, is smart and articulate and can do puzzles like a champ, so I like to believe the two days/week he spent here in his very formidable years were good for him, but now that he's at the point where reading, writing, and the things you need to have at least a passive understanding of to succeed in kindergarten are important to me, I'm not seeing any of these things happening in School Bell's programs. There's no curriculum to speak of, there's no communication from the staff about what my child is learning, and there are no goals/expectations/milestones for him. In fairness, lots of education could be happening, but if it is, I'm not being told of it; what I do see is my child, when he arrives in the room in the morning, scurrying to the child allowed to have a tablet in school to wait his turn to play Angry Birds. This is not what I pay for. That's the big reason...the apparent lack of learning that has taken over the PreK room...but there are other small things: - On the occasions when signs are posted, it's not uncommon for them to have spelling or grammatical errors. Not that the kids can read them, but it doesn't inspire confidence in me when a center's leader cannot correctly spell "mismatch." - This is a first-world problem, but you can't pay by credit card. I get that the center doesn't want to pay processing fees, but as someone who really enjoys the benefits of credit card points, I'd really like to pay for the biggest expense in my life with a credit card. - My child absolutely loves Water Day, but it's only on Fridays this summer. He doesn't go on Fridays; would it be tough to switch up Water Day once in awhile so he can enjoy it as well? Now, all of that said, there are a lot of good things about this place; in no particular order: 1. It's clean. It's bright. 2. Nearly every teacher in the Infant, Toddler, and Preschool rooms I met there truly cared about the kids (or if they didn't, they weren't there long). Gone are luminaries such as Danielle and Georgia and Anne and a litany of others (as you likely know, the turnover rate in this industry is very high), but as of this writing, Denise and Allyson and Stephanie and Carly are there, among others, and they will take excellent care of your children. My kids have never been hurt, sunburnt, underfed, or suffered any neglect or pain (with the of-course exception of a fall of two on the playground) at this center, and for that, I am very grateful to the staff. 3. The price. The price fluctuates depending on how many days you enroll you child(ren), but in an industry with razor-thin margins, School Bell was reasonably priced, and the inclusion of snacks and lunch often made it seem like a bargain. For the older child, the price came out to about $5.90/hour, which, when you consider the work the women here do, is an excellent value. 4. Lunch is provided. Snacks, too. Not making lunches is a benefit I have learned to appreciate. In sum, if you're looking for a solid childcare center, this one is indeed solid. I wish we weren't taking the kids out, but the lack of a good PreK curriculum has forced our hand. Hope this helps anyone looking for a place to give care to your kids.

I have had my son enrolled at school bell since he was in the infant room and now he has moved up…read moreinto the toddler room and I am so appreciative of the amazing staff that helped us out along the way. Most importantly Ms. Carly and Mrs. Denise who have been there the whole time. Ms. Sidney and most importantly Ms. Lori who always make my family feel at home and take care of our son the very best they can.

Our son needed a change of pace and social interaction after a long period of time at home due to…read moreCovid. After checking out multiple preschool options we came across SALT and are so glad we did. Our experience there was fantastic! The teachers are caring and genuinely loving. They were actively engaged with my son, teaching academics, social skills, and daily arts and crafts just to name a few. Communication was fantastic and we always knew what was going on with regular updates on Remind and monthly newsletters. At the end of the year, we received a packet of materials for continued learning over the summer, as well as his journal from the year, full of wonderful, thoughtful feedback and documentation. Mrs. Stacy and her staff really went above and beyond! Our only regret was not signing him up sooner. Thank you for everything!