Please watch your child closely after enrollment; some kids do well and some do not. If your…read morechild starts acting out, DO NOT allow the school to put them in the classroom for difficult children just to keep you paying the tuition. This will make things ten times worse, not because of the teachers, but children with special needs are there, and if your child is not one of them, then do NOT mix them together for hours. Plus there are WAY too many children in that classroom and the teacher is well meaning but completely fried by Wednesday and screaming at everyone. It took six months to undue the damage caused by that classroom and we are still working on it.

Love the Montessori teaching philosophy…read more Not digging the fact they post children with allergies on the wall, like mug shots of a poor band of misfits. Dislike. Especially since my daughter's photo would be up there. It angers me, kids already pick on others for dumber reasons than food allergies, why give them more ammo? They should be somewhere the teachers / subs see them, but not on display like a circus freak show. The facility is awesome and brand new. The tuition is mid to upper cost for the area. Definitely not in love with the fact that they use the state max numbers for their younger classes. For those two reasons I'm giving this facility 3 stars. Nut free, which is great! Very nice outdoor play area.

Our son is enjoying every minute at Nanda Learning Center. From the beginning, he had trouble…read moreadjusting but the staff at Nanda did a good job help him transition. After a couple of weeks, he is happy to see his teachers and friends. The Nanda Learning Center is great with communicating with what is needed, I.e more diapers and wipe, to communicating any situation that may have occurred during the day. The center is also has very strict COVID guidelines and managed to get our son to wear a mask the entire day. I am very happy with our son's progress and development. The staff is doing an excellent job helping him learn new things.

Nanda used to be run by a fun loving, kind director…read more Things quickly changed and went downhill fast when there was a change in directors. The director is young and inexperienced and hasn't been given the appropriate training or guidance in her position. She could thrive if she was given these skills. However, parents are spoken to passive aggressively, bribed with writing positive reviews to get $100 removed from 1 weeks tuition, the handbook is shoved down our throats, but not even followed by the center. I'm so disheartened by the way Nanda's went down hill. We're grateful to be parting ways with Nanda's and wish the director gets what she needs to be successful, have the kids treated kindly, and build the morale of the childcare center.

I regret enrolling my daughter here. Despite committing early (touring in Feb 2024, paying a…read moredeposit, and submitting all forms), the school's lack of communication, disorganization, and disregard for basic safety and hygiene created a deeply frustrating and emotionally exhausting year. From misplaced incident reports and unaddressed injuries, to administrative errors and tone-deaf leadership, this school consistently failed to provide a safe, transparent, and developmentally supportive environment. My daughter came home with swollen lips, unexplained bruises, missing shoes, and stories of peer mistreatment -- with no formal documentation provided, despite repeated requests. These were not isolated events; I have video/photo documentation, and other parents voiced similar concerns in meetings. The director's conduct was both inappropriate and hypocritical -- once sending me a photo of my 3-year-old with paper in her mouth and demanding I "talk to her about telling the truth" over a harmless joke (gum from dad), while gaslighting parents about emails that were never sent. We were made to feel like the problem, when in reality the school's tech systems, operations, and staffing plans were simply broken. Staffing was unstable -- the lead teacher left for maternity leave with no real succession plan. Parents were informed of changes through hallway gossip before any official notice. Other red flags included: * Poor nap hygiene (child's skin broke out); * No proper underwear/clean clothes sent home; * Unsafe food handling policies; * Lost orthopedic shoes due to mishandling after an accident -- only replaced after escalation; * Inconsistent behavioral reporting, with my child being singled out for normal 3-year-old behavior, while aggressive peer behavior went unaddressed all year. The school showed a lack of respect for working parents, sending critical updates (like school closures) late at night and offering no accessible options for required events (no childcare, no virtual options, last-minute notices). They ran meetings on free Zoom accounts that cut off mid-call, used free Gmail accounts, and misunderstood basic tools like unlisted YouTube links. My concerns were dismissed, incident reports were never filed, and when I reported this to the county, I was told it was "too late." Given how long and hard I tried to resolve these issues internally -- and my documentation of events -- this only added to the heartbreak. In hindsight, I should have trusted my gut and pulled my child out much earlier. If you're a parent considering this school, please ask hard questions about staff turnover, behavior policies, safety reporting, and operational transparency. And if something feels off -- trust yourself.

Will only state the facts that lead to this review…read more.. In preparation for our move to VA this year, my family and I have been searching for a suitable Montessori school within this area. After speaking with Cardinal several times via the phone we felt that this might be a great option. A few weeks ago, my wife had scheduled a school tour and staff meet with Cardinal's senior coordinator (not official title) to allow us to see a routine day at the school and view its operation. We scheduled the tour for a Friday, which we were told was not "normal" but would be allowed given the fact that my family had to drive 5+ hours to get there. The tour was locked on that Monday with a 0930 start time on Friday. We had no other communication from the school throughout the week and on Thursday afternoon, we hit the road after I had gotten off work and arrived in VA just after midnight. We were up the following Friday morning and arrived at Cardinal at 0910 to an empty parking lot, locked building, lights off, and no one on site... We sat, waited, and attempted to call anyone with no luck and no response. It was about 0930 when finally a car pulled up and a women was dropped off. She didn't engage us at all and simply walked into the school. My wife proceeded to knock on the door and was met by said women who appeared to be cleaning. My wife explained our situation to the women who simply laughed, nodded, and said that the school was closed due to a maintenance emergency. A few minutes later, another women arrived who identified herself as a teacher. We calmly explained how we were scheduled to meet with a Ms. Igera for our tour but had not been able to reach her or anyone else. The teacher looked surprised and quickly reiterated that the school had been closed for the last few days. She then pulled out her phone and said she would call the "school owner" who was already on her way to Cardinal. At approx. 0945 the school co-owner arrived and welcomed us inside. We explained, again, who we were and why we were there. She quickly apologized and then explained how the school closed on Wednesday and Thursday due to plumbing issues. They had sent all the students and staff home and were now back (Friday morning) in order to clean for the reopening on Monday. She didn't ask any further about the botched tour appointment, but rather tried to go right into her pitch for the school. At the end of the walk-through, we were on our way out the door when we asked for Ms. Igera to call us about the clear failure in communication. The Co-owner said she would, glorified her staff, and said she hoped we would consider them when we moved... Fast forward 2+ weeks later....we got that call.... And it was to schedule yet another tour at the school. Nothing more. The level of complete disregard, disrespect, and sheer unprofessionalism that went into this waste of time is truly astounding. For better perspective, here is a better overview of all my family and I sacrificed in order to simply VISIT the school and observe its operation. - late night drive 5+ hours after work. - pulled my 4yo daughter out of current school in order to see the Cardinal school and meet the teachers. - my wife is 7 months pregnant at the time of all this. And she had to make all these movements. - I scheduled a full day away from work to make this trip happen. - spent hundreds on gas to make the round trip. Along with paying for a hotel in order to stay overnight... The Cardinal school may do just fine in some things, but I find it hard to imagine what. The coordination, communication, and lack of accountability is frightening. To make a commitment to an outside family who is willing to spend thousands on the betterment of their children's care and education and then not even have the courtesy to communicate a simple appointment change is unacceptable. I would HIGHLY encourage any family seeking a Montessori program to move on and explore other options (military families or otherwise). I have nothing negative to post about the teachers who work here, simply the lack of efficient and effective administrative overview of the school itself. This was not a sophisticated encounter, but rather a simple and what I would image routine engagement with an interested party. If this is how they treat an unaffiliated party, how do they respond under higher stress situations? Who actually maintains the schools appointments? Who is charge of registrations? Etc... Bottom line, keep searching. There are other great options within this region of VA, as my family and I learned. So disappointed to leave a review of this manner on a Montessori related establishment, but title alone does not guarantee quality. I truly hope this review can bring about a greater awareness of the low standard practices at Cardinal.

My son and nephew both attend this school and they both absolutely love it…read more My son specifically is a very high energy and strong minded child. His teachers have been very helpful in guiding him and guiding me on how to help him be his best self. They really do care and know what they are doing. He developed his speech more delayed than other students but now comes home every day saying new phrases and learning how to listen better. I am very happy with my experience here and would recommend this school 100 times over.

Beware of this school! Especially If you are a military family and your child may have autisum. Our…read moreson did a classroom visit and I thought he did well considering he has never been in any daycare and I explain this to Elisa Zago the Director of Enrollment and Outreach when I went to the parent visit. I had to follow up with them to see if he got in or not and she emailed me right away saying they wanted him to come in for a second visit. I thought it was strange but I went with it! idk how you can judge how a child is going to do or what they can do in a 15 min visit. Seemed very inaccurate to me. She said she would follow up with is but never did so I reached out to see because you we had not heard from them in about 2 weeks very unprofessional to me. I said Good Evening! I'm just following up about my son to see if he has gotten into your program? If not please let me know, so I can look into getting him in another Kindergarten program before spots are all filled up. Her response was thank you for your email. We are sorry but your son didn't make it into our program. We wish you the best. No explanation to why or not! I'm really upset because his pediatrician recommended this place thought it would be a great place for him to thrive but they passed judgment on my son without giving him the chance. As a military family this is disheartening. This is how they treat the people who serves this country's kids with a disability.

Our daughter has attended for one year so far and she is thriving. Independent, happy, speaking…read moreFrench, making friends and eating healthily. She loves it and we are very impressed with professionalism and credentials of staff.

Our daughter has been attending L'Enfant since spring 2023, first in the infant and then in the…read moretoddler classrooms. We have absolutely loved our experience with the daycare. The teachers and administration are working hard to make it a special, family-centered place. Kids have weekly music lessons and physical education lessons. School also arranged for artists in residence and monthly field trips. One thing that I particularly appreciate is their dedication to the time children spent outdoors, unlike the case in many other daycares we toured. What is also impressive, in less than a year our daughter fully understands French and can speak well. In other words, we are truly lucky we found this school for our daughter.

We've been at the school for over 2 years, and my kid is transitioning out of this school and going…read moreinto first grade in our neighborhood public school. Thought it's time for an update! During the past two years, lots has changed--Our lead guide (teacher), the school admin team, guides in other classrooms, etc. While all changes are hard, I think the school does a pretty good job keeping kids and parents informed, and minimizing any transition challenges. Overall, I stand by my impressions from 2 years ago--Ms. Christine (our previous lead guide, now the head of school), Ms. Freshta (our previous assistant guide, now a lead guide in a different classroom and a lead guide in the kindergarten program), Ms. Vinita (our current lead guide who was previously our assistant guide), Ms. Dawn (float guide), and other guides/staff, are all amazing. They continue to be my daughter's anchor during many of the school administrative changes. Because of the high teacher quality, I would highly recommend this school to any families wanting to go with a Montessori education. Now, the school is not perfect--there are some things that were inconvenient and/or different from our expectations, but as someone who used to work in schools, the most important things is that the staff are qualified and truly care. We can deal with some hiccups here and there: - The biggest friction I had with the school is that I noticed not all staff are well-trained in the Montessori methods. For example, even when I observed briefly at a recent school event, I noticed one of the (newer) guides VERY QUICKLY took over what my daughter was working on when she struggled (for like 10 seconds). When I asked my daughter about this guide, she told me that this happens a lot. I get that the guides come from different background and learn at different speeds...and so we practiced how to push back respectfully instead of us talking to the guides. This is an easily missable detail for busy parents, however. - The guides do a great job not using technology or screens for the most part, and when they do (which is extremely rare), they are intentional and thoughtful. HOWEVER, my daughter and her classmates brought to our attention of a fairly inappropriate song in a foreign language--and they claimed that a guide had shown them the song. The song is not our guide's native language, it is catchy, and I can see it accidentally/automatically come up on Spotify or other music platforms. It is also entirely possible that the song didn't originate from the guides, but from another student. - We stayed with guidepost for 5 years (3 at another guidepost location, 2 at the south riding location), and my favorite thing about it was the holiday hours--They used to only close on MAJOR holidays such as thanksgiving and christmas, but not smaller holidays such as president's day or Juneteenth. They now close on a lot more holidays, which is harder for us who don't get these days off. But their calendar is still better than many daycares following public school schedules. - Some admin transitions (such as a company buying out the school, leaving the staff with very limited notice and preparation) was ROCKY, although I think Ms. Christine and the staff dealt with it the best that they can. - There were quite a lot of staff turnover this past year, especially in the younger kids' classrooms. Overall, we find that the pros significantly outweighs the cons for our family at this school. I would still recommend it to anyone without hesitance, and we are so, so grateful to all the amazing staff--Our heroes without capes!

we enrolled our son here back in 2024 after shopping around for a Montessori in the South Riding…read morearea. I enjoyed our initial visit and Monica (the previous head of the school) was great to work with. our son quickly adapted to his classroom & became very close with his teacher who is no longer there (Ms. Aya). he has since moved up to Children's House with Ms. Freshta and Ms. Priyanka! they know how to work with each children as they are all different in their way of learning. they have been nothing but patient and they love challenging my son to help him reach new heights. in his time there, he has learned a lot. they took potty training very seriously and he started just about as soon as he joined the school. he loves going to school & as a Montessori, they are very "children based". the students do everything themselves in the classroom to help them gain independence at an early age. when we first signed up, we were told our son would know his multiplication table by 4 and fractions by 5 so I'm excited to watch him progress. the new director, Ms. Desirae, has been a pleasure to work with. she has quickly immersed herself in the school and learned every child in all the classrooms. Ms. Cady at the front desk is very helpful and greets everyone as they come in. the after school teacher assistants like Ms. Dawn are super helpful and the children love her! my only gripe is that lunch is not provided. my daughter went to a school nearby growing up that did provide lunch, but it seems a lot of the daycares in the area no longer provide lunch. but different times I guess.

My 2 yr old daughter attended Marigold from May-September 2017. We were looking for…read morepreschool/daycare mid season since my husband found out he had to be away during the week for job training and I was also pregnant. I needed a break! Couldn't find any openings for preschool and I was leary about in home day care. But I found Marigold through the one Yelp review they had. I loved the pictures (I've added some new ones since they've moved their location). I went for a meet and greet to check it out and fell in love with Rachel and the whole vibe they had. So I decided to enroll my daughter 3 days a week for half the day. Rachel is very nurturing. I love how they are always outside, rain or snow (not when it's too cold of course). It's all about experience, which I enjoy. I dropped Aria off at 7:30am and picked her up at 12:30pm, so she had breakfast, snack and lunch. The meals are organic and healthy. The toys make me think of Montessori. The assistants are super nice. I had no complaints. We only left there because we moved to CA!

My 2 year old has been going there since the first day they open their door. Amazing care,…read morenurturing environment,healthy organic food for their meals. i get updates of my baby improvement everyday. My son live it..!!! What else can you ask for? Very affordable for the type of care and the peace of mind it gives my family.

We have two children in this school age 4 and 2. They have been there since they were 4 mos and we…read moreplan on using their before and after when they get older. We also do summer camp/spring break every year. Classroom sizes are small, kids feel loved, and have wonderful experiences daily. Never a concern. Trust is huge for me; they have it. Communication is abundant. Workers do not seem to be there for a check, but truly show investment in the kids. We get daily updates at pick up and phone calls when it is necessary. I credit these folks for shaping my little monsters--particularly Ms. Debra for potty training. Ms. Carol for drop off stress management, and Ms. Ana for lots of hugs and barrette management. Ms. Itzel for FUN FUN FUN! My children are not easy--one is a diva and the other is all questions right now. They have friends who hug and giggle. The really neat thing about this school is how they foster individual development and learning but pull in relationship building. They are a community created. Nothing but positive. The vibe is fantastic. LOVE the director as you can see her model the behaviors she wants of her team. So, tuition is competitive but there are extras with that tuition that other facilities do not have. Worth it. our 4 year old writes his name and a few words, knew his alphabet at under 2 years, and is now able to count on his own to 50. Our diva is right on track with him as well. The projects that come home for special days are beautiful and so smart. And now, Montessori learning is being introduced!!! We learned about this school from our neighbor. Just do a tour! And I forgot about precious status app. I get cool notifications throughout the day of my monsters--how did they eat, eliminate, and pics of the neatest activities. Yesterday was a Dr. Seus day! Lovely pics of the kids. PEACE OF MIND with a 10 hour work day. Open at 6 and close at 7!!! This helps with a commute to Maryland and Alexandria. LOVE LOVE LOVE THEM!

My child has been attending Aya for the past 2 years, since they moved to their new location in…read moreColumbia. The school itself seems to be well kept, and they also seem to keep in line with the Montessori method of teaching (as far as I can tell, since the pandemic, parents are not allowed in the school, so everything I know is from my child). My one complaint is lack of communication. The school uses mainly the app Brightwheel to communicate with parents. They very rarely send photos of the kids, and never tell you if your child has gotten an injury while in their care. My child had 2 nosebleeds at the school that I had to find out from them (never mentioned by the school at all). Their was blood on their shirt, which they had to change out of during school hours, so the teachers must have known. In addition, when you reach out to the school with questions through Brightwheel, you rarely get a response back. Maybe about 50% of the time. You can also send an email to the admins, but they can take a few days to respond back to you. There is a phone number to call, but in my experience, no one answers it. My child has liked attending Aya, I just wish they would improve their communication with parents.

From the owner: Aya is an AMI Montessori Member School. Aya is an 1) MSDE…read moreapproved nonpublic School for ages 5-12, 2) MD-recognized Montessori School for ages 2-9, AND 3) OCC-Licensed Child Care Center. Aya is your child's second home. Our mission is to nurture the mind, body and soul of future generations and raise balanced children through spiritual, social, and intellectual growth grounded in authentic Montessori education, Arabic Immersion, and Islamic Education. NOTE: (Islamic Education is only offered for special tracks at the Primary and Elementary levels - ages 3+).