Prior to finding The Academy ECE of Westminster, my husband and I had visited at least half a dozen different daycare centers for our toddler, from big to small, from national chains to independently and locally owned and operated. We did not have a good impression of any of them. If they weren't cramped, dark, and musty, then they were stark, cold, and sterile. And then there was The Academy ECE of Westminster. The moment we walked through the door, we knew this place was it: the school exuded a family vibe that was both warm and welcoming. In particular, it felt like a school and not an institution, and that was important to us. We thought our little boy would flourish here and he did---he and his little brother! During our older boy's three years at the school before he started Kindergarten, he had made friends with almost every staff member and teacher, all of whom knew him by name and would stop to chat with him at drop-off and pick-up. Our younger boy (almost-three-nager) is now half way through his second year here. At drop-off, he plays peek-a-boo and hide-n-seek with his teachers. At pick-up, he gives them hugs, high-fives, and fist-bumps before happily skipping down the hall. As parents, what more do we ask for, knowing there are patient, kind, and ever so caring teachers who look after and bond with our children day in and day out? The school staff and teachers here love what they do and it shows. In return, we trust them with our most precious: our children. Management wise, it is worth noting that when we started sending our older boy here in the spring of 2019, the school was still a locally, privately, and independently owned and operated facility. However, since March 2021, it was acquired by a national management entity called Endeavor Schools. To Endeavor Schools' credit, they did successfully retain the school's original feel, that warm and welcoming family vibe that won us over to begin with. Most importantly, they have kept the same staff and teachers, the school's heart and soul in our humble opinion. As parents and as long-time clients, we can only hope that Endeavor Schools will continue to value the dedicated team they have here at The Academy ECE of Westminster. It's the people who make all the difference. Sincerely, Happy parents. read more

We just hit one and a half years here, so I thought I'd write a review to counter the extremely negative (albeit old) experience someone had. That doesn't sound like our experience at all. We moved to the area in August 2017 and toured three local daycares. The first we toured was more expensive, and classrooms had a very rigid curriculum where I felt like my son would be living under quarantine. The second was cheap but felt more like Lord of the Flies - total chaos, I was exhausted after being there for 15 minutes. Academy ECE hit a good balance in the middle - a good daily schedule but with plenty of free play time while moving between a classroom, the gym, the computer room, a moving space, and an outdoor playground. Staff seemed very friendly, classrooms looked fun but organized, so we enrolled. Fast forward to now - we're very happy with our choice. My son has a lot of friends in class, he brings home artwork, alphabet worksheets, and stories about his friends every day. We're attending birthday parties with other parents every other weekend. He's learning a lot. He participates in some really cool activities while at school (piano lessons, soccer buddies, art, and dance) which really takes a burden off of us for having to arrange those things outside of our daily 9-5, so our evenings can be free to hang out with him and have fun. When I drop him off every morning, his friends are yelling his name and greeting him with hugs at the door, it's great. He's happy and we're happy. I'm sorry another Yelper had such a negative experience, but ask yourself - if someone else's child has behavioral issues around your child, do you want it ignored? Or do you want a school who will work on it, contact the parents, use a process to address the issues? I feel like my son is safe, having fun, and learning here, and that's what is important to me. read more

My daughter is 10 months old and has been going to The Academy for 6 months. She loves it and so do we! The staff is fabulous. Everyone is so friendly and supportive. The teachers in the infant room are wonderful and so good with the kids. I'm really impressed! I looked at a number of local day care centers, including several corporate ones, and nothing compared to The Academy. I love that it's locally owned and operated. read more

Just making sure all of the bad reviews are consolidated in one place in the public eye: http://childcarecenter.us/provider_detail/the_academy_ece_of_arvada_arvada_co https://www.citysearch.com/profile/37595973/westminster_co/the_academy_ece_of_westminster.html We were recently the victims of the ostracism mentioned in the above comments. Unfortunately it seems that if your child does not fit into their preconceived notion of how a child should behave (because kids follow all the rules all the time amirite), you get harassed like some kind of awful teenaged girlfriend with incessant behavioral reports (most recent gem was "child was asked to do something and said 'no'", apparently this was report-worthy), phone calls, and eventually personal attacks in my case, until you've had enough and un-enroll your child. The staff here does not like to be challenged. They like subdued, obedient children who can be shepherded about like animals in small flocks. They do not want to have their philosophies questioned or tested in the slightest. They will not rise to the occasion if your child deviates from the average. If they decide you are a problem for them, you will be edged out so they can go back to their comfortable universes where they are on top of the food chain and have all the answers. The biggest problem is that your child's education and daily quality of life will suffer because the staff will allow their personal biases to poison their treatment of and interaction with your little one if they are labelled as problematic. I do wish things had gone differently. Like any decent parent, I only want the best for my child. Unfortunately it took us a while to figure out that The Academy was not the best. read more

My son attended The Academy from preschool to Pre-K, and then again in the 2016 summer program. He LOVED this school. Absolutely loved it. If there were any days he couldn't attend, there were actual tears because he was so sad not to be there. The facility itself is very well taken care of and up to date. They have a good security system in place for check in and check out and I always felt safe leaving my son there for the day. All of the staff members that I interacted with were great, I never had any problems. The only minor issue that I had with staff is that it was hard to contact anyone unless you were there in person, and even then they were busy with children (obviously). An email system to contact teachers might be a good idea to implement. There were a few hiccups in the summer program when it came to scheduling and activities, but I think that had a lot to do with having a new teacher on staff trying to get a feel for things. Sometimes communication was a big issue -- there are a lot of signs and pieces of paper, but again some sort of electronic contact method might be a good idea. Ultimately, I am still very happy with my choice to send my son to this school. If I had not found out recently that his elementary school has a summer program for next year, I would already be planning on sending him back. read more

The staff is wonderful! They really care about these kids. They seem to lead with love. Teachers that I've never met know mine and my daughters name. Highly recommend! read more

We moved our son to the Academy ECE in Westminster one year ago, after having been at a large franchise center for three years prior to that. We are SO HAPPY with our decision to move him, and recommend the school to anyone we can. The administration is professional and organized, and has always been available for questions or to help troubleshoot issues, particularly during the initial transition period. The school offers so many fun extras for the kids - the gym, computer lab, and movement room year-round, splash days in the summer, pj days, even visits from the snow cone truck! And the teachers. I cannot say enough good things about teachers. It is clear that they love the kids and their jobs. Activities are fresh and interesting. The artwork is cute. Academic instruction is purposeful but age-appropriate. And the teacher retention is amazing. I can't think of a single primary teacher or caregiver for my son who has left in the past year. Everyone knows us and we know them. My son told me just the other day that he "likes the weekend, but he likes going to school too." There are a lot of other, more minor things we appreciate about the school as well. For example, they are closed fewer days per year than other centers, and schedule class parties so as to interrupt working parents' day as little as possible. However, it is our consistently positive experiences with everyone who works there and our son's joy in attending that has made us so happy to have joined the Academy. read more

Our daughter has been coming to The Academy for almost 2 years. The staff, director, and owners here are amazing. Everyone provides such a welcoming, positive atmosphere. We can feel the love when entering and leaving the school. My daughter has learned so much, not just academically, but emotionally and socially. They offer many programs along with their enrichment classes (gym and music). They also split up their preschool and pre-K classes throughout the day, so students can get smaller class sizes, and more one-on-one time. If you are looking for a center that is not just a school, but more like a second family, I would highly recommend coming to The Academy. No words can express how thankful I am that we are here. read more

Our son has been going to The Academy for two years and we have been very pleased. He loves his teachers and learned a great deal while in Kindergarten. He was very prepared when he started first grade this year and loves going there after school and visiting with his teachers and friends who go to other schools. Management is always very responsive to questions or concerns. Overall, a wonderful place! read more

I have to admit this is absolutely the WORST child care I have ever been provided! I have 5 children so I have seen many in my lifetime, of which most of my children are grown and have left home. I have a 1 year old daughter that attended this daycare for a short period of time, in that time I learned they do not provide the children breakfast or lunch, not only are parents expected to bring it in but they have no refrigerator to even store the food, so an ice pack must also be provided. This isn't the worst part however, my breaking point was of a completely different problem, my daughter stayed sick regularly after starting at this daycare and I could not figure out why. One day I came to drop off my daughter and it was soooo cold I had her bundled with a cover over her head, looking for her her classmates and teacher, I spoke to the teacher across the hall to find where they were. She stated they were probably outside, I said "no way, its way too cold" - the teacher actually agreed it was too cold that day, it was 27 degrees in fact. As we were yet speaking, the Owner - Kathy, overheard the conversation and confirmed the children were outside. I expressed my surprise and utter disappointment. She attempted explaining that it was law the children go outside daily even if the temp is 25 or above without wind chill. I asked her if she liked being out in the freezing cold while she was sick, as was most of the children in the class. She responded, "you don't get sick from being in the cold". I had hoped her moral compass would tell her that just because its a law does not make it okay. So I decided to reach out to other local daycares to find out what they had done that particular day. I contacted Goddard, Primrose, and La Petite which all confirmed they had not taken out ANY of their children out that day, not even the older classes, let alone the 1 to 2 year olds. When I returned that afternoon, I explained what I had learned from the other daycare and tried providing her names, she did not appear to care and at one point stated I was the only parent complaining about it (I believe because I'm the only one that knew). Since then I am now having a hard time with a refund I am owed for a week that the Director had agreed not to take from my account, the Owner told her to withdrawal it anyway regardless to what she and I had agreed upon. I just called about my refund and just hung up the phone with her after her stating "I don't know what the post office does". I'm sure you all can agree, you want someone keeping your child that has their best interest in mind! DO NOT TAKE YOUR CHILD HERE!!! read more

We love it here. Our kiddos have been attending for over a year and they love going. I like the posted curriculum for each classroom and activities that are done each day. The teachers and staff are engaging and everyone knows my kids. We are so happy we switched from our other daycare. read more

My daughter started at The Academy about four months ago in the toddler room. She had never been to daycare before and she loves going here. The staff and teachers are friendly and connect with the kids. The facility and curriculum and structures like an elementary school and not a typical daycare. My daughter has her own classroom and they have either gym or music each day in addition to two outdoor playtimes. They do art projects everyday. The older kids have access to a library and computer lab. The school is clean and well organized. I love sending my child here and highly recommend it. read more

Sadly, I must change my original 2014 review of the Academy from a 5 to a 2 star. In past years, we were highly impressed with the summer program. This last summer was a different story. Initially, I was sympathetic with the Academy staff as they lost several important summer program team members shortly before summer started. So, naturally, there were some bumps in the road. But, as the summer progressed, the program did not seem to improve. There was a lot of finger pointing when anything went wrong including at the parents and children. As some examples of problems over the summer, the staff several times neglected to have the children apply sunscreen on field trips, there was much confusion about water (including one of my kids drinking out of the same water bottle as a teacher and two other children), and the schedule for the summer changed several times, I got the distinct impression the teachers were unfamiliar with several of the field trip locations they were taking the kids. Since I called the school out on 2 or 3 issues I had, I was dubbed a complainer and made a conscious effort not to complain about anything the last few weeks we were there for the summer. I was also told my husband (who came into the school maybe 5 times all summer) had a poor attitude and my children were complaining in the lobby on the way out of the building (they were telling their dad how they traveled 30 minutes on the bus to go to a park that apparently wasn't there or was under construction). I ended up removing my kids a couple weeks early as well. I think the final straw was on the very last day when I asked one of the teachers (who was the only teacher in the room at the time) to retrieve my child's epi-pens (emergency shot for anaphylactic peanut allergy) and she told me she didn't know where the lead teacher kept them. I sincerely hope they have a better summer program next year and this was just an unfortunate summer for them. My kids really liked the lead teacher in the room and basically had an okay summer. I heard from several other parents that the preschool program was still quite good. And I am personally quite fond of Miss Christina who has been both a teacher in the toddler and preschool rooms. I have left my original review below: Both my daughters have attended the Academy for years. They have a great, clean and fun facility. Their summer program for school age is phenomenal with excellent field trips and entertaining games when not on field trips. I love the teachers, many of them having been at the school for several years. read more

The school is one of worst my children have attended. The staff are rude all the time and barely make eye contact. All the staff have children at the school which is fine but, they constantly play favorites and treat other children differently. I would not recommend this school to anyone unless you enjoy teenagers to watch your kids and no clear plan of education in place. read more

My child was in the infant room at The Academy ECE Arvada location for 2013/2014. It used to be fabulous, but in July 2014 the two teachers for this room left and the transition has been rocky at best. The loss of the aforementioned teachers took its toll on the children and the environment. My child started crying when dropped off with the unfamiliar teachers. While I hope that a new teacher will be found, I have my doubts in his/her ability to match the skill and ease with which the previous teachers ran the room. If you are considering the Infant Room (now transitioning to Toddler 1) at The Academy, do so with caution. It remains to be seen if the room will have the level of cleanliness, confidence, love, and care that it once did. read more