I'm not a regular mom. I'm a cool mom. And this is what cool moms do now: write very detailed reviews about childcare. My youngest has been at the Mililani Cole Academy for over a year now, in both the Toddler and Preschool classrooms. My oldest also attended Cole until she transitioned to kindergarten in 2019, so we experienced the school at two different points in time. For this review, I'll focus on our experience over the past year to give parents a better sense of what the school is like today. We were there through last year's administration change, which was bittersweet because the previous directors were so loved. But after the transition, the new director and assistant director have found their stride. Anytime I stop by the office, they are available, and respond quickly to emails. We have not had any billing issues, and they helped with my subsidy applications. The teachers genuinely know and care about the children. Even teachers from other classrooms greet my daughter by name, offer a compliment, or give her a high five. It makes her feel so special! And when she runs into the classroom with a huge smile, I know she feels safe and happy there. She mentions teachers joining in their games or pointing out interesting things like different vehicles or birds from the playground. I appreciate the teachers actively engaging with the children, encouraging their curiosity and imaginations. Her teachers have also handled the many moods of toddlerhood with patience, understanding, and open communication. Potty training was one area where I especially felt like we were a team. They worked with us to keep our approach consistent between home and school. In the last year, we experienced very little turnover among the teachers we regularly interacted with, even in adjacent classrooms. One was a planned move when husband's job moved them off island, while another transitioned to the classroom next door. There are new faces from time to time. These are "float" teachers who cover breaks or step in when a teacher is on vacation. They are paired with a permanent classroom staff member, which keep the classroom's routine. We see many of the same float teachers, and my daughter knows them by name. There is a set curriculum for each week. Each month, parents receive a syllabus outlining the topics for the upcoming weeks, including the books, songs, activities, learning goals and how they support the children's development. I am impressed by how much my daughter has learned. She isn't even 3 yet and can count to 30, recognize all of her letters and numbers 1-10, and tell me the letter sounds for A-F. Every week she has new vocabulary related to what they're learning. For example, recognizing "a shooting star" in a book following their space unit. To me, that's exactly what learning at this age should look like. The learning is intentional, but enjoyable. Optional worksheets that reinforce the week's classroom topics are also sent home for families who want to continue the learning at home. Over the past year, I can recall a field trip to a local park for a nature walk, along with visits from the police and fire departments, dragon dancers, and a Sea Life Park naturalist. For parents thinking ahead to kindergarten, and even those considering private school in the future, I can offer a little perspective. My husband and I are both proud public school kids, but we navigated the admissions process for one of Oʻahu's more selective private schools with our older child. Several children from her small Pre-K class at the Millilani Cole Academy are classmates at that school today. Cole had a reputation for preparing children well then, and from what I see today, that hasn't changed. If that's the path our younger daughter takes, I'm confident Cole is giving her the academic foundation, confidence, independence, and social skills to be well prepared for the process. Every family's experience is their own, but ours has been very positive. I encourage parents considering The Cole Academy to tour the school for themselves and talk with families who have chosen to keep their children there year after year. When it was time to find care for our younger daughter, we thought highly enough of our first experience with Cole that we chose to wait for a spot rather than enroll her elsewhere. Having now trusted Cole with two of our children years apart, I'm very happy we chose it again. read more

Apparently TCA used to be THEE school. Well that is no longer the case. Save your money because the quality is no better than the cheapest childcare option on island. They are under new leadership as of December and this place is now nothing more than a money grab. $2600 a month with roughly 88 kids in the school, and they no longer go on field trips, print materials, or fund classroom learning items (the teachers do). The teachers used to smile and love their work and now they aren't welcoming, they all are clearly miserable and they are quitting by the week. They don't follow required state teacher to student ratios nor cleanliness standards. It's become just another daycare with sick notices weekly to parents. This is the most expensive school on the island and they can't assure standards in cleanliness, consistency, or continuity- all things that are important during these foundational years of school. There is actually no communication with parents and the teachers that are quitting are only citing moral and ethical reasons, but honestly that's enough for me. When I emailed to have my daughter removed immediately, they didn't even ask why. Our children deserve better. read more

TLDR: The Cole Academy is great! I would recommend this center to anyone! The Cole Academy is a place where you will feel like your child has an extended family. They know all of my son's habits, quirks, moods, and things he enjoys. They know how to specifically cheer him up and make him laugh. As a first-time parent, I was worried about sending my baby to a daycare, but the staff at the Cole Academy quickly relieved all worries. I could stop by or call anytime I wanted to check on my son (not that I needed to as he seemed so happy when I dropped him off). At the Cole Academy, teachers can help out in any of the rooms, which is especially helpful in the infant room. This is great because my son got experience with different people caring for him and learned how to interact with them. Plus it was nice to see that when we left each day, teachers whom we passed would say bye to him by name! It's the small touch that matters and the staff at the Cole Academy make it a point to make you feel comfortable. The Cole Academy is also extremely flexible. They understand life happens and that some things you cannot predict. They are happy to work with you in those cases. In our family's case, we enrolled our son into The Cole Academy, but then my wife lost her job. We let the Cole Academy know right away and they happily refunded our deposit. When the chance came around again to enroll our son the only opening they had was for 4 days a week. We took the spot and let the staff know that if a full-time spot should become available we would like to take it. As soon as a spot did open up, the staff called us and offered us the spot. The Cole Academy Staff stays in contact with parents. They answer any and all questions you may have no matter how big or small. My son has learned so much from the teachers at the Cole Academy in the last three months he has attended. He has learned to look at the door when someone says "look who's here", he has gained the confidence to stand and take steps on his own, he has learned to be gentle with other babies, he has learned baby sign language, among many many other things. There are so many things my son has learned from his teachers, it is impossible to name them all! We are sad to leave The Cole Academy. The experience here was amazing! It will be hard to find another place, and staff that meets the standard that the Cole Academy has set. We appreciate all that they have done for our family! You will not be disappointed by enrolling your child or children into The Cole Academy! read more

When my daughter was born Nov 2007, everyone warned me that I needed to start finding a daycare for her and put her on a waitlist. I seriously thought they were kidding, but when she turned 18 months and I needed to put her in daycare, I couldn't find one that had space. So I did what every other mother does in Hawaii, place my name on waitlists of the 10 daycares on the island of Oahu. After 2 months and no phone calls I went online and registered her to a nearby school, The Cole Academy in Kunia. Two weeks later I got a call from the Director, Dr. Janelle Akuna (who by the way is a wonderful lady) saying they have an opening coming up but it will only be part-time (12-5). I jumped at the opportunity even though I have never heard of the school before. I knew 2 things; 1) They were near my house, 2) They were the first to call after 3 months of waiting.... They asked me to come in and do a tour, which took about 1/2 hour. With papers signed, my daughter started at Cole in Kunia when she was 18 months. She is now 3 years old and attends the school full-time. She has an active vocabulary of over 400+ words and is able to communicate in sentences of 8-10 words. They have a very strong academic program and are very structured. It is very important since I don't have the time to spend with her reading and writing on a daily basis. We have seen her personality flourish at this school and have now enrolled our 9 month old son, full-time. It's expensive, $2600 per/mo for both my kids including lunch, but my kids are worth it. And when strangers come up to you and tell you how smart, independent and intelligent your children are, you'll thank yourself later. read more

The Cole Academy at Mililani has been such a blessing to our family! Once we received word that we were moving to Oahu for my husband's job, I began researching daycare and preschool facilities for our daughter. I came across The Cole Academy and instantly knew that this was where I wanted our daughter to attend. From day one they have shown interest in my child's development and have always kept an open line of communication and a willingness to address any concerns. The teachers and their aids are so knowledgeable. They are always introducing new concepts to their students. Their diligence has given me the confidence that my daughter will be more than prepared for kindergarten! read more

This place is simply amazing! They are a nationally accredited early childhood education and care facility. The director of the Kunia location, Dr. Janelle Akuna, and her staff of teachers are extremely patient and are always looking for new and different ways to educate the children! They not only teach the reading, writing and arithmetic, they teach the children foreign language, science, history and most importantly, social skills. Far to often are children left behind or isolated because they lack social skills, and the Cole Academy incorporates this basic skill into their curriculum. Teaching the essentials like sharing, working with one another, and communicating problems with one another. Both of my children have attended the Cole Academy in Kunia and I cannot begin to put into words the positive impact that they have made on my children. read more

I had heard about Cole Academy, but I didn't know if it was for my child. I also thought that I had a lot of time to choose the best school for my son. But when I had to go back to work in a hurry, and needed to place my son in a program, I realized that finding the right daycare for a working professional was not that easy. Most of the daycare facilities were for kids to be parked there, without much curriculum. Also, most of the programs were not convinient times for a high charging professional. Their schedule times were inflexible. The other schools charged for the after school care, were not year round, and had a lot of "off days" for planning and other school administration activities. That would require my taking many days off to take care of my child. Also the most other schools required parent participation for fundraising and other time consuming thigs that I as a single parent and working mom did not have. But Cole Academy was curriculum based, with arts, writing, reading, sign language and foreign language programs. Cole made it easy for me. The hours 6:30 to 6:30 were very easy for me. They provided food, and took care of potty traning, and exposed my son to not just being a child but being a good student. They provide every material including sleeping cots and laundering the sheets daily. All arts and crafts supplies and every possibly toys that you can think of, and books, all those amazing books for the kids to read, touch and feel. Also what I liked about the school was that their child to teacher ratios were significantly lower than most, if not all of the other schools. That meant that my son was getting more adult attention from teachers. The teachers that I have met as my child's teacher all had professional degrees in early childhood education. My son just turned 3 years old in July and he can count in Chinese, Japanse, Korean and Spanish. He knows how to differentiate from Hawaiian words from Japanese words and reads all of the Hawaiian street signs. He also reads at 1st grade level. He learned safety and hygene skills at school while learning how to share and play with other kids. I was just talking to a few mothers who had their older kids graduate from Cole and start Kindergarten or Jr. K at other schools. They all said that their kids were amazingly advanced relative to other kids. I found it to be the same. As to price, when you have peace of mind, the convenience and the program all rolled into one price, it is actually less expensive than to enroll in after school care, baby sitters for school planning days, and late charges for picking up kids after 5 pm, Cole is actually less expensive. I looked around the parent pool at Cole and I see that most parents were professionals at mid or higher level positions, and I think they all found that the Cole provided what we needed. Guilt free peace of mind, in all simple price. We just had a field trip (every month), and the kids all went to the Pumpkin Patch to pick pumpkins on Wednesday. By the time I came back to pick him up in the afternoon, the teachers already had a story board with pictures from the field trip all posted on the wall, prominently with a story about each child for the day. This made me feel all touchy feely and I had to get on line to share my story about the school. The owners of the school apprantly founded the school because they were working professionals and they couldn't find a curruculum based school that catered to the working professionals. Hey if you can't find one, why not create one. Now I see why the school meets my needs! Pricesless! read more

I would like to say THANK YOU to the staff at the Cole Academy in Mililani. The teachers in my son and daughter's room. Sheila, and Kay are in my son Spencer's room, and he is 2 years old and he is already doing things that I didn't do until much later in High School. My family was a Chili's one day and I took a straw and bent it in the shape of a triangle and handed it to him. After maybe 5 minutes, he bent the straw into a pentagon shape and he said "look daddy, it's a octagon". I looked at him and asked my wife to listen to him. I asked Spencer to say it again, and again he said "octagon". I was and still am blown away by this. I mentioned this to Kari, and Kay, now I am posting on YELP. Cole Academy has also allowed my daughter Taryn to excel in the Pre-K and now Jr.-K classroom. She is reading, her handwriting is improving everyday, she is counting, and doing countless other activities that I'm sure will allow her to continue to excel in Kindergarten and beyond. The foundation that is being laid by the Cole Academy is AWESOME! Kay, Sheila, Tyler, Laurie, Leilein, Kari, Kelsey, Damien, Jelah, and other teachers are absolutely amazing. Thanks to Gina Mangieri for accepting GSA for active duty military. This is shows that she is committed to the early education of children and supports the military families on Oahu. The teachers all take pride in what they teach and are able to give out detailed progress reports to keep parents up to date with the progress of their children. AWESOME | AMZING | OUTSTANDING | I wish there was a 6 star rating. read more

Sent my son to Mililani campus. Staff are not knowledgeable about kids who will need special services or extra attention for medical/health needs. read more

We went there to tour the facility for our son that needs a one-on-one. Met with the Jr K teacher Ms Sandi or something. Total turn off. She tried telling me I need to advocate for my son in the DOE. Blah blah blah. We shared a little about our experiences with her and she thought it was okay to start giving me advice about how I needed to do things for my son in the DOE. News flash lady- I didn't come here for you to tell me about the DOE (trust me when I say I know what's up). I came to the Cole Academy to check out the facility and the staff for private placement. Everyone else was great and friendly. Sandra was so off-putting and had an air about her (snooty) that told us we didn't want our son near her. Another news flash for Sandra - you didn't get anyone licensed in the DOE for your son. That guy you told us you had for your kid isn't licensed. We didn't have the heart to tell you. Try researching instead of believing whatever the DOE feeds you then maybe you'd be giving others advice that was correct. read more

My review is long overdue. My daughter attended the Cole academy from the age of 12months to 25 months. The staff and director there are really great. They pay attention to the needs of each child and communicate the child's progress(Good bad and neutral). I never had to worry about my child while she attended the Cole Academy I knew she was well taken care of. The only reason we left is because we moved off island. My daughter still says how she misses her teachers and friends there. One of her former teachers even FaceTimed her when she heard she was crying and sad because she misses her teacher. Cole Academy was a blessing to our family. Ms. Kay, Ms.Rialyn, Ms. Lauren, Ms. Holly, Ms. Maria, and Ms. Maddie were all amazing. Ms. Donja did a great job of assisting us with anything we needed I wish they could come with us! The school also gives a nice binder with pictures once the child progresses to the next class. They also had great activities for the children and parents throughout the year. My daughter knew her ABCs and could count to 20 by the time we left. She always enjoyed going to Cole Academy. The Cole Academy was worth every dime. Sigh...we miss them read more

My daughter just finished up her Jr-K year at The Cole Academy. My daughter loved her time there and LOVED her teacher Ms. Sandee. She had two great assistants, Ms. Tasha and Ms. Katrina. She learned so much in Ms. Sandee's class and is 110% ready for Kindergarten! The staff at Cole is very welcoming and professional! We have made great friends in both the parents and kiddos there! I looked at nine different preschools before deciding upon The Cole Academy and never once regretted my decision. The Christmas and May Day performances were great and the graduation was so sweet! I highly recommend The Cole Academy for your pre school choice! read more

Great school! They teach a lot and give you great advice for applying to private schools. The teachers are attentive and caring. Your child will learn a lot, including how to say words in 5 different languages and sign language. The children learn a variety of subjects such as Art, Science, Math, Writing, and Reading. They have great field trips in which the parents can come along. They provide a breakfast for your child, snacks, and you can opt for the catered lunches. They also give you great advice in applying to private school when your pre-schooler is ready for Kindergarten. For my account of applying at Punahou, check out punahouadmission-dot-blogspot-dot-com to get helpful tips. You won't be sorry sending your child to Cole, because he or she will get a great education and be private-school ready. They learn a lot and end up being quite advanced academically, which will give them a great start for Kindergarten. read more

Our 3 year old started attending Cole academy in March of last year. He had a speech problem and was extremely shy around other kids. Before my wife started working we wanted to make sure that he was in an environment that supported him in all aspects. Cole academy has surpassed all of our expectations, our son loves it, the teachers are great, the staff is great. We recommend this place to anyone that has a hard time trusting people with their kids. read more