My son (now 3) has been attending The Goddard School, located in Holly Springs NC, for almost 2 years. I cannot express what a relief it has been to find a school that genuinely cares for your child as if they were their own. My son looks forward to seeing Ms. Lynn and Ms. Lisa in one of the toddler classrooms everyday which makes my heart full knowing that I'm leaving him in the hands of those he also finds to be caring. Every week I see an increased confidence and new skills. His vocabulary has exploded since attending this facility which has been amazing to watch as he struggles with delayed speech. The owners, Nan and Aash Upadhyaya, are so kind, they know every parent and child by name, and are truly devoted to ensuring their school is an example of excellence. This is demonstrated by their presence at the school every day. I cannot say that I've seen this level of dedication or presence from any other owners from previous facilities my son has attended. Nan, Aash, and the outstanding teachers at this facility have set a high bar with regard to the quality of care received. I would highly recommend that anyone considering this school. read more

As someone who cares deeply about children and early childhood education, writing this review is not something I ever wanted to do. My goal is not to attack anyone personally, but to share concerns that I believe parents deserve to be aware of when making decisions about their children's care. The heart of any childcare center is its teachers. Most teachers I have worked alongside have been passionate, hardworking individuals who genuinely love and care for the children entrusted to them. They give their time, energy, patience, and hearts to these children every single day. Unfortunately, in my experience, the same level of care and support was not reflected in the center's management. Throughout my time there, I observed what I felt were serious issues involving communication, staffing, cleanliness, and overall accountability. I often felt that teachers' concerns were ignored, dismissed, or addressed only superficially. Many teachers expressed feeling overwhelmed, underappreciated, and unsupported despite carrying enormous responsibility every day. One of my biggest concerns was health and sanitation. I frequently observed children arriving with symptoms of illness that I personally felt warranted closer evaluation before remaining in a classroom environment. Teachers were expected to manage these situations while also maintaining classrooms, supervising children, and completing numerous additional responsibilities. In my experience, cleaning supplies, classroom materials, and sanitation resources were often insufficient for the level of cleanliness that parents reasonably expect from a childcare facility. I also observed situations where teachers were expected to sweep, mop, clean, sanitize, and complete other maintenance tasks while actively supervising large groups of young children. This created situations that I personally felt placed unrealistic expectations on staff and made it difficult to provide the level of attention every child deserves. There were multiple occasions where I witnessed staffing shortages create concerning situations. Teachers were frequently left without adequate support, sometimes for extended periods of time. I personally witnessed incidents where classrooms appeared inadequately supervised, and I found this deeply concerning. I also observed situations where teachers repeatedly requested assistance from management during emergencies or difficult situations and felt their requests were not addressed promptly. Another major concern was the condition of supplies and equipment. Parents pay significant tuition and understandably expect their children to have access to appropriate classroom materials. However, I often saw classrooms struggling with shortages of basic supplies, including art materials, cleaning supplies, and other resources necessary for a quality learning environment. I was also concerned by the overall condition of toys, equipment, and portions of the facility. In my opinion, greater attention should have been given to maintaining cleanliness and addressing maintenance concerns in a timely manner. These concerns extended to certain playground and outdoor areas, where staff frequently voiced safety concerns. Behavior management was another area where many teachers felt unsupported. Teachers often dealt with recurring aggressive behaviors and difficult classroom situations with little meaningful guidance or follow-through. In many cases, staff were left feeling responsible for solving complex issues without adequate administrative support. Perhaps most disappointing was the impact all of this had on the teachers themselves. I watched talented, compassionate educators become exhausted and discouraged. Many felt that additional responsibilities were continually added without additional support, recognition, or compensation. Several excellent teachers left because they no longer felt valued or heard. For parents exploring childcare options, I would strongly encourage visiting multiple centers, asking detailed questions about staffing, classroom ratios, cleaning procedures, teacher retention, and administrative involvement. One center that has personally impressed me is The Lighthouse. In my experience, their professionalism, classroom support, cleanliness, organization, lower ratios, and overall commitment to both children and staff create a significantly stronger environment for learning and development. The level of communication, management involvement read more

Our daughter has been going to the school since turning one this past July 2021; I was amazed to see her progress in just one week! Since that time, we have watched her blossom and grow and look forward to her continued success with the Goddard School. I love the monthly newsletters, spirit week, summertime activities. The attention to detail is key and I'm glad to be apart of the Goddard Community. The teachers and staff are very caring, nurturing and supportive. It's always bitter sweet when we have to move up to the next class because we've built great relationships with each teacher. read more

I'm giving 3 stars solely for the friendliness of the staff. My son was only enrolled for a month, but during this month I did have a few gripes regarding care. A full pack of wipes would "disappear" and I'd have to bring in way more than I used at home. Yet somehow he would still come home with a dirty butt and bad diaper rash because of not being cleaned properly at least once a week (he had never gotten diaper rash before going to Goddard and hasn't had it since he left the school). One of the teachers would also try to get me to bring in more bottles claiming my son was hungry (keep in mind he was only 5 months old at the time and I was already providing five 7oz bottles, which is one more bottle than he usually drank at home). I brought in one more thinking he was maybe just going through a growth spurt, but found he was just being overfed and would go through 5 outfits a day due to spit up because of this. Apparently every time he would make a little fuss a bottle would be stuck in his mouth regardless of whether he was hungry or not. Teachers were not on the same page with the children. One of his teachers was excellent and knew he didn't need to be overfed to quit fussing. He just needed a little attention or to be moved to a new "station". In order for care to be consistent, teachers need to be in the same page with feedings, etc. Lastly, I know Goddard claims they have a 4:1 ratio for infants to teachers, but this is definitely not the case. Almost every morning when I would drop my son off there would be around 6-8 infants with one teacher, who was scrambling to get them all fed and changed. Another teacher would come in later during the morning to help, but there should be at least 2 teachers in the room at all times with that many infants. One person can't do it all. With all that being said, the teachers and all the staff were extremely nice, my son did like them a lot, and I felt he was overall very safe in their care. However, when he goes back into daycare I will be looking elsewhere. Maybe it would have been a completely different experience if he was a little older and not an infant. read more

Our daughter loves going to school at Goddard. She is truly cared for and learns so much! The staff there go above and beyond to make engaging activities and experiences for the students. read more

Our three year old and two year old have been attending The Goddard School-Holly Springs for over a year, and I am extremely grateful for the care they have received during this time. I would first and foremost like to compliment the day to day administration and management of the center. Seeing the owners there on a daily basis was refreshing, and a luxury you do not always get with other daycares. The entire staff is excellent, they are very easy to work with and talk to about your child's needs. It is clear the staff provides a fun and loving environment for the children. The fact that the facility stayed open, while at the same time implementing safety protocols during the COVID 19 pandemic provided relief and reassurance in knowing we still had childcare, and that our children were safe. Both children have exceeded my expectations in both their educational and behavioral skills. We were very fortunate to find a daycare and facility with a teaching style that allowed our children to flourish. read more

If it was possible to put 0 stars I would, but in order to write anything I had to put 1. Worst experience ever. They are all about money and not caring for children and I would not recommend them to anyone. In our child's time at the school (which was brief), the staff was unable to EVER find a way to get our 10 month old to drink a full bottle. On average, in a day under their "care" our child drank about 4 ounces of milk in an 8 hour time span. We brought a water cup for him to drink from and never could see evidence that it was even offered to him. We marked the starting water line with a name tag and the water line was not lower when we picked him up. Our child was always hungry and thirsty when we picked him up... so much so that our child that has only breastfed from his mother took a bottle from her lap in the classroom when the staff had been unable to get him to drink it. We asked the teachers if they would be willing to mix any leftover milk with cereal to try to get him to drink all his milk. They agreed to this but then they would mix half of his bottle with cereal and only feed him that and the rest of the bottle would be left over... when asked about this they simply said that they offered it to him but he turned his head away from it. Milk is essential nutrition to an infant and the teachers', director's, and owners' overall lack of concern for him not drinking his milk was alarming. In our time there they were also not able to get our child to nap (aside from one instance when in their words, "he passed out"). Most days he only napped for 30 minutes or not at all. The day before we pulled him from the daycare we found out that one of the teachers would just remove him from the crib if he was not sleeping or started to cry to let him play, and while I can appreciate that this might solve the disruptive baby problem for the rest of the class... it in no way encourages that child to rest. My wife came to pick him up one day while one teacher was changing a child and the other teacher was giving the other kids a snack. The teachers did not know where our child was and my wife found our son sitting in a corner of the room all by himself. On numerous occasions we found a rash around his diaper area. We had this issue on our own in his first month when we used a certain brand of baby wipes. We had found a brand that did not break him out and have used it ever since. Goddard of course has you bring your own diapers and wipes so we thought this would be a non-issue. However, when were given back our child's belongings upon withdrawing we were given the wipes we had brought and a plastic container of the wipes they had most recently been using when changing him which were the wipes that break him out. I have no idea how these wipes came to have his name on them or why they were used on him instead of the ones that we brought to the school. We had a meeting with one of the owners and the director and they were completely unaware that a child in their daycare was not drinking milk. They had heard him crying and screaming in his room but had never asked the teacher's about his rest or nutrition, they hadn't reviewed his electronic daily records (even before our meeting), and the teachers had not brought this issue with a child in their room to their bosses attention. We expressed our deepest concerns about our child's nutrition and rest under their care and we were genuinely asked, "Aside from your child not drinking his milk and not resting, is there anything else that you are concerned about?" This was said with the body language and aire that these concerns were not sufficient or valid enough of concerns... that there needed to be more things wrong that were of more importance than nutrition and rest. Their suggestions to address our minor concerns of nutrition and rest were to give it more time with the current teachers or to have him switch to another room where other teachers might have better luck caring for him. We decided we would find another daycare that more genuinely cared for our child's well being. We were charged a month of tuition for canceling in accordance with their contract even though they clearly broke their own contract by not meeting our child's needs for nutrition and rest as outlined in their contract's child bill of rights. I would not recommend this "school"/"daycare" to anyone's child. read more

I am an educator and now train educators - Goddard did as much damage as good developmentally. Our son had four different teachers in 9 months. We were never made aware of the changes and there was drama around the changes. They were unable to document my sons progress (they lost the assessment in the teacher mix they shared) and that made it difficult/impossible for them to grow my child where he was. Nice enough folks (the owners can get pretty salty if you ask questions) but the owners are not educators. They will share they have managed large tech companies - a pre-k center is quite a different entity. We simply had no options and the center knows that. Owners are not receptive to feedback - they have plenty of other children wanting in if you are not happy. I'd suggest Primrose or Bright Horizons. Terrible experience. read more

My son has been at this school since he was 10 weeks old. I couldn't be happier with all of the teachers and the administration. My husband and I both feel so comfortable going to work and leaving him in their care. read more

We love this school. The teachers are so kind and loving and the owners know each family member by name. It gives me so much comfort going to work, knowing my child is learning and having a great time. read more

As a former middle school teacher, I wanted to find the best school possible for my daughter's introduction to the educational environment. We had read and heard great things about The Goddard School. Unfortunately, The Goddard School in Holly Springs was a complete disappointment. We enrolled our extremely shy four-year-old daughter in the Pre-K program with the hopes of preparing her socially for kindergarten as well as having her gain the basic skills such as handwriting, number and letter recognition/practice, etc.. After five months at the school, she has had three teachers, three directors and no consistency. She has not even mastered writing her first name. The school is extremely pricy, especially since it operates as a glorified daycare. This school has not only failed to ease our daughter's social fears, but has in fact worsened them. We are switching her immediately. We gave a two-week notice, but the school apparently intends to seek payment for two additional weeks, as they feel a 30-day notice is required. Our most recent teacher only gave us a 10-day notice. In addition to the inconsistency and lack of instruction, we picked up our daughter on the Monday of her final week at the school and found her unattended and crying in the corner. All others were sitting at the table for lunch, including the two teachers in the room that day. No one was making any attempt to console our daughter. No one made any contact with us to let us know she was that upset. We only found out because we happened to pick her up early that day. We refused to send her back after that despite having paid for the remainder of the month. I would not recommend this school to anyone. read more

My son only went to this school for a short time, in their Pre-K program, but the teachers and staff made him feel as if he started this school when he was a baby! All of the teachers are very professional and friendly. The owners and office staff are great! I love getting an email update and picture of my son everyday. Ms. Melissa, the Pre-K teacher, has taught my son so much in just a few months. Thanks to her and the other teachers, he is ready for Kindergarten! read more