We are lucky to have had both our kids go through Children's House of Los Altos (CHLA) and get such…read morea great foundation! CHLA offered our kids a perfect balance of freedom to follow their curiosity within a rich, loving guided framework that provided structure. Besides it being a great school for all the obvious reasons like loving and caring teachers, to a well rounded development of the kids' reading/math/science/motor skills, the school also has an amazing art program and music classes. I could talk in length about each of these (e.g. I was shocked when my 4 year old came back home once and started talking about Frank Lloyd Wright and Fallingwater! And another time was shocked how my child was able to basically do multiplication at the age of 4, but not by rote - by understanding the concept of how multiplication is basically addition over and over again). But let me move on because there is one program that deserves a special mention - its called CEC (Cognitive Enrichment Class) and what it is is a term-length project where kids get to build something and be involved in all aspects of that building, and learn about various scientific and technical elements of that. For my son and daughter it was designing their very own wooden cars for a derby race. They spent months designing the car and decorating it and learning about concepts like ramps, and friction, and aerodynamic shapes, and so on. And it all ended in a derby event where all the kids in their class got to bring their cars and the race happened. The kids even measured how far various cars went to put the hypotheses they had developed over the course of the project to the test :) The CEC program basically was the main reason why we kept our younger child in CHLA for one extra year instead of sending her to TK at our local public school. CEC is such an amazing idea - giving kids at such a tender age this opportunity to sink their teeth into a long term project and really grapple with a problem from multiple angles is simply incredible! The school is truly a special place which was started decades ago by a lovely teacher who cared about children and their development. The tradition is being continued by her children and besides education, there is also a focus on the Parent-Teacher-Child community. Through the course of the year there are numerous super fun traditions that bring the teachers and kids and the parents together. Events like the annual Nutcracker show that the kids act in and the teachers put together, the Hoedown event in a local farm where the kids sing and dance and the parents are invited to have a picnic, the Haunted House event around halloween time when the entire school is magically transformed into a maze filled with surprise (and scary) characters, the Music Together concert, the Sip & See where kids walk the parents through their art and the event happens outdoors in a setting that could put an exhibition at the MOMA to shame, and everything else that we have grown to love to dearly! When we were looking for pre-schools for our elder child we had looked at numerous schools in the area and nothing felt right. Some felt overly strict and others were very la-di-dah. And then we chanced upon CHLA which almost felt like a Goldilocks moment, with the right balance of structure and freedom. Now that we've been through the program (twice), we feel that it really is the perfect blend of those elements. We are filled with gratitude for having had both our kids go through CHLA!

We've now had two kids at this preschool, and both have loved it. And we will plan on sending our…read more3rd when its time! The teachers are experienced, really get to know the kids well and deeply care. I've always felt like my kids are in great hands. But most importantly my kids always had fun here and were happy to go in the mornings. The 4s program especially has been amazing. It has offered so much more than what our local TK option could provide. We're really grateful for this school.

Our family has had a wonderful experience at Waldorf School of the Peninsula. My son started in…read moreNursery and is now in 5th grade, and we're planning for him to continue all the way through 12th grade--that's how much we value this school. He genuinely loves going to school every day, which says so much. The teachers truly care about the students in front of them--not just academically, but as whole human beings. They are attentive to each child's development and also thoughtful about the class dynamic as a whole, creating a supportive and nurturing environment. The curriculum is incredibly rich and diverse. From math and English to music, gardening, handwork, world languages, arts, and games, the education is well-rounded and engaging. It fosters creativity, critical thinking, and a real love of learning. We feel very grateful to be part of such a warm and inspiring community and highly recommend WSP to families looking for an education that nurtures both the mind and the heart.

I applied for a position at Waldorf School of the Peninsula and was invited to meet with the…read moreteaching team. During these conversations, I received clear and positive feedback indicating that the school wished to move forward with my hiring. The teachers expressed enthusiasm about working with me and I was told that the hiring process was progressing well. During this time, I asked about tuition remission for my son. I was informed that the school does not normally offer tuition remission for Nursery aged children. Because of this, I asked whether my son could be placed in Kindergarten where tuition remission is offered to employees. The administration agreed to this request. I received written confirmation that my son would be placed in Kindergarten for the upcoming school year and that I would receive tuition remission as part of my employment package. Based on this written approval, my family and I visited the school. During this visit, without any prior notice, we were informed that the school had changed its mind about placing my son in Kindergarten. We were told that they now wanted us to meet with the Nursery teacher instead. This was a complete reversal of the previously approved plan. Before attending this meeting, I specifically asked whether tuition remission would still be provided if my son was placed in Nursery. I was told yes and that remission would still be possible. Shortly after this visit, I received an official offer letter from the school. Before signing the offer letter, I wanted to make sure that the tuition remission was still approved and secure. I called the admissions office twice and the admissions employee repeatedly told me that HR was responsible for tuition remission. When I contacted HR, they told me they did not know the details and directed me back to admissions. I called HR twice more and received no response. During this time, I was trying to understand whether the remission that had already been approved in writing was still valid and whether I could rely on it before signing the offer letter. Despite the confusion, everything else in the hiring process continued to move forward positively. Based on the school's written assurances, including the Kindergarten placement and tuition remission, my family made the decision to relocate to Burlingame to be close to the school. This was a major financial and logistical decision made in reliance on the school's commitments. Shortly after this, I received an email from HR stating that the school had decided not to move forward with my employment application and that if I wished to enroll my son, I would need to pay the full tuition amount. This abrupt reversal occurred after weeks of positive communication, written approvals, an in person meeting, and an official offer letter. My family had already moved to Burlingame based on the school's assurances. The emotional impact on my son was significant. He had already been introduced to the Kindergarten classroom and prepared for the transition. The financial and logistical impact on our family was also substantial. The school's actions created instability, confusion, and distress during a time when we were making major life decisions based on their written commitments.

My child was injured after falling from the bicycle play structure and was required to wear an arm…read morecast for several weeks. In my view, the equipment is not age-appropriate, particularly during summer camp when children of different ages are grouped together. I respectfully request that the school review its playground safety measures and age-grouping practices to help prevent similar accidents in the future.

My son went here for TK/4-5 years old. The Pond Teachers are fabulous! The environment is prime for…read morepreschoolers with chickens, turtles, quaint classrooms, lots of mature trees all around and particularly in the back playground area. Montecito is very well run and organized - the director, Erin, and her office staff, Tammy are dialed in. The program and daily schedule was wonderful for lots of great learning and play, and the classrooms were just the right size. I'm so thankful we found Montecito!

Ventana School is a truly wonderful school and I'd give it my highest recommendation. It starts…read morewith the leadership, who are a passionate group with a founder's mentality and a strong philosophy on how to inspire lifelong learners. And, this ethos and commitment extends down the line, through the teachers, administrative staff and the students themselves. I am blown away at how well each of the teachers understands the Ventana goals and curiosity-based (Reggio) method of teaching, and how they can explain how classroom structure, lessons and activities relate to it. And at how the kids understand it, and apply it. This is not just a stale mission statement taped to a wall somewhere. It's a real intellectual commitment and culture, and it shows. We've been at Ventana preschool for a couple of years, and a few other great things stand out. First, everyone cares. The environment is nurturing, and beyond that, deeply invested in the long-term success of your child. Second, the parents community is wonderful. We've met great new friends through the program, and been delighted by the way people show up to activities and care for each other with the parent groups. And we've found folks to be pretty down to earth for a Bay Area private school (and we've seen a couple other programs, so this is at least a somewhat qualified comparison). Lastly, we've seen the kind of kids that graduate out of the program. The Ventana philosophy really seems to deliver. The leadership recently noted that in an incoming Stanford class, there are 3 Ventana alums. 3 students out of a single-class graduating size is impressive. More impressive is how well-rounded the 5th graders are. They are articulate, grounded, capable of holding complex abstract extemporaneous conversations with adults. We look forward to the rest of the journey for our little one!

I highly recommend Ventana School to anybody in Bay Area, especially to those who seek a warm and…read morekind community and whole child education where students grow up feeling happy every single day. My four children all enjoy Ventana in their own unique ways and my husband and I are both thankful for having this school in our life. Both in preschool and elementary school, my kids grew up so much at Ventana. I can tell that every teacher loves teaching and they are very enthusiastic in helping children to find learning a true happiness. One of the key words at Ventana is "curiosity" and my kids are always very curious :) Also, they all feel cared and loved by the whole school community, and it's making them nourish very strong self-confidence. At play dates, parks, outside of school activities or even at supermarket, many people have asked where my kids go to school because they play collaboratively, show kindness and have good leadership. I always feel that I myself get great support by school. Small conversations with Ventana teachers at pickup and drop off are always positive and encouraging, and school began providing different kinds of instructive parenting classes after Pandemic and that's very helpful too. Preschool: Lots of hands-on activities The teachers prepare a variety kinds of hands-on activities every day. They are incredible and I can't do the same at home. Through those sensory activities, kids explore their own wonder and learn so naturally. Elementary: Depth of learning Ventana provides a great teacher-student ratio in each classroom. So, each student can get full attention from teachers, and I'm always amazed to see how well the teachers know about my children. The teachers catch when the students need support, and they don't miss the cues when the students are ready to have challenges. That creates ideal educational environment where every single child will acquire firm reading/writing/speaking/communication skills and mathematical ability. In my sense, it's more important how deep they understand rather than how advance they learn, and in this way Ventana alumni are so ready for middle school.

I fell in love with this place the first time I saw it at their open house. Before the applications…read morewere due I visited 4 more parent participation schools but this was easily my favorite. First, this place simply looks great. There's an outside play area with a big variety of activities and ride-on toys. Inside there's a theme for each day ("fish!" "camping!" "trains!") and the toys and activities reflect that. Some toys are always accessible (kitchen, blocks, dolls, ride-on toys), but unlike another school my kids attended, they really take care to have different toys each time, to always have a sensory table, to always have an art project (or 3!), play doh, and when it's warm, a water table. Also, everything is in excellent condition. Beyond that, it's really well organized and run well. For instance, we had a parent meeting before the kids started school. At a certain other preschool it was just a feel good session ("your kids will be so different by summer"), at Mtn View Parent Ob there was an agenda and it even included a well-articulated emergency plan. This is something the other preschool didn't even address even though it was on the same campus as an adult education center and a high school - places that have the potential to go on lock down in an emergency. Most importantly, the level of care from the teacher is through the roof. At Mtn View Parent Ob there is a mommy meeting where the kids stay at the school while the parents walk to a nearby room and talk about parenting issues. Typically meetings begin after a month, but Teacher Mindy gauged our kids' separation readiness through questionnaires and as a result delayed beginning the meetings an extra week. Each class there was maybe one child who was upset while their parent was gone (and they were of course comforted by an aide or another parent). At our other preschool (Bright Beginnings - there I said it, and now that I said it, DON'T go there), the meetings started on the second day of class and it showed, because we always had at least 4 criers each class (not just fussing or looking sad, I mean full on screaming). (There is a long digression ahead but there's a reason.) At Bright Beginnings, which we attended at the same time as Mtn View Parent Ob, my twins were doing really well at separation, and then one day my daughter got upset when I was gone. They are supposed to get you if they're crying for 5 minutes. They didn't get me at all and I was gone for 20 minutes. Several moms took turns holding her, which was nice but um, THE AIDE SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN ME. There were several kids crying that day (per usual) and because my daughter's a sobber not a screamer and was inside instead of by the gate where the parents leave, I think the aide didn't notice her once the screaming ended (and the other parents were retrieved). I mention all this in order to highlight how differently Mtn View Parent Ob and Bright Beginnings handled what happened next. I had a totally different child afterwards. My daughter didn't want me to leave her side FOR ONE SECOND for months when in public, not even at snack time at school when the kids sit together. At Bright Beginnings the teacher and aide seemed sad that the incident happened but that was about it. Meanwhile when I explained the situation to Teacher Mindy, she immediately said, "Here's what we're going to do," offered a plan to get my daughter more and more accustomed to separation again, and worked with us for several months to achieve results. The mommy meeting at Bright Beginnings had a remedial parenting tone to it with topics like "playing is good for kids." No, really? Meanwhile the meetings at Mtn View Parent Ob were very informative and great gab sessions with the other moms. I keep in touch with many of them still and have had many playdates with their kids. There was a sense of genuine sadness when the year ended. The only downside to this school that I can think of is that it only meets once a week. That's telling that the only bad thing is that my kids can't go more often! Here's my list of parent participation preschools ranked based on my first visit (Bright Beginnings would now be at the bottom of the list. And yes, there was a place that looked worse!) 1) MOUNTAIN VIEW PARENT OBSERVATION, MOUNTAIN VIEW 2) Preschool Family, Palo Alto 3) Los Altos Parent Preschool, Los Altos 4) Bright Beginnings, Sunnyvale 5) Sunnyvale Parent Preschool, Sunnyvale (Also , I later visited Mtn View Parent Nursery School which seems like an excellent parent participation school for older kids ready to be away from their parents for the morning. I have also visited 7 drop-off schools and Mtn View Parent Ob would be at the top of a combined list along with the drop-off school I chose, Milestones in Palo Alto. Hence, Mtn View Parent Ob is the best of the 13 schools I've visited.)

We are so fortunate to have found MVPNS, not only as my daughter's school but as community for our…read morefamily. We have been attending MVPNS for three years (shoutout Teacher Diane and Teacher Claire!) and find it to be so inclusive of cultures and traditions. It's been such a joy to learn from other parents. We absolutely love the outdoor component and appreciate all of the precautions taken during the pandemic!

This daycare has some good qualities, but their management is clearly not experienced and lacks…read moreprofessionalism. They will happily charge you per minute for being late, but they do not show up at 7:30AM like in the contract. I have had to wait countless times for them when I arrive at 7:30AM. I suggest that you look at multiple daycares before you choose to go with this over-priced daycare.

Naomi and Shazia have been great! We love the personal love for our children - what you put in, you…read moreget!

My son attended PAMS from age 2 to 3.5, and we had a truly wonderful experience there…read more He came home every week excited to show us all kinds of handmade projects like paper cows and snakes, drawings, shapes, and even letters he practiced writing. It was very special to watch his creativity and confidence grow over time. PAMS also organizes many fun events throughout the year, especially during the summer. Some of my son's favorites were the cooking classes, gymnastics, dance activities, and visits from fire trucks and police cars. The campus itself is warm, cheerful, and filled with things young kid naturally like, e.g sand boxes What stood out most to us was the kindness and care from the staff and teachers. They are incredibly warm and attentive with the children. Whenever we traveled for more than a couple of weeks, by the second week my son would start saying he missed his school, friends, and teachers. While PAMS is not the type of school that sends daily photo updates, they do keep thoughtful photo albums from school events and activities. Some of those photos are very meaningful to us, especially from when my son first joined the school. I still remember seeing a picture of his teacher holding his hand during a police car visit while he was adjusting to a much larger class than his previous daycare. Moments like that gave us a lot of reassurance as parents. We ultimately left only because we applied to the early learning center of an elementary school we were interested in, and to our surprise, our son was accepted. During that transition, Dinesh was also incredibly supportive and kindly helped by writing evaluation letters for us, which we truly appreciated. Otherwise, we likely would have stayed at PAMS through the kindergarten years. We are very grateful for the care, warmth, and joyful early childhood memories they gave our son.

Parents - heads up that there is a LONG wait list for this center. I was told that parents are…read moreencouraged to apply at least 1 1/2 to 2 years in advance. Of course a lot of parents like myself will be blown away by the 4.9 star reviews and in Palo Alto, the stress around getting a spot at these type of centers is palpable. I reached out in May 2024 and sent in a $100 fee. I never received a call back nor a courtesy e-mail letting me know that no space is available over a two year time frame. There are children that need to get educated, waiting on the other end of that line, please at least be direct over the phone that it's basically impossible to get placed. Perhaps our application was simply forgotten - must be nice to have demand/supply dynamics work in your favor! Neutral stars because I don't like to knock on the educators themselves, but letting people know that the wait list is long to the point it feels impossible

This is a great program. Due to moves and change of jobs, my kid has been to a variety of day cares…read moreand preschools. Tiny Tots is one of the best schools my son has attended (and he attended some truly great ones - but we also had our fair share of sub-optimal experiences). The teachers are very attentive and loving. They are smart people who really have a good understanding of how to help kids this age. They are also very helpful and responsive to parents. A lot of this age group is about learning social-emotional skills, which is a bit of a cliche term for recognizing and articulating feelings, understanding how others feel, learning how to find compromises, learning how to stay friends etc. I think the teachers really help the kids in this area. The teacher to student ratio is also unbelievable. The school is play based. The projects are a bit more structured than what you would find in a true child-led program, but the kids also get a fair amount of time exploring and creating on their own. There are a number of activities kids can choose at any time, but not too many, so that kids get encouraged to explore more, especially, if you have the type of child who would only gravitate to his one favorite. Although only half-day, there is an option to drop off at 8:30 and pick up as late as at 2 pm, which provides some flexibility. The down side is that it is only 3 days a week for the 4s and 2 days a week for the 3s. It would be nice to have a 5 day program. It is almost impossible for two working parents to make it work, but we did - although I would have preferred consistency. I know there are discussion to rent some Los Altos facilities to another preschool when the new senior/rec center is completed, but I wish this space could instead be used to expand Los Altos programs like Tiny Tots and Kinder Prep. I recommend this program, if you can make the schedule work. Kinder Prep, which is also offered through Los Altos, is 5 days a week.

Amazing Preschool and there is only one year remaining -- Kinder Prep (Tiny Tots) running out of…read morethe San Antonio Club for any child turning 4 by January 2025. Come take a tour - message me with any questions! 5 mornings/week affordable play-based at least one teacher is Reggio Emilia trained super low student: teacher ratio anywhere from 6-15 kids and 3 teachers This year will have teacher Sara, teacher Estela and one more teacher.