I am compelled to share my deeply troubling experience with Winwood Daycare, which has been nothing short of alarming over the past eight months. The safety and well-being of my child, along with the unprofessional conduct of the staff and management, raise serious concerns about the integrity and standards of this facility. Early in our time at Winwood, my child suffered an accident under their supervision. When I inquired about the details, my request for information was outright denied, despite the fact that I have documented evidence, including emails and photographs. This refusal to provide transparency was my first signal that something was gravely wrong. Throughout my child's time at Winwood, I witnessed a significant decline in their health. My child's weight dropped from 35 pounds to 28 pounds during this period, a clear indication of neglect. Despite bringing this to the attention of the staff, including the Regional Manager Shaunda, the Director Ashley, and the Assistant Director, Kayla my concerns were continually dismissed. Instead of addressing these issues, Shaunda and her team chose to hide from accountability. On multiple occasions, when I arrived at the daycare, the Assistant Director would deliberately avoid me by hiding--this behavior is unprofessional and unacceptable. The lack of accountability and transparency does not end there. There seems to be an orchestrated effort to conceal the true operations of this daycare. The staff operates without any sense of responsibility or fear of repercussions, perpetuating a culture of deceit and neglect. It's as though they are running a network that disregards the welfare of the children in their care, while systematically silencing complaints from parents. This is evident in their refusal to implement live camera monitoring for parents of toddlers, children who are unable to fully explain incidents themselves. Instead, I had to request pictures of my child's day, which were only provided after continuous follow-ups. In eight months, there was not a single day without an issue. I was met with unprofessional behavior and, worse, a clear lack of care for my child. If Winwood cared about resolving these problems, I would not be writing this review today. Despite their facade of a 4.5-star rating, it's clear that negative reviews are being silenced or removed. I cannot believe that a facility operating in such a manner has managed to keep its license, but I intend to escalate this matter to the relevant authorities in Virginia. What is most disheartening is that, after all of this, my child's behavior deteriorated under their care. Rather than fostering growth and learning, Winwood seems to prioritize covering up their failures. The daycare claims to offer a developmental environment, yet the reality is that they fall significantly short in both care and education. It is baffling to me how Winwood has retained its license, and I am certain that if more parents had a platform--such as a collective Facebook or Instagram page--to share their concerns, this daycare would face immediate scrutiny, if not shutdown. The conduct here is not just unprofessional--it is a disservice to the community and a potential legal violation. I strongly urge parents to look elsewhere for their childcare needs. Winwood is not a safe or nurturing environment, and I will be taking further action to ensure that these issues are addressed with the appropriate legal and regulatory bodies. The welfare of our children is not something that should ever be compromised, and I will continue to advocate for accountability until this facility is properly reviewed and held responsible for its actions. read more

My 3 children have attended LMA for close to 4 years now. We've loved our time there, and have never considered changing centers. Costs have always been fair IMO (considerably cheaper than the centers we visited when living closer to DC, and in line with centers in the immediate region). Management has always worked with us in terms of: * sibling discounts * accommodating partial week schedules (during times when we were not working full time) * a rare late payment The fact that it is a locally owned center and not a chain (ie. Minnieland / Kindercare) makes a difference. The management staff has been the same for my entire tenure, though there is the normal teacher turnover (IMO, "normal" for the childcare industry). I feel like I (and my kids) have developed real relationships with not only their teachers but the management as well. We often see the teachers around town, and have even used one former teacher as a personal baby-sitter. Perhaps the most telling fact about our view of LMA is the fact that it is not the closest center to our house (there are about 10 closer), nor is it necessarily along our commutes to work. But we quickly recognized the quality of the child care, and the fact that our kids loved going there. My children have developed wonderfully there academically and socially. I often have to plead with my kids to leave at the end of the day (b/c they're having fun). My older kids especially love the summer outings and field trips (pools, parks, movies, farms, museums). read more

I had both of my daughters attend the Lake Manassas Academy from January 2014-December 2014. Around mid-December, I filed a complaint with Virginia Department of Social Service because of abuse allegations twice made by my 2 year old daughter. My daughter reported that her teacher hit her. Her teacher was let go of the following day, but the school's Administrators claimed it was for 'another' reason. They self-reported it before I filed the complaint so it won't show on the DSS website. They made scheduling time to watch the video very difficult for us. The school is run by a family that is more concerned about meeting their licensing requirements instead of the welfare of their students. Unfortunately, since they self-reported before my complaint - the DSS website will show anonymous instead of Complaint - Jan 5, 2015. The inspector seemed very defensive about the facility, but I highly caution any parents interested in this school. I removed my kids from Minnieland Academy and picked this facility since it was owned by one individual instead of a corporate chain. It was a poor choice on my part. I checked the site again and noticed that another parent made a complaint the following week. Please check turnover rates for 2014 and 2015. Atrocious. Could not keep up with the high turnaround among teachers and assistants. Administrators don't care about students. They're ONLY worried about the money in your pocket. I DON'T recommend Lake Manassas Academy. read more

Love this place! My son has been at Lake Manassas Academy since he was 3 months old and it has been a great experience for all of us! He talks about his friends and teachers when he comes home and is excited to go back there in the mornings. They had some turnover in the infant room around the end of 2013/beginning of 2014, but since then I have not experienced any significant turnover of staff which is great. In general, everyone seems to know my son's name which always amazes me given the size of the center. Teachers from his previous rooms will make it a point to stop and give him a hug when they see him and I couldn't be happier with his current class room. The admin staff is always available to address my concerns or just for a quick chat. Overall, the facility is clean, the rooms are big, and toys are getting replaced at a reasonable pace. I like that the center is not right next to a busy road, but placed nicely between a gated community and a wooden area. The center provides breakfast and snacks and they recently partnered with a food service for lunch (parents can choose to sign up for the lunch program if they want to); no more frantic lunch prep in the mornings for me anymore! read more

Lake Manassas Academy is a hidden gem! We recently moved to the area from Florida, where we were enrolled in a great Montessori program. The first preschool we tried here in VA had excellent reviews. However, after enrollment I honestly didn't have any confidence in what they were teaching, especially after my 3 1/2 year old son went from saying fifteen to five-teen. Luckily I found LMA after touring numerous schools and reading some parent forums. The design of the facility and playground is the best I've seen. The teachers are highly competent, nurturing and warm. There is never any doubt about what our children are learning in the well-structured program they offer. Also, the administration is easily accessible, willing to assist parents with any issues and genuinely cordial. At some other schools in the area kids are crammed in small classrooms or special attention is only given to the full time students. At LMA they have proper ratios, pay special attention to EVERY child and have created an outstanding environment where our children are thriving. I highly recommend this school. read more

Location is close to our house. It opens at 6AM which helps for those of us with a long commute in trying to beat the traffic. Price rates are competitive. But most importantly the staff takes great care of our son! He started there when he was 3-1/2 months and he just turned 1 yr old. Having him there has kept him right on track with his development as he seems to always try to imitate what the older kids are doing. He started walking at 11 months and now is starting to "talk" a lot more. They give us a report every day so we know his feeding, napping, diaper changes. Whenever there has been any safety "incidents" or health concerns they call us right away on the phone. There are always plenty of staff in the room when we pick him up (never more than 3 or 4 infants to 1 teacher. All in all, very happy with the staff at Lake Manassas, but particularly thankful to the infant teachers! read more

My son has been going to Lake Manassas Academy (LMA) since he was one and will be turning five later this year. In my opinion this is the best facility in the Gainesville, VA area. When we moved up to the Northern Virginia area, I was searching all over for the best daycare facility to enroll him in. After multiple tours and meeting staff at other daycare facilities, I knew we had found the perfect one when Andrew reached out for the Director to hold him while at our tour. In the last four years at LMA, he has been thriving and happy and comes home every day beaming. The teachers are caring and attentive and the children are offered a huge variety of activities and learning opportunities. I never worry about him when I am at work all day because I know he is being so well looked after. I would definitely recommend Lake Manassas Academy to anyone! read more

We toured a few daycares before we moved to the area and were most impressed with LMA. All the teachers and administrators know all the kids and call them by name - not just the ones in their own classrooms. Everyone is so friendly and welcoming. Having to take my kids to a daycare center for the first time was nerve-wracking but they made the transition much smoother by telling me I could call whenever throughout the day and be transferred to the classrooms to ask the teachers how the kids were doing. I also love how the preschool program rotates between classrooms for STEM, language and literacy, etc. They don't stay in the same room all day. We have been so happy with our experience at LMA and would recommend them to anyone else in the area! read more

All that glitters is not gold! Snappy facility but strange, egocentric directors make this place just ...a really bad place to leave your kids. They try hard to seem like they care but if you pay attention you can see that they just want to make money. It's an extremely cold unfriendly environment with zero personality or cohesion, huge staff turnover, and state violations galore are the answers as to why they lose so many clients. Any other child care center in Gainesville is a better place than this one, we've tried several and have heard wonderful things about the rest. Our kids hated it and begged to go back to their former child care facility. We agreed, and they've never been happier:) read more

I have both my 3 year old daughter and 4 year old son at Lake Manassas Academy part time for a year come August. My kids love it there. I have been very happy with their social and academic progress. My daughter who refused to be potty trained before going to preschool became interested in potty training once she started going to Lake Manassas Academy. My daughters teacher really helped me with potty training and my daughter became potty trained in less then a month. The teachers and staff know them by name and are very friendly. I have a mom from my moms group that also has her kids there and likes it. I highly recommend Lake Manassas Academy from my family's experience there. read more

We love Lake Manassas Academy! The teachers and principals are fantastic. I know the teachers have early childhood experience and degrees. I volunteer at the school and see the program in action. The curriculum is academic and fun. The children will definately be more than ready for kindergarten. The owner is a community advocate for young children. I like her very much. Everyone is very happy at this school. I strongly recommend that anyone who is looking for an early learning program, not a day care, should tour and enroll in this school. read more

LMA has been a great fit for our family. We have used them from birth to school-age. The facility is clean, visible, and bright -- they have an excellent daycare inspection record. I have enjoyed the 'easy access' to the administrative staff when I have concerns. My issues have always been addressed and resolved in a professional manner. I appreciate that it is locally owned, and not a chain...I feel like decisions can be made quicker without having to 'check with corporate'. read more

Lake Manassas Academy is GREAT, from age appropriate field trips to immaculate infant care. The teachers are attentive, knowledgeable, and very passionate about the children and facility. Location is also a plus its close to 66 and lots of surrounding neighborhoods which makes it a great stop for northern Virginia commuters. The hours are from 6 am- 6:30 pm which is also amazing for early rising families. LMA gets my five stars because they simply earned and deserve it . read more

Avoid this place like the plague! The owner, Kathleen, is an emotionally unstable wack job and it shows in all she does and in who she hires. Her employees hate her and the entire environment is creepy. We withdrew our children and put them in a MUCH better place down the road, they are now happy and so are we! Run screaming, this place looks nice but is definitely NOT nice!! read more

Lake Manassas Academy treats each child as their own. The teachers are exceptional and very personable. The facility is clean and bright. My 2 year old daughter has been here for about 3 months and we have noticed a huge improvement in social skills and clearer vocabulary. We are so happy with everyone and will be sending our newest bundle of joy there this fall! read more

I have both my 4 year old and my 2 year old at Lake Manassas Academy. I love both classrooms and their teachers. The administrative staff work hard to connect with each family and they keep all of the parents well informed about what's happening inside and around the school. I recommend anyone looking to consider this academy. (Kifonidis Family). read more

My daughter was kicked out of 2 previous schools because of her ADHD. Only because of the instructors love and impeccable attention to detail, has my daughter finally found a school where she can make friends. And they are finding ways of redirecting her ADHD into something productive. We are all very happy here! read more

My son went to Lake Manassas Academy for a few months before kindergarten. Coming in I felt nervous about him going to school, but in the few short months he was there he improved so much. When he entered kindergarten I felt more confident that he was as prepared as he could be. read more

BE AWARE! LMA regularly offers prizes in exchange for 5 star reviews. You aren't getting an honest picture of the school due to this unethical practice. read more