Children's School at Claremont

**Not For Working Parents.** I'm not as down as the last poster, but I'm also not thrilled. If you're looking for a pre-SCHOOL, this isn't it; keep moving. Kids ain't learnin' here. It's simply the prettiest little daycare in Claremont. Some of the monitors could do a better job, but my biggest beef concerns the schedule and price. The place is closed over two months every year (including this, the entire first week of January), and considering that this is by far the most expensive childcare company in Claremont (except for 5-College faculty and friends of the director...), I find this a huge inconvenience.
—Submitted by a parent

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Send your child to Children's School at Claremont only if you want him or to be left behind in the future. My wife and I placed our daughter there for 8 weeks this summer before fully researching the place, and we chose not to return for the fall and spring. Why? Because every scientist who has studied the effects of different kinds of preschool on future academic success has reached the same conclusion: early exposure to math and reading skills is critical. And Children's School provides neither. To the contrary, for kids in the range of 2 to 5 years-old, a period that scientists say is the most critical learning time of a person's life because it sets the stage in a child's brain for all future learning, Children's School does nothing more than babysit. In fact, it purposefully AVOIDS promoting any math or reading skills to 2-5 year olds, arguing that kids "just need to play." Well it's true: kids DO need to play, but they ALSO and emphatically need to be exposed to math and reading early if you want them to do well later. Don't be distracted by the big parking lot and swings. Your kid deserves a better future than the one for which Children's School will prepare them.
—Submitted by a parent

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We are just now deciding, after a full year, to move our daughter to another preschool. We like CS a lot but there is no structure. They do have lots of fun and get dirty and all that good stuff, but I don't feel there is any focus on learning. There is also a discipline problem - there is none. It's too bad b/c the grounds are beautiful and they have such a boon in the college students who do work study there. But the leadership is lacking in an interest in more focused, albeit play-centered, learning. The kids are coddled too much. They don't seem to want to make the most of the facility and opportunities they have, with such an educated group of parents - a lot of college prof's - choosing CS as their first preschool. Values such as responsibility, empathy, being capable, learning to be patient, etc are not so much emphasized. Instead there seems to be an ethos of, Let's keep the children really happy and play all day. The result has been some bad habits picked up and nothing new being grasped or learned. I can do what they do - and that's what we want to do with our child: have fun! What I can't do is what I think preschool teachers should do - making learning fun!

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Our daughter attended this school for 2 years, spending the first year in the 2-to-3 year-old cottage and the second year in the older kids' cottage. We're leaving because of a job change. Our child enjoyed the experience, but several fellow parents, my husband and I consistently had concerns about the teachers. Most of the teachers are much more qualified than the average teacher at a place like Tutor Time, but several of them seem to care a lot less about the kids than others. For instance, the consensus opinion among many parents is that the lead teacher in the 2 year-old classroom is bored with her job and "mailing it in." The director of the school gives teachers in each cottage considerable leeway to run things as they choose, so great teachers soar but bad ones also hang around. Bottom line: philosophy and facilities are excellent, but teacher quality varies.
—Submitted by a parent

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