Five Forks Academy

I am going to write a very true review here. The owner Ann is very nice and friendly. I really like the director. She was quite friendly as well. First off let me start off saying how in love I was with this place when we moved here four years ago. I had dreamt of sending my son here for his early education. Finally the time arrived, I went back to work, he needed to start pre-k. I enrolled him in the private pre-k program and was given quite the nice tour. My son held onto my hand the whole time. The teacher we were introduced to was very friendly and warm. My son quite liked her. Two weeks later she left and his new teacher should not have been a teacher at all. My son would rush me with panic every time I picked him up and dropping him off was horrific for both of us. I agreed that it would just take time. This center constantly combined classrooms, the teachers changed all the time. I really never knew who I was going to get the daily report from. Before I knew it, my 4 year old was trying to break out of this place. They had to lock the doors, and he would flee to any parent to take him home. The center called me because of his disruptive behavior, crying, and the fact that they couldn't get him to stop trying to get out of the play yard. They gave me a week. I dis-enrolled that morning. I found a new center that very morning, toured it. My son let go of my hand, played with the teachers and I was given the tour of the new center for 15 minutes all while he was having a blast. My son has night terrors and they consistently got worse after enrolling in this place and he would plead every day to not see his teacher. She shouldn't be teaching....and has absolutely no concept that each child is an individual not little robots. I am so glad that I took him out of there.

UPDATE 01/24/2018:

This review is actually to counter statements made by Ann W on 08/06/2015. I understand it has been over 2 years now. My son is in 1st grade and doing fantastic in his public school. I have never, ever, seen my son act out the way he did at FFA in the short time he was there. Ann did not mention in her comment, when I received the follow up phone call to my review on 08/04/2015 by the director at the time that the "well liked" teacher had been let go just days after I dis-enrolled my son. My son is not a tyrannical, spoiled, out of control child. He never was. But that Lorraine lady scarred him the whole time he was there. She was the problem, not my son. I could honestly care less how Ann W would like to defend the daycare. I just don't care. She can try to smear my son's behaviors all she wants but I know what happened between Lorraine and my son, because he never forgets. Take care!

I am Ann Weeks, Owner and Operator of Five Forks Academy. I would like to present facts that were not included in this review. The teacher did move to Virginia to be with her fiancé. The co-teacher was not "new" to the classroom or the child. Licensed centers are allowed to combine age groups the first hour and last hour of each day. There are 4 teachers who share the responsibility of supervising the Private Pre-K and Three year old children. Yes, the child would try to open the doors to the room to leave. We did lock the doors to prevent him from getting out. Yes, the child did approach every adult who entered the room and asked them to take him home. Yes, the child needed constant supervision and redirection. We are a large group setting and we were concerned that the child would slip between the playground gate and enter the parking lot unsupervised. The teacher is well liked by the other children in the class room. I disagree with the last statement "she shouldn't be teaching." I do hope that the family finds an environment that suits the needs of the child.

I am so glad that I did not make the mistake of enrolling my daughters in this school. I was so impressed during the tour and about to sign my older one up into their Georgia PreK program. It was all smiles until I explained that I was withdrawing her from a school she had started at the previous week. The director was trying to explain to me that it was impossible for a child to begin at another school after enrolling for Georgia Pre k because of some roster. I asked what steps needed to be taken? Wld I need a letter from the former school upon withdrawing her? Did I need to call someone somewhere? Could it really be impossible to move from one school to another? Supposing I moved house or changed my job and needed another school for my kid. I was pretty content listening to her explanations even though they seemed quite confusing and contradictory when the owner jumped in to our conversation and said that getting her added to their roster would require a lot of paperwork and talking on the phone and I quote "that is not worth my time". I was taken aback and told her that was a terrible thing to say. realizing that what she said was inappropriate she suddenly decided that actually the reason they could not take her was because there was a waiting list and proceeded to produce some imaginary list. Even the director dismissed that. I was furious at first but as I drove away from the facility I felt relieved that I had not made the mistake of enrolling either of them there.

This school is fantastic! From a personal level, the school is friendly and an open environment. It offers a lot of skills-building resources at your disposal.

Lets just start out by saying this is the best center I've ever stepped foot in! Everything is clean an well organized. It's not just a job or a daycare, we all come to work for the sake of taking care of the children an work together as if we are one big family! It's not just a job to us it's our life to make sure we do the duties the best to our ability an that the children stay happy! We show them tons of love and are constantly teaching them new things everyday!!!! I have never seen such a smart jr toddler room, these one year olds can tell me what state we live in, colors, shapes,numbers, an all sorts of other things. I have worked in plenty of facility's and none compare to Five Forks Academy. The directors an owner are always on guard to help an assist with whatever we may need! You're children are learning so much an it is our privilege to teach them. We love watching them grow with us an transition to other rooms through out our center!!!

Miss Angelica

PLEASE DON'T DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is a real post from a real parent.



The owner has a REALLY bad attitude and the Director's attitude changes every other day....much like the weather in Atlanta! My child likes a "few" teachers here but most of them are inexperienced and should not be working with small kids. Period. I really hate the fact that I ignored ALL of the negative comments I read about this daycare before bringing my child here. This daycare is the worst and I will find each and EVERY website I possibly can to warn parents about this school before making the WORST decision of you and your child's life.



P.S. If anyone comes on here to state anything different, I will be more than happy to back-up my review with "ACTUAL FACTS" on how I came to the following conclusion.

One of a Kind, Truly AMAZING experience!

Five Forks Academy, both facility and staff set themselves aside from every other daycare I’ve heard about or visited. They are definitely without a doubt #1 in our books.

Our son, who will be 2 years old in November, has been with Five Forks since 8 weeks old. He has grown in so many aspects of his life. The care and learning experience given to him from infanthood through to toddler surpasses anything we could ever imagine. Growing up, I always wanted to be stay at home mom because I was terrified of the idea of leaving my child with anyone else. The staff at Five Forks has completely put my mind at ease and now I could never imagine my boy anywhere else. He has been given so much and we have the peace of mind that day to day he will be in wonderful hands and protected to the max all while learning and growing his knowledge and imagination to the extreme.

What’s even more, Ann, Teri, Carol and each teacher on the staff interact, play and read with each of the kids on a daily basis. The kids learn to be respectful and courteous to others all while learning to sing their ABCs and count in Spanish!

In our opinion, Five Forks should be at the top of everyone’s mind when choosing a daycare for their child. We absolutely love Five Forks Academy and God-willing will NEVER go anywhere else. We recommend this school to anyone wanting to provide their child/children with the utmost top notch education and care possible.

Nothing comes close.

~Very satified parents!~

I am confused as to the negative remarks that I've read in regards to this daycare. I honestly think that competing daycares are posting those. This is one of the best daycares in this vicinity of Gwinnett.



I am very much a parent there, no outside relationship with the staff to steer me from stating the following, and you are free to email me at [email protected] to ask any questions. I am very passionate about this because when I had my daughter who is now 9 I had to switch her 4x because of such high turn overs, inexperienced kids watching kids, rude staff (please see Discovery Point in Snellville if you want to experience what a rude owner really is), and in that same case mistreatment of my child. So you can imagine that after having my son, I was VERY particular about where I placed him.



I was introduced to FFA from another mom that spoke very highly of them. I went to visit and fell in love. 1. the infant room where I needed to place my son in at that time had the same 2 women that had take care of her kids when they went there. The ratio in that room is kept lower than state requirements, and the ladies are wonderful, nurturing women. Great pick for that room. My son is 3 and in pre-k3 and I dread moving him anywhere else. Moving from Boston with no family, the FFI staff, Mrs. Anne and Mrs. Terri have become an extended part of my family. I have lost my job and through these various ups and downs they have always extended themselves to us and worked with us until I got myself back on my feet. They all know us and give us updates the moment we walk in. Their concern is genuine and I appreciate this group of people. The facility and grounds are impeccable!!!!!!!! When I drop off my son, he reaches for the teachers, which says a lot about how loved they make him feel, and when I went through a questionnaire for his classroom and asked who his best friend to play with in class, he mentioned 3 kids and the teacher.



Kids are pure with no Ill intentions, and my son's reaction to the staff is the most important validation I need in order to know that this is a great facility with even better people, and I promise I would not give this type of review had I not felt this strongly about it and wanted to make sure that it received the praise that it truly deserves!

I am really taken aback by the negative reviews on here. My son, now 2 1/2 years old has attended Five Forks Academy since he was 12 weeks old (June 2010) and I couldn't be happier with where he spends most of his waking hours everyday. It is the next best place to him being at home with me. He is currently in the big 2's little 3's classroom and at least half of his classmates also began attending FFA as infants so they have grown up together. He gets two hot well balanced meals each day which is more than I can say for myself. I am currently pregnant with my second child, due December 2012, and he will also attend FFA once I return to work.



The staff is wonderful and has always gone above and beyond for my son and our family. There is really low staff turnover, which provides consistency and stability for all of the children. My son loves all of his teachers and constantly talks about them at home, and it is always good things!