Christopher Robin Nursery School

I went to observe my child actually AT the school before I enrolled him. They do not interview children. I strongly recommend that anyone who wants their child to attend this school do the same thing. I brought along an educational consultant who posed as my "mother" to observe. My educational consultant saw things that totally escaped me. Since I am not an expert on early childhood development, I really think having an expert alongside is the best way to make informed decisions about school placement. There were only FOUR children present the day we were there, so she couldn't have been very "busy". The teacher working with the younger children did not start the class on time nor did she greet us, most of the children did not want to have anything to do with her (one of them actually refused to hug her when she asked him to, she did not ask any of the other children to hug her), she did not explain any of the expectations of the environment (like shoes off or circle time expectations, etc.), at many points during the 2 hours we observed the teacher had her back to the children, the teacher was not friendly or observant...example: my son was playing at the water table and had 3 beakers of water clutched to his chest and he was explaining to the other kid at the table that he had "caught" some fish and the teacher came over and told him that no one was going to take his beakers of water so he did not have to clutch them so closely to his chest...?? huh??? She wasn't paying attention to what he was doing AT ALL. The school appears to be run by two very clever women. I am certain that this mother/daughter duo are great teachers, but the people they have hired to work for them are not the best. The teacher also had a very thick accent. She could not say my son's name properly (it is a very common English name), so he did not realize that she was talking to him. Also, if your child had a speech problem, this might be extremely troublesome. The consultant also pointed out that there were potentially dangerous objects in the sandbox, i.e. metal rakes. Unbelievable what she pointed out to me that I would not have been able to gather on my own. My advice: 1. bring your child in to play, 2. bring a consultant/third party to observe if you are not a trained early childhood expert and really, really listen to what they have to say after the observation. Every parent has the right to expect the best for their children. This place is, at best, a somewhat environmentally attractive, super overpriced daycare. ick. Oh, did I mention that the teacher forgot my son's name, and the name of one other child?