Stepping Stone School

I can’t say enough great things about this school. My 2 year old son has been here for a year now and he loves it. The staff takes lots of pictures and sends them to you during the day, which is so nice. They have a curriculum and are constantly engaging the children in learning activities.
Very well rounded — they have a musician come in once a week and sing songs and let the children experiment with instruments, bilingual activities, art projects, sensory lab, etc. During the summer they have splash days where they let the kids play with water toys outside. They also have extracurricular activities for the older kids like swimming lessons and martial arts.
They do a great job of teaching self-​help skills, how to share, and the importance of being kind to others. They will work with you to resolve any behavioral issues that may arise during development.
This is a very kind and loving place. They go out of their way to make families feel welcome. The director does an incredible job of organizing family events and appreciation days. She also lovingly cooks all of the delicious fresh meals in the kitchen for the children daily. Sometimes when you walk in the door you can smell the casseroles baking in the oven — amazing!
If you are trying to decide where to send your children, your search is over. Send them here.

We are pleased with this school. I like the age grouped classrooms and the playgrounds. She is learning a lot from the teachers. I like that it is very secure and you need a code to enter. I also like that the teachers know who I am and have pictures of us as verification.

We went to a few different day care locations before we came to Northcross. Michelle, Vicky and the rest of the staff have always been great to our daughter. When our daughter had serious respiratory issues, they were able to pick up on her labored breathing, and were great about notifying us about any problems, as well as administering all of her various medications. They constantly send us pictures of how her day is going, and electronic updates of her food and drink intake. Vicky has always gone above and beyond in making us and our daughter feel comfortable with any classroom transitions or changes. She is also very helpful and offers advise to any questions that we have about our growing toddler.

Choosing a day care was a difficult decision… we were on several waiting lists for months before our baby was even born since quality, convenient infant care can be hard to find. My experience with Stepping Stone (since Feb. 2014) has made me feel reassured that my son is genuinely cared for, safe, learning positive social skills, and comfortable in his environment. He talks about his friends at schools and is excited to go to his classroom every morning. His past teachers, particularly Ms. Vicky, always take a moment to check in, say hi, give him hugs, and talk with me. It’s a small school where you really have an opportunity to get to know the staff and he’s been able to move up several classrooms with the same kids since there’s little turnover. And I love getting pictures and videos during the day, and electronic daily reports — very convenient!

My son attended this school for about six months, until I withdrew him two weeks ago. There have been many problems along the way. My son (just turned 5) had never been watched outside of family. I trusted this school to at least have his best interest at heart. My mistake.
I’ll jump to the event leading me to withdraw him. One day 2 weeks ago his teacher was out. I dropped my kid off in class with Vickie and went about my day. When I picked him up I watched an incident unfold at the playground as I was walking up. My son was crying and I asked what happened. The lady, Vickie (who usually works with the infants and smaller children) blatantly lied toy face, not knowing I had witnessed the incident as I was approaching the playground. In the car my son explained what really happened (which was exactly what I saw). At this point I’m a little upset but I work with kids so I chalked it up maybe Vickie didn’t want me to worry. Either way I had to drop him at his grandparents and head back to work.
When I got off that night, my son tells me that VICKIE HIT HIM ON HIS BOTTOM because he was talking to his friend during nap time. He blamed himself for not being quiet (it hadn’t occurred to him that something wrong happened) I called the next day, the director, Michelle, was out. Vickie answered. I told her point blank what was told to me and of course she denied it. Two days later I go get my sons things and tell his teacher I’m withdrawing him. She actually smiled, tongue out over her teeth to keep from laughing. She has done this before: one time she hands me a paper where she helped my son write his name. His name was spelled wrong. She didn’t notice and she laughed when I brought it to her attention… Any way to get back on track, I emailed Michelle (director) to give my notice of withdrawal. Over a week later I still have not been contacted. I guess they’re hoping to just sweep this under the rug. The worst part is this woman usually works with children who are too young to tell parents anything. Also the children of the staff attend this school with their parents and you best believe that those kids get away with murder, especially at the expense of other children. Don’t send your kid here. Especially if they are too young to give you the run down on their day.

My daughter has been going to Stepping Stone since September 2013 and started in the infant room. I was very impressed with the teachers and was relatively happy with everything. However, in the last month or so they have really stepped it up. They added a security key pad and they switched to a paperless ipad system for daily updates. I get photos of my daughter now and it makes my day. I also like saving a few trees and my car is suddenly a lot less cluttered. :)
Michelle the director is doing a great job and her staff is awesome too! I would definitely recommend this Stepping Stone location!

It’s almost three years later and we are still happy at SS2. The only reason I docked a star is b/​c they had some major issues with turnover for a few months about a year ago. The teachers (2 of them in the two oldest classrooms) who left left for personal reasons (me and another mom talk to them outside of ‘work’) but their replacements left for lack of support and one left for personal reasons. It was rocky for a time for both of my kids but now that they found long-​term teachers it is great. I still talk to two former teachers, one of them regularly, and they really care about my kids. My daughter’s teacher even dropped by the school on my daughter’s birthday to bring her a gift!
The older classrooms get weekly music classes and those guys are always a hit with my kids. My son used to call guitars by the name if his music teacher and sometimes still does. Now the Pre-​K class has weekly dance as well, which my daughter LOVES!
Also, my son started off in the infant room with Vicky and Rosalinda and I still love those ladies. And they still love my son! I’m so glad they are still around – I feel like they are the foundation of this school. I would recommend this place to anyone, especially if you are looking for a place for your newborn.
I really like the size and that all the teachers know all the kids. And our kids know almost all the kids, even some of the babies.

Honestly, I was dreading this decision. Leaving my baby in the care of others? In a school setting with strangers? Good thing I took a chance, did my research and found Stepping Stone.
2 months later my little one has bloomed into a social butterfly. I knew the ladies would have their work cut out for them when I dropped off my 3 month old. As a first time mom I had smothered my daughter and basically not let her out of my arms for the entirety of her life. Within weeks she was sleeping in her crib. What? I tried so many times to do the same thing, but alas — fail. Vicky and Rosalinda worked their magic and had her sleeping and taking her bottle.
Both these ladies are incredibly kind and talented. I love picking up my baby and having them tell me about her day, who she interacted with and what silly things she did. Moments like that tell me I did the right thing with this daycare business.

I wasn’t sure what to expect, but SS2 seemed to be the best bang for our buck. We didn’t have a lot to spend, and had never put our child in daycare before. Suffice it to say that this place was a stepping stone on the path to a much better situation for our girl. The two stars are for how nice the staff were. The very, very understaffed staff.
The first thing you notice about this place is that it’s clean, organized, and has nice outside areas. The staff are pleasant and proud of their establishment. I’ve got standards that are through the roof, but this is my genetic material, ya know? At my house, we eat organic and I’ll be the first to admit that I’m the wicked witch of the west when it comes to sugar intake. Imagine my bewilderment when I was told that their menu was boastfully on a «healthier» track. Really? Are you sure? Because I don’t consider crackers «made with whole wheat» to be any sort of compensation for the popsicles being doled out. No, really. I’m not talking frozen fruit on a stick, I’m talking Chernobyl on a stick. I realized I’d need to pack my daughter’s lunches. I also wondered if so many crying babies was a normal occurrence. Every day, no matter what time I was there, babies would be screaming bloody murder from their crib or highchair prisons. Brutal. Once, when I came to get my girl, a teacher told me that she was trying to train her to not need to be picked up so much because, «then all the other kids will want to be held, too». Suspicion = raised.
There were about 4 weeks total that my child went here, but after the first, she knew enough to start wailing when we’d drive up. At home, she was a different child. Cling-​on Deluxe was inconsolable when it came to putting her down even for a moment to try and, say, use the toilet by myself. Girl was beside herself! The last straw came on a Friday. Business as usual: building seen, cue the waterworks. Friday is «Splash Day», so I’d made sure to bring appropriate attire. Inside, I was told she’d need to be put into her swim diaper, so I proceeded to change her. What I witnessed was outright Bedlam on an epic scale. There was no where to change her, so I sat on the floor with a writhing, hysterical child on my lap and attempted to apply said swim diaper. All around us, the discordant cries of baby histrionics competed to see who could bust an adult’s eardrum first.
Just then, in comes an older child from the playground to use the potty– unaccompanied by a teacher. He leaves the door to the bathroom open. Toddlers, like hypnotized cattle, make an immediate stampede towards the dangerous toilet. Good thing I was there to shut that door. Next, the door to the outside is left open by said tot, and the babies shift their zombie-​like attention to this new peril. It’s fine… I’ll save the day– again.
I’ve almost got my baby ready for Splash Day when another mama enters asking if she can leave her kid for the day. The reply from the teacher on duty, verbatim, «Well, he’ll have to go to another classroom since I’m only supposed to have five, and I’ve got seven today». Oh holy hell. When I left, my sweet patootie was standing there, crying in the sprinkler, heartbroken. I drove to work in tears vowing to leave early for the day.
After work, I went to get her thinking I’d take her swimming as a treat. When I walked in, there she was looking depressed. Interestingly, she wasn’t berserk, and I took her to the car without much ado at all. A mile down the road, I looked in the rear-​view mirror and began to pull over. What I saw was a horror-​show: my child, slack-​jawed, eyes half-​mast, throwing up all over herself. Eff a bunch of swimming, we’re going home– where more strange behavior emerged. The child was lethargic. She passed out and when she awoke, I couldn’t get her to smile. I called the doctor who said if I couldn’t get her to perk up with some ibuprofen within the hour, I’d need to take her to the ER. Fortunately, she did just that, but it took another day or so for her to get back on track.
Over the weekend, I looked up her various symptoms. It all pointed to a case of heat exhaustion, a potentially fatal predicament. Going over her progress report from Friday, I found she’d had no wet diapers and her total fluid intake had been less than an ounce of milk. Girl was dehydrated and could have died! When I called and explained the situation to the school on Monday (because damned if I’d ever bring her back), they sounded empathetic, but firmly told me that there would be no refund before I could even ask and also denied that they were ever understaffed. «We always have one teacher per five kids». (Yeah, except when you don’t). I don’t believe there was any malicious intent, and I can’t accuse them outright of anything, but I can sure as hell warn you, dear reader. If you’re looking for quality daycare, keep on looking.

seeing as how this is our first baby and our first daycare, i don’t have a large basis for comparison, but — so far — we have been very happy with stepping stone on bowling green for our little lady.
any mom knows how hard it is to part with your baby for such a long period of time, so being happy and confident in your baby’s care is incredibly important.
all of the teachers seem very caring and the main teacher in the infant room (ms. vicky) has been there for quite some time. we are always warmly greeted and (most importantly!) our girl seems happy to arrive and is all smiles.
i’ll update our review as time goes on, in the event my assessment changes, but — so far — thumbs up!

I love this school!
My kids have attended several Stepping Stones in North ish Austin. The ones we love usually have to do with the teachers on staff at the time.
(which can turn around like a little girl in a tutu.)
We HATE the one on Steck at Shoal Creek… who knows who the director is now they went thru 3 the first year my baby was there… that includes these fine events…
1.) them losing my kiddos brand new swim top (there is pool there and lessons avaialble)
2.) giving us someone elses bottle of breastmilk at the end of the day. who knows where my pumped bottles ended up. as all bottles are labled clearly.ewwww.
3.) my baby only gaining 1 pound in fourth months due to the baby teachers giving her table food WHILE THEY bottle fed and spoon fed the other babies. I found this out later…
(At home we’d shovel food in her mouth as long as she wanted it and I nursed her all the time… so the 7 hours she was at daycare .she was pretty much starving.)
4.) a boy was inappropriate toward one of my girls. when she told me, I told the director… she asked him and he denied… then SHE DROPPED IT!
That director ‘s name is Rochelle and she has since moved .but his folks were never told and I believe… he sees or knows about waaaaaaay grown up stuff.
5.) My shy hubby does not socialize so when he’d pick up the kids. he would not grill the teachers like I do.(granted I am a hugger and «how was your weekend?» kind of gal.) So many days we had not clue who ate what or slept when. A note should have been written or the teachers should just tell hom… it was lame.
The school on Bowling Green is rad, the director, Carrie, loves the kids, they love her, she is good to her employees and is hot to boot.
The Rich Creek one we have been in and out of thur the past 6 years and has gone thru a few staff changes.
Right now it is good and easy, relaxed and fresh.
So if you need a baby daycare. I suggest Miss Vickie at Stepping Stone Bowling Green (Carrie is director)
if your kiddo is 2– schoolage the Rich creek one is rad. Judy is director.
Good vibes to you and yours.