Merry Moppet Pre-School

This rating is for Merry Moppet Pre-​School. Our daughter is 2.5 years old, so we don’t have experience with Belmont Oaks.
The campus itself is fantastic, with a good location and very clean grounds. The buildings are sectioned off by age group, with proper play areas. The teachers and staff are very polite and responsive. The children all seem very happy to be there. Our daughter loves going to school every morning, which really helps with drop off.
Everyday is filled with numerous activities, and occasionally they hold larger events for the kids. The balance of instruction and play seems appropriate for the age groups, knowing that 2 – 3 year old kids have a limited attention span. They also serve the kids lunch every day which is really helpful for busy parents. Overall, we’ve been very happy with the preschool and would recommend it.

Wonderful school! We have been very happy with it! Our son has learned so much in the two years he has been there and the teachers are very loving. They even have a pool for swim lessons in the summer!

I put my kid in Merry Moppet because it was near and had some history in the neighborhood — Big waste of money.
Parents please research Challenger, Stratford and other mission schools if you are okay — Merry Moppet claims to focus on good behavior and let the kids go easy on the academics. Its just like paying $ 1500/​month for day care facilities. What we need is a good play area, reasonable academics and discipline. Merry Moppet is a cramped school, claustrophobic classrooms … almost feels like I am walking through caves.
I have 2 children — first one was in MM, then moved to BOA and finally I transferred her to public school because I was totally unhappy with the level of academic focus and lack of even a decent play area for the kids.
All the private schools teach you discipline and good behavior — BOA is not unique in that aspect. No point paying $$$$ if a school is not focused on academics and/​or sports.
Every year, the fees were raised under the pretext «we want to retain our teachers» — for what? they ain’t teaching much in those cramped classrooms anyways. I’d just let them go and bring in ones who actually teach something.
btw, the after school program was a sham. just kids scribbling on paper — no story time or music or dramatics. The outdoor space is so limited that you can’t have more than one class playing out at any point in time.

Our whole family had a horrible experience with Merry Moppet. Our son learned to read very early and the teacher pointed him out like a circus act. No one attempted to engage him in anything that interested him. His teacher played favorites. Early on in the school year she indicated that our son and his little playmate should be tested for behavioral/​sensory delays. We did not trust her judgement but the parents of the other boy paid $ 100 to learn their kid is perfectly normal and, in fact, above average intelligence. For a school that claims to have an «academic» program, they have no idea what to do with the kids that are beyond their curriculum.
I do have to credit them for having nice facilities and grounds, which seems to keep many of the kids happy, but they close ranks if you bring criticism to one of the staff and make you feel like it’s your fault, or your child’s. Yuck!

My child goes to preschool at Merry Moppet, and we absolutely LOVE it here. I visited many preschools and elementary schools in the area, and this one was the best, hands down. We had to be on the waiting list to get into this school for about a year, and it was worth every minute. Everything from the administration team, teachers, curriculum, facilities, and overall tight parent and teacher community is superb. Don’t believe negative reviews who call teachers or executive team snobbish. They are the most caring and warm people you ever meet. Most teachers have worked here for a long time. They are simply class act. I especially like that each classroom has a head teacher, an assistant and an art teacher and a floater. The kids receive a lot of individual attention. I see my child learning and blossoming at an amazing pace. It’s also great to have a school who has such a tight parent community. Keep up the great work, MMBOA!

My son attended Merry Moppet preschool for 3 years and we had a very positive experience. The Pre-​Kindergarten program is particularly strong. The teachers do a wonderful job fostering a love learning, cooperative play, and creativity. The pre-​K has a very strong academic program– by the end of the year, my child was comfortable writing his alphabet, numbers, and is starting to read phonics. There is plenty of time for free play, as well as arts and crafts projects. This year, the school introduced a wonderful fine arts program; the children learned about some artists and completed art projects based upon that artist’s work. The class then hosted an art show for the parents– it was very cool hearing my son talk about Andy Warhol, Monet, and Jackson Pollock. Our pre-​K teacher was one of the best teachers our family has had the fortune to work with– Mrs. Collins (as well as her assistants) was very accessible, easy to communicate with, and, I felt, really understood my child.
This school more than prepared my child for kindergarten (academically and socially). Because of the positive experiences we had with our older son at Belmont Oaks Academy (review to come later) and despite the fact that we live steps away from a very good public elementary school in the Belmont-​Redwood Shores school district, we will have our younger child attend kinder at BOA.

Our son has only gone to Merry Moppet, but we definitely plan on sending him to Belmont Oaks Academy. I’m sorry to hear that others have not had a good experience with the school, but from our experience, the past 2 years, we have nothing but good things to say about the school.
Our son has thrived academically, socially, and in many other ways since he began coming here. The teachers communicate very well with us as to what the kids are learning and how our son is adjusting to each lesson plan. We’ve attended 2 holiday shows and we didn’t see any «favoritism» as mentioned in a previous review even though the owners grandchild is in our class.
My son loves coming to school and has many friends. Not only that, but we’ve met many parents that we have become great friends with as well. These parents are also very happy with the school.
I understand that it might not be for everyone, but it has worked out wonderfully for us.