Pasadena Christian Preschool

Our daughter has been at Pasadena Christian Preschool for a year and a half now. We could not be more pleased. I am getting around to this review just now because even though we have had a great experience starting with our initial tour, I wanted to make sure that this great experience was stable and consistent over time. And it has been.
Several families, including ours, came together a year and a half ago to look for a new daycare/​preschool for our children. We had grown weary of our experience at a previous facility. I came to PCS with my guard up pretty high. But after days and months of wonderful, caring, sweet experiences, I’ve developed a level of deep trust where I can just drop off my daughter in the morning, and I do not have to think twice. She is happy and flourishing in this environment.
The director is amazing – she is ALWAYS open to my input, is never defensive, and actually welcomes parent feedback. She is wonderful to work with. The facility is incredible – aesthetically beautiful (both the classrooms and the outdoor space) with so many resources and activities for the children. And the teachers are great – Low staff turnover and can you believe they even have Outdoor Classroom Teachers dedicated to the outdoor play experience!!! I’ve never even heard of that before!
We are happy at this pre-​school and I am so grateful we landed here.

We LOVE PCS! Our son has been there for 4 years and we have never been unhappy. He is learning, playing, problem solving, and most of all having fun. His teachers have comforted him when he needed it and pushed him to learn when he didn’t really want to. Everyone there is friendly and responsive to feedback and questions. They are known for their outdoor classroom which has been so important to us. They offer a hot lunch for a minimal fee and they are open from 7 – 6. I feel relaxed and at ease when I am at work knowing they are caring for my son.

Our son attended PCS last year in Rm 3. We are still impressed with Mr. Tim. (Lead Teacher) He’s wonderful with the children. I found him to be full of charisma, sharp and disciplined. It was always a pleasure to be in his presents. Our Son and all of the children LOVED him! Mr. Tim and the assistant teachers Ms Thelma, and Ms Terri consistently impressed me with there patience, self control and control of the children. I feel that our son was encouraged, treated equally, and loved.
Now a year later the new school year has begun and we are back for Jr. Kindergarten! (Rm1)
I thought I might add that when I would pick up my son in the evening I often found the teachers aides interacting with my son one on one! *****

My son is starting here in a couple weeks, but we have already been visiting and he is slowly getting to know the teachers there. I have to say I am already really impressed by the facilities and the care they have put into the outdoor classroom. They have so many things for each kid to do, it is like a preschool paradise. There is a play dough station, a train station, a place to play music, a place to play with make believe stuff, a place to ride bikes, a place to play with water, a place to dig with toy bulldozers and trucks. My son actually cried when we had to leave after a few hours of visiting. We are really excited for the new school year.

I just posted a review on the Elementary School Unilocal site, now it’s the Preschool’s turn.
I’m so glad that we are back in school at PCS! My daughter (almost 5) had a tough time going back after a summer away; but now she asks to go to school — EARLY! It’s about 7 am, and she is ready to roll. She can’t wait to see her friends, learn new things, and take home «Butter Ball» — the class hamster, this Oct 26^th.
My son, who I posted about on the Elementary School page also today, was in this class 2 years ago. He started out in Kindergarten at the «big school;» but by the wise counsel of his teacher, Mrs. French, and the Emerging Needs Director, we had him go back to Pre-​K for a bit more emotional readiness.
It was a TOUGH decision as a parent. «Do I push (him) forward, or do I let go, and let him set his own learning pace?,» was the big question. It took us almost 2 months of gutt-​wrenching thinking to make the decision.
What I really liked about PCS was the team effort it took to place my son in the right grade. At one meeting we had the Elementary Principal, his Kindergarten Teacher, the Director of the Preschool, and the Director of Emerging Needs — and us two parents. This is what makes this school great. It’s a team effort — all for the progress, self-​esteem and good of the individual child.
Lastly, I’m impressed at what the Preschool did to prepare him for PCS Kindergarten. … Something he didn’t get at his other preschool, I might add. And I HIGHLY recommend the summer Kindergarten Transitional program. It makes a huge difference for kids that are coming to PCS for the first time.
And my little girl still is asking me to go to school EARLY! What’s up with that?! She’s my last one, out of 4. Why does she want to get away from me so quickly in the morning!!!

Our daughter went to the preschool for 3 years and is now in kindergarten at the big school and our son is just finishing his first year. We are very pleased with the school and staff, and the environment has always been welcoming and warm. The caring and nurturing our children received from their teachers has had a positive impact on their lives and we feel confident that they will continue to thrive in this environment. We feel very fortunate and blessed to have found the school.

I have two children that attend PSC and they LOVE it! They started last year at rooms 4 and 3, and they are now in rooms 3 and 1. Their day is full of age-​appropriate activities, and they have different stations throughout the school. I am a working mom and when I pick them at 5, I often wait for them because they don’t want to leave, «can we stay for five more minutes, mom?»
My son who is in room 1 is learning so much about letters and sounds, but the best part is that he doesn’t even know that he is learning – the teachers introduce concepts naturally throughout their day. He can sound out the letters and he is so positive about learning! My daughter comes home singing songs and retelling the stories she read in class. She loves her school so much I have actually used this line, «if you don’t listen, you can’t go to school» and she listened!
I love this school because I have a secure feeling when I am at work that my children is safe and loved. I am interested in their learning, but I am more interested in their well-​being. I feel very blessed that my children are attending this school.

We love PCS! Our daughter is in her second year at the school. She is growing and thriving. She comes home every day and is singing songs and talking about all she did in school that day — from going down the slide to cooking in class to painting to field trips to learning how she is a «lamb of God». It is a wonderful place for her. We looked at other schools before our decision to send her here and we feel so lucky that this ended up being our best choice. Our child is safe, loved, growing and learning. What more could a parent ask for?

Pasadena Christian Preschool gets 5 stars. I am an educator and toured pretty much every well known preschool in the area and Pasadena Christian Preschool came out ahead by a long shot. I have 2 kids who have gone through every class at this school, each class has been a wonderful experience for my children. The developmental approach is completely age appropriate for preschoolers. My children are completely prepared for kindergarten yet, the school does not use worksheets which is great. The school focuses on social skills like sharing, taking turns, problem solving, and developing peer relations with lots of structured-​directed and exploratory play. The preschool is full of rich print and stories that encourages kids to explore their environment. The school is the perfect example of the intent of Piaget’s theory of cognitive development implemented into a school. I mean, heck I even want to stay at the school and play WITH my kids. My children have been so nurtured by the staff here. After attending Pasadena Christian Preschool my oldest is now more than prepared to enter Kindergarten in the fall.

I give the preschool 2 stars only because there are still a few excellent teachers left. Very few. Unfortunately the director of the preschool is so authoritarian, many of the best teachers have left for greener pastures. I had to take both of my children out of the preschool for not only lack of control in the older rooms (room 2 which is a pre-​k class) the kids clearly ran the room. But also for the younger room (room 5) where there was too much turn over and total lack of communication. My youngest was already having separation issues, then to have the teachers in and out like a revolving door all year was very concerning.
the director is the main cause for these issues as she does not take constructive critisism at all. There is basically no communication to the staff nor the parents of what is going on with the school, what is happening to the teachers, etc. For example, on the first day of school last year, there was a full film crew at the preschool. Apparently there was a «Christian Reality Show» being filmed and they wanted to get the father taking his son to his first day of preschool. NO notification went out to the parents of the preschool. At the least I would have expected a notice for the parents of that room (room 2) tobenotified. When I had asked what was going on, iwas rudely informed that it didn’t concern me. It only concerned the kids of room 2. I patiently informed her that my child was in room 2. Only then did I get a release form to sign in case my child was filmed. I did not sign the release as I do not believe any of these children should be on TV for a reality show. Nothing was done to note my disagreement. I would have pulled my children out that day if they weren’t so excited to start school. But this shows a typical lack of communication for something important, and how parents are treated by the teachers and director.
The curriculum varies depending on the lead teacher. If you happen to get one of the good classes, you are in luck. However, of the 5 classes, there is one good lead teacher. We as a family have experienced each of the rooms but the oldest. Two rooms are completely uncontrolled. My oldest child went from the best teacher ever to a room that had no discipline. It felt like everything my child learned the year before was completely wasted and thrown out the window when moved to the next class. Speaking to the director about changing classes was out of the question as two previous families with similar concerns, had involuntarily left the school. The was very little learning in this classroom, it is childcare, not preschool. My child was completely unprepared for Kindergarten. Yet had scored one of the highest in the schools kindergarten preparedness test.
However families that I have spoken to about the other older class had much better results with the kindergarten transition. But the director of the big school, the elementary, Dr. Grey, told me specifically, along and announced in the parent orientation meeting that they cater to the mid range students. If your. Hilda needs help in a subject, it is your responsibility. Likewise, if your child excels in a subject, the school will not help them either. They won’t feed the child more advanced info for their advanced subjects. They teach the approved curriculum and that is it. That was the reason we didn’t bother staying at the preschool to go to the big school.