St Clare’s Christian Preschool

Our child «graduated» from St Clares. He started out in the twos room. There was a great mix of children from different backgrounds and from various parts of Pleasanton. My son found quite a few of his St Clares-​mates in his public school which made the transition to Kindergarten so easy. What we loved about St. Clares:
a) A well established school that comes highly recommended. We know of people who sent their kids and now grandkids there! I felt safe in St. Clares and I know that I left my child in good hands
b) Teachers are great and have long tenure. The Director is excellent and is very hands-​on. She is very welcoming and is also open to talk and resolve issues with parents.
c) I loved that they offer Soccer and Gymnastics during the school day. Our son enrolled in both and loved it.
d) They do have a half hour of chapel instruction every week. But it is fun and positive and involves a few art projects and music.
e) They have an annual christmas concert and a graduation event for the preschoolers. There are fund raisers and an active board. We left feeling like we belonged to a community.
f) They have a relatively large backyard with a lot of play structures which the kids love. They have a bike area. My child learnt to bike at St Clares :)
g) The are open till 6pm but do offer part day options as well.
h) The curriculum is play based. They introduced zoo phonics and writing in the fours room. His teacher in the fours room read a lot of books to the class and introduced so many concepts like counting to 100, coins, the presidents, etc.

Our son went to St. Clare’s Preschool for two years from 2012 – 2014. He and we loved it! The teachers and staff are incredibly dedicated and caring, there is a good balance between academics and play, and there is a great outdoor space.

We moved back to the area in 2013 and didn’t know what we were going to do for pre-​school for our two boys. We visited all of the options in the area and none could compare withSt. Clare’s beginning with their greeting and our first meeting. St. Clare’s, from the top down, has a staff that is professional, passionate and caring about what they do. It is not a day care. And it is NOT a place to see how much a 4 year old can learn so they can go to Berkeley! They have the absolute right balance of play and learning for the ages at the school. Our boys’ social skills (ability to play and have fun with other children), vocabulary and knowledge developed wonderfully here. The staff took a true interest in our children and us as parents, and were always, always friendly, kind, caring and supportive. There’s no better place in the area as far as we’re concerned. The only bad thing I can say is that they only accept children up to 5 years old! Now that we’re moving on the kindergarten we will miss our friends at St. Clare’s.

St. Clare’s is the best Pre-​school in Pleasanton hands down.
Why?
*The Teachers are amazing and no turn over
*The Director is amazing too
*They have soccer and gymnastics available
*Great play area
*Balance between Academics & being a kid
*Creative activities like singing at Christmas event + other events
*The Teachers are really really amazing and caring for your kids
*We met some other amazing families
Make an appointment, and check it out. Your kid (s) will love it there!

We moved to Pleasanton last year and visited a few different preschools for my daughter. We settled for St Clare’s and a year later we feel very fortunate our daughter got a chance to attend this wonderful preschool. It never felt like it was Ms Sue’s first year as director here and I must congratulate her for cultivating a caring & pleasant environment for young minds. We felt every member of the team (teachers, support staff, chapel staff) we ran into every day showed a lot of genuine enthusiasm & care for the kids.
Our daughter will be going to attend K this fall and she was in Ms Gayli’s class at St Clare’s. No words can express my admiration for Ms Gayli. She puts a lot of effort into all the kids and doesn’t follow a cookie cutter approach. We owe a big debt of thanks for the tremendous all round development we have seen in our daughter in the past year. She had a lot of fun while learning new things every day. We think she is very well prepared for Kindergarten. Thanks Ms Gayli!
The class sizes are quite small and so the care is very personal. The play yard is a pretty good size and they also have arrangements for optional classes (like soccer) within the school day so one can avoid drop off and pick up.
When the year was over, I commended Ms Sue for giving the kids a «joyful house» away from home. We hope to be back when our younger son is ready!

St Clare’s is a wonderful preschool with truly caring wonderful teachers. I love the small class sizes with one teacher per class which helps the teachers really get to know each of the children and you can rest assured that your child is in very safe hands. All three of my children have enjoyed every minute of their time there. My eldest who is now in Kindergarten was thoroughly prepared for school and still talks about her teacher at St Clare’s. My daughter who is now in pre-​k at St Clare’s is loving it so much she asks to go on weekends and my son who is 2 recently joined with no transitional issues at all.
St Clare’s was recommended to us by a friend who knew I wasn’t happy with two previous preschools we had attended in Pleasanton, we feel very blessed to have found such a wonderful environment for our children to learn, play and grow in.

We moved to Pleasanton recently and not knowing anyone I had to rely on my instincts and Unilocal reviews when picking a preschool for my daughter. We feel very lucky to have found St. Clare’s preschool. This school is exactly what I imagined a preschool to be. The staff is VERY friendly. Everyone already knows my daughter and greets us everyday and we have only been there a short time. The director was super accommodating and did everything she could to assure us a spot. The school has a happy community feeling to it. Not the feeling you get when you go to some of the large corporate chain preschool’s. They seem to be developmentally appropriate for the age groups they serve. They have offered many fun extra activities so far like a petting zoo, splash day, magician etc. we have really enjoyed hearing about my daughters day. She LOVES her new school and friends and wants to go everyday!

We entrusted St. Clare’s Christian Preschool with our daughters’ care for the past four years (2 years for each of them). It has been the most incredible experience. As an educator myself, I toured many preschools before deciding on St. Clare’s and I am so glad this is the school I chose for my girls. The staff is friendly, nurturing, loving, caring, and educated. It has the perfect mix of play and academics. My daughters are BEYOND prepared for kindergarten. So sad to say goodbye to this school!

I was on my way in to St. Clare’s Christian Preschool when a parent pulled me aside. «You know why I love this school?» A long list ran through my mind: The great teachers, the wonderful location, the fact that the school is a great balance between academics and play/exploration…I could go on. She said «I love this school because it’s cheap (as in inexpensive) and my children get a great education!» Those weren’t on the top of my list, but she was right!
In fact, I was at a local bakery and a parent who had seen me at the school before told me a similar story about this place. Instead of talking about how inexpensive the school is, she told me about her children. «You know, my children went on to elementary school and the teachers all asked where they went to preschool!» I listened on. «They wanted to know because they were so well prepared to succeed in elementary school.» She then grabbed my arm tightly and said it again!
I get it!
And I get this preschool. Say all you want about other schools, this one gets endorsed time and again not just by parents, but by teachers who have no stake in the school. If that’s not an endorsement I don’t know what is!

My children have been going to St Clare’s for almost 4 years and we love it. The school is play based, has a great chapel program and loving teachers. My son is in the 4s this year and I am amazed daily with the knowledge he comes home with. St Clare’s has helped with social development, academics, gross and fine motor skills. My son has been well prepared for Kindergarten. We are huge fans of the new playground with no tan bark!

This school is fantastic! I knew I had found the best possible place for my son when I first visited. It had a completely different vibe than the typical cookie-​cutter-​academic-​heavy schools. The teachers are so helpful, friendly and loving. They e-​mail out monthly curriculum, newsletter, tuition reminders and give a little write-​up of his day. This is particularly helpful in getting your young children to talk about school since they never seem to know what to say when you ask, «so, what did you do at school today?»
I love that there are small class sizes, even if the ratio is the same, it is a much calmer environment with a max of 12 kids than 24 with 2 teachers! The classrooms are full of fun, age-​appropriate toys, games and activities. The outside play yard is AMAZING! NO TANBARK! — Thank goodness! They have small play structures on a soft-​cushy floor, little trikes, a big sandbox and tons of fun stuff to play with out back!
I absolutely love this school and I feel so blessed to have found such a warm, loving and fun place for my son to spend his days. He spelled his name for me yesterday and he’s only 3! Oh, and I should mention, the tuition rates are very reasonable in comparison to today’s standards!

My son has been going to St. Clare’s Christian Preschool for over 2 years and loves it there. One thing that attracted us to this school is their focus on «play based learning» and not heavy academics so much except for the pre-​K classes which prepares them for Kindergarten academically and socially.
At 2 – 5 years old, it is more important that the children learn to share, make friends, deal with conflict and find resolutions themselves, learn good from bad and learn to be a good citizen and moral individual. This is the foundation for future education and to create a child that thinks learning is fun. Repeating flash cards and repeating canned answer is not useful for this preschool age or for their brain development.
Don’t get me wrong, they still teach ABCs and numbers and is learning to read and write his name, letters, and numbers.
John Medina’s book called «Brain Rules for Baby: How to Raise a Smart and Happy Child from Zero to Five» is a great book that uses peer-​reviewed research on child brain development to give you some good brain rules for raising your kids. One thing he talks about is how play and empathy is so important. And it also has research that these techniques will raise your child’s IQ and happiness.

We enrolled our daughter since she was three and a half. When we first moved to Pleasanton, we toured at least 5 different preschools in the area and finally decided to enroll our little one there. We were so glad that we made a good decision. Everyone from this school is nice and caring. Our daughter just loves to go to school everyday, and play with her friends and teacher. Although I have not seen her progress a lot academically, her language and social skill have improved dramatically after attending this school. This is actually what we expect for a three-​year-​old to learn in preschool. Now, our little one is ready for the big girl class, and we are hoping she will be kindergarten ready by the end of this school year.

My daughter started here when she was 4 and I wish I started sooner! She LOVES her teacher and the activities that make up her day, plus she
made a ton of new friends that will be going with her to Walnut Grove. This will help even more with the transition to elementary school. She’s really thriving there and learning more than I ever expected. Thanks St. Clare’s!

This is a great school. The teaching staff is friendly and willing to work with parents. They take children as young as 2 years old. They do potty train 2 year olds. It is a nice mix of curriculum and play. There is a nap time which is is from 12:30 — 2:30 for the 2’s and 1:00 — 2:00 for the 3’s and Pre-​K. They never force a child to participate or nap.