Challenge School

I didn’t want to write a review until my son graduated so I can give an honest assessment without fear of repercussions. After two years of preschool there, my husband and I both feel like we made the right decision.
We had a nanny for my son from birth to 3+. When we moved from the South Bay to San Carlos, we thought it was time to transition him. The first 2+ weeks were tough. He cried everyday when I dropped him off, which, believe me, is totally normal. It would’ve been odd for him to leave you without being upset…
Fortunately, we had a loving teacher who held him and assured him everything would be okay. After a couple of weeks, he was fine and felt confident that I would return to pick him up at the end of each day.
Our first year was good but not perfect. The school was going through some transitions and there were quite a bit of teacher turnovers. Nonetheless, I felt my son was well taken care of by loving teachers.
The second year was FANTASTIC. Teacher Kim and Teacher Amy lead a group of wonderful teachers who were patient and skillful at educating squirmy little preschoolers. And not a single turnover during the entire year — potential sign of a good school that treats its teachers well. My son started to learn the sounds each alphabet makes and I supplemented the learning process with Bob Books. The teachers definitely prepared him to read.
The best though were the add-​on enrichment classes: piano and abacus. My son has taken piano for about a year now, and is progressing wonderfully. Teacher Allison is fantastic and patient. Abacus classes were a little pricey but actually worth every penny. My son can now do basic math in his head and can do two digit additions with the help of an abacus. Best investments ever and highly recommend.
Challenge School is a good mix of Chinese and American style of education. They are not entirely play-​based but are definitely more structured than American preschools. (Each child is given their own Chinese workbooks that the school publishes. School publishes weekly lesson plans.) Having said that, the teachers are a bit more loving and relaxed than a Chinese school because, after all, these are little kids and feeling confident and loved should be just as important.
We are now enrolled in the summer camp program before transitioning to kindergarten in August. I feel confident that my son is more than prepared to go into K with reading, writing, and math. He is also loving his summer camp (some of the programs sound so fun!). We will also be starting the after-​school program in Belmont in August. I will write a review after a year or two there.

My lil guy has only been with Challenge School for 2 months but he/​we Love Teacher Sia and the Caterpillar class teachers! I’m a stay at home mom so I get to drop in any time to check in and I have to say the few times I did I was very happy. The teachers are awesome and do amazing work with the kids. Can you imagine a class with 2.5 & 3 year olds. The patience that the teachers have amazes me. I love seeing the smile on my lil guys face when I come to pick him up. Thank you Caterpillar teachers. We truly appreciate all of you!

Justin started in this preschool in Feb 2014. My son loves going to school. He wants to go every day even on the weekends. Great teachers and staff.

My daughter started school here when she turned 2 so she has been here for over a year. I love the school and the diverse faculty administrators. I know I have made the best choice for her when she looks forward to going to school and enjoys the activities that teachers have planned for her in school.

Challenge School is run by real professionals. Their administration process is very efficient and they are very nice and caring to the children. We also really love their campus — sunny rooms, clean, with real grass out in the play area! The executive director, Grace, really tries to work with parents to help get their kids situated and placed in the school. Class size is also intimate. If you have any doubts, you should definitely make an appointment to visit the school and check out their great, clean, sun-​filled campus environment!

My daughter’s been attending Challenge School for a little over a year and she loves it! The teachers have helped her to become more independent and helped build her English AND Mandarin vocabulary. When she first started, she could hardly express herself and she didn’t know how to share. Now, she expresses herself with lots of new words and sentences and she’s got a lot of little friends who she loves. We’re hoping to have our baby brother join in the fun this year! By the way, with all the news that you hear or read from the media, you can’t help but be super cautious before picking a school. I’m one of those parents that runs extensive researches and background checks on a school before making my decision so for me to pick Challenge School, it tells you how much I like the school. LOL. I would highly encourage and recommend this school to any parent who wants a great learning and fun environment for their kids.

I ditto the previous review. This school has the best trained teachers and staff. They are all warm hearted and really care about the kids. I send both of my boys there for their full day program and I can’t be any happier with them. Both of my boys are thriving there both socially and academically. Everyday they come home happily and tell me how much they learned from school that day. I am amazed at how much Chinese they picked up every week. My two boys actually start to have conversation in Chinese between themselves, what a surprise! In my opinion, their program is well structured between Chinese and English, the kids will never get bored. If you are looking for a Chinese immersion program for your kid, I would highly recommend this school with no hesitation!