Windsor Preschool Academy

It was very difficult for us to figure out the preschool of choice for our daughter. It is always a difficult choice but one made more difficult by 3 major issues:
1) DIVERSE SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT: My husband’s education styles varies wildly from mine: He was taught Montessori and then homeschooled by the same method and I was taught in an extremely academic/​little fun/​lots of competition style of school.
2) EDUCATION WITH FUN: We wanted a school that would fit our child’s very active lifestyle, still let her have fun but also truly prepare her for not just school but life.
3) RESPECT FOR DIVERSITY: We are trying to teach our child the languages from both of us as well as ensure she thrives in the amazingly diverse environment we live in. We have friends that come from all over the world as we both come from diverse backgrounds and were looking for a school that represents how we spend our time as a family with diverse friends and fun relatives.
How the heck can one combine all these 3 challenges and still stay married –you’d ask? Well first off I prepared a Google document of 10+ schools including the Google daycare ranking all 3 factors & how aligned my husband and I were. Misalignment was the word of the day until 1 year ago we went to meet Ms. Shanam.
We both felt that this was the place that people truly care. Ms. Shanam shared how the school draws from SEVERAL DISCIPLINES of child development (Montessori, Reggio Emillia & Scaffolding) so the child discovers the lesson intended in their own way or even better creates their own lesson. Seeing this in action when we first met Ms. Simanti and our daugther hug the teacher after their first full day –This addressed my first concern.
Our daughter has been going to Windsor for the summer and non summer program and I see first hand the EDUCATION WITH FUN piece. We had a picnic to celebrate the start of the new year and she ran into the arms of her professors Sahil & Chris. Whether going on fun fieldtrips each week or reading to dogs or having parents come in to share their culture –education is never boring at Windsor.
Lastly the respect for DIVERSITY is awesome to see taught in a very experiential way. We get together each week as parents in this amazing curated community to hang out, picnic, bbq and I can see how each child is bilingual and bilingual is the new English for Windsor Academy. You hear Hebrew and Hindi and Greek and English and Russian and each language brings forth the culture and it’s great to see children learn respect interactively rather than via a lesson.
Windsor has taught me that the 3 things I looked for can only be trumped by one thing: Teachers & Administrative structure that truly cares. Without love and PASSION for teaching this is but a job and Windsor is clearly a call for all involved. Each teacher contributes something different and really truly cares: Ms. Faith is the definition of kindness, Mr. Sahil has taught me a lot about discipline and setting boundaries and Mr. Chris is not only vastly knowledgable about various school styles but also the teacher that writes down key notes/​activity summaries for children daily. We get to read all that she does in notes each day like her favorite friends and conflict resolution or favorite foods. For someone that travels a lot for work, seeing these notes on how she puts makeup on her professors, and reads to dogs and makes her own art or loves learning new languages (Hindi, Spanish, Sign language) makes this all worthwhile.
Great job Windsor!

This review is difficult to write because it reminds me of how sad I am we are no longer at windsor. I waited over a year for a spot here, and it was well worth every month of anticipation. Unfortunately due to a job change, we had to move further north and my 3year old son had to exit the program after 6 wonderful months.
This was his first out of home care experience, and the staff, especially Sahil, made this transition a loving one for my little guy and for his anxious mama :) having a caring male figure in a preschool room? Amazing! My little boy would talk about the teachers, and friends daily, and still does.
This program is set up as the perfect transition between home and school, built in a beautiful community home with a yard and rooms set up with sensory and learning discovery. A really great curriculum blended to include principles of Montessori, constructivist philosophy, early Piaget like education theory around developing a whole child while offering social skills, preschool education, collaboration and lots and lots of adventure. If you are looking for a place that challenges the idea of young children’s day care, this is it. Anything but ordinary, windsor offered cooking, field trips, nature walks, regular community guests with different cultural experience, reading dogs, supplemental activities like soccer and karate, and the most adorable holiday program I have ever seen.
This is a group of educators committed and in love with what they do. These are educated, bright, energetic people that could do many things professionally, and choose whole heartedly to dedicate themselves to giving your kiddos an environment that I though only existed in my dreams. As soon as you meet with shanam you will feel what I am talking about, her passion oozes out everywhere, and I was floored to find every single member of the team shares this.
The ratio is the best you will find, the meals are homemade, the communication between home and school happens daily and this program provides everything you would hope for and a few things you don’t even realize you wanted :)
I’m in the process of finding something new for my energetic, creative and super verbal little guy and nothing compares.
Call and schedule a tour, you won’t be sorry, your search will be over.

We have been incredibly lucky to have found Windsor. The small, family atmosphere is perfect for our son (he started when he was a little under 3), and we have seen him blossom over the past year.
Big props to the teaching team (Shanam, Leian, Sahil, Tracee, Moon Moon) for creating and maintaining this lovely little school. And of course, we can’t forget Nani, the in-​house grandma whose kind and patient presence really makes the school a home away from home. The teachers write daily notes to parents every day to let them know what their child has been up to, which makes going to school much less of a black box! And the school shares a monthly album of photos online of all the activities in the month, which is great because we can get our son to tell us more about what specifically he did that month.
Some more snippets of what we love:
* Homecooked lunches. The school provides lunches, and everyone gets the same meal, which really helps pickier kids try new things. K always cites Nani’s potato soup as his favorite, which is surprising since he won’t touch potatoes at home.
* Thoughtful planning of mixed age groups. I love how Windsor very deliberately plans out how to enable a mix of ages within the school. For example, at the McKinley facility, in addition to the core group of 3 year old kids, they also usually have 2 – 3 leaders (1 – 2 years older, rotated in from the Mary facility) and a couple afterschoolers (elementary age). K loves playing with the leaders and afterschoolers, and can’t wait to be a leader in a few months.
* Fun holiday activities such as — caroling in the neighborhood in December (imagine a flock of kids going store to store at Mary Manor and serenading folks. The women getting their hair done in the hair salon were highly amused), halloween costume picnic where all families get involved, and so much more.
* Reading dogs every month. This is an incredible program where the school brings in volunteers and their dogs (all of whom are registered therapy animals), and the kids get to read books to the dogs. This really helps students get excited about reading and just learn more about how to interact with animals.
* Nature walks every week. The kids get to go outside, walk around the neighborhood and explore. K always comes back happy about what he got to see at nature walk
* Field trips every month. For example, the kids went to Trader Joes and got the inside tour (I would have loved this even as an adult), the dentist to learn more about dental hygiene, and some of the nearby museums. K looks forward to these with great excitement.
Preschool should be about play, discovery, exploration and socialization, and Windsor has been all that and more for us. I’m hoping they will be able to expand to lower age groups since we have another son who I’d like to introduce to the official Windsor family earlier rather than later!

My older son has been attending Windsor for nine months now, and I couldn’t be happier with the school and his experiences there so far. In my current search for care for my younger son, who is still too young to attend Windsor, I have come to appreciate Windsor even more.
The school does a fantastic job of honoring our son’s individuality while at the same time teaching him how he, as an individual, fits into the bigger picture – his family, school, community, culture and the world at large. He comes home excited about what he’s learned that day without really realizing he is «learning,» as if his newfound knowledge and skills just come to him naturally. Of course he knows all his numbers, colors and shapes, etc., but he can also sing songs in Tagalog, Bollywood dance, do a somersault and dribble a soccer ball. He can read 3– and 4-​letter words, and he’s only three and a half years old. He tells me how worms live in the soil, spiders have bones on the outside of their bodies and places where we might find mosquito larvae. With the amazing patience of his teachers and their resident grandma figure, Nani, he eats all sorts of foods he would never dare to try at home. He reads books to specially trained dogs once a month (the Reading Dogs program) and goes on nature walks and field trips regularly. He loves all his friends there and his teachers, too. And when I ask him what he did at school each day, his answer is always simply, «I played.»
On paper, the school looks great – wonderful philosophy, open lines of communication, interesting curriculum and field trips, etc. – and I know in my heart it’s the right place for him by how excited he is to run inside every morning.
Keep up the great work, Windsor! I will be putting my younger son on the wait list as soon as he’s old enough! :)

When a child leaves her home for the first time, she cries and is anxious. The parents are more nervous/​anxious. My worries were put to rest the day I dropped my daughter off at the first day of school.
Windsor Academy II was the most amazing amalgamation of home & school environment my child could have. It not only took her just a couple of days to settle but also, like & imitate her Teachers Leian and Teacher Sahil. She loved being in school, the food, the grandma who was a part of school.
Over the next few months my daughter– developed inter personal skills made «best friends». Learnt alphabets/​numbers/​phonics.
The school has a fantastic curriculum, learning from play — each week is a theme of learning something with games, coloring, field trips all revolving around the learning of that week. They consistently updating pictures of all their activities. It gives a feel of what the child is doing at school.
Parent teacher liaison is fantastic with a Parent teacher community, with a daily dose of what your child is up to on a written communication manual. I am happy to be associated with Windsor Academy II. There were many times the teachers went out of the way to help us out.
Teacher Leian and Teacher Sahil have had a great impact on her personality, which will remain with her all her life. Cause kids this age are like clay, we can shape them in any way or form and the school is doing a fantastic job.
We highly recommend this school and its program.