Very good school. Ms Terry is great as a principal. And the teachers are really caring and work a lot towards the betterment of...  Read More

Very good school. Ms Terry is great as a principal. And the teachers are really caring and work a lot towards the betterment of the kid. The last year or so has been a really great experience for my son and I would highly recommend this place.  Read Less

My daughter was 2. 5 when she began at this school and stayed for one year. She was in the 3 half day program. I pulled her out...  Read More

My daughter was 2. 5 when she began at this school and stayed for one year. She was in the 3 half day program. I pulled her out as soon as I found another school for the reason I am writing this review. If I had seen this review when I was searching like you maybe I would have re-considered or at the very least talked to the teachers about the issues below and see what they said. I give Challenger 2 stars only as my daughter did not complain, enjoyed going to school and was happy when she came out. And really, the staff was always friendly. But, this school simply was not what I thought it would be. During the open house, they told us they teach through songs as they learn letters, use work sheets that the children color in, trace or match pictures to help them learn the alphabet, numbers etc. The flat screen TV's that played the iTunes type list of music, and the class room all looked fun, and both my husband I felt it all sounded wonderful and that if my daughter enjoyed coming here, that is all that mattered. Wrong. The 3 main reasons I pulled her out -1) Lack of socialization - (my daughter is very social! ) I loved the ethnic diversity, but, noticed after 1 year sadly, in our case, the ethnic diversity was working against us. After repeatedly asking with whom she played that day or who her best friend is or did she want to invite anyone home, she always said no. A light bulb finally went off in my head and after observing, most of the children went off on their own or played in their similar ethnic group until lesson time where they had to sit and do their work sheets or some art work. Yes, they did have play time in the back play yard and yes, they come home with some art work and yes, they did learn songs hence my daughter was most days happy at Challenger. But, I feel she simply adapted to this situation and I did not want her to enter Kindergarten ill prepared academically OR SOCIALLY. 2) Lack of teacher parent communication. There was really never any communication in my case. What I was told when one day I asked the front desk if everything was o. k. with my child, I was told "if you don't hear from us about your child, then they are doing well in the program'. And that was that. I stupidly accepted this response as my daughter was happy and I had no other place to send her. Occasionally I saw the teachers when they would take my daughter in or out of  car or at a school event, but, it was all smiles and they skirted talking about the children except to say all is fine. Your child is wonderful. But, nothing deeper. A friend over heard the office telling a parent "If you want to know more how your child is doing you are welcome to come and observe as long as you like any day".  We did receive my daughters annual report and it gave us absolutely no idea of how she was doing. They told us she could do this or could not do that, but compared to what? It left us simply annoyed and how detached we are from the teachers. One thing they put on the sheet was she could not catch a ball. WHAT? So, is every child this age able to catch a ball, how many times did they try, should I be getting help for this? The report was silly. I get that it is about motor skills, but, nothing of what they checked or marked or wrote gave any idea if our daughter was below average, average or ahead. No personal notes how they felt my daughter was doing or anything. 3) This is a small reason, however, something that made me uncomfortable. A few months ago I asked my daughter to do something she did want to do, she told me "You get a big X mommy'! I asked her why and she told me "because what you said is wrong". At least at the Saratoga location, the work sheets come home with 'X' if they did not do the work sheet correctly. So if the child has to circle the pictures that begin's with the letter they are learning that day and circle the wrong one, they put a big 'X'. It never, really bothered me, but, when you put all of the above together, I decided I did not want this strict structure for my daughter. She has lots of friends at her new school, I am organizing play dates with other moms and talk to the teachers every day and THEY talk to ME! :-) If interested the following link came from Greatschool. com on what makes a great pre-school - wish I saw this before. greatschools.  Read Less

My child is in her second year at this school. The teachers and the staff have been wonderful. My daughter has never had any he...  Read More

My child is in her second year at this school. The teachers and the staff have been wonderful. My daughter has never had any hesitation about going to school in the mornings as she always looks forward to it. The curriculum is good and I feel that I'm getting my money's worth. I think my child will be well prepared for kindergarten thanks to Challenger.The facilities are nice and I like the fact that the classrooms have bathrooms in them. The playground is safe and fairly well covered from the sun. Why did I only give 4 stars? Well, the only con/downside I have is the ethnic mix. I would like to see a bit more diversity in the classroom. In a classroom of 15 children, 11 are of Indian decent. Not a big deal but I'd like to see more diversity.All-in-all, I'm happy about having had my child go to Challenger.  Read Less