Young School

The Young School is an amazing preschool, and has done wonders for my son. The curriculum, educators, staff, and facility are all top notch. My son will be more than prepared for kindergarten after his three years here.

We have been extremely happy with our Grandsons learning experiences at the Young School. He has really matured in so many ways.
He started speaking more almost instantly and even more clearly than before. The schedule of Learning and Playtime seems perfect and he thoroughly enjoys going each morning. He even complains when I pick him up too early and he doesn't get to go on the Bike path with his friends! 😄

We love the Young School, for the program instruction, the organized but not stuffy environment, and the loving teaching staff! Our son has attended the Young School for 2.5 years now and we are thoroughly impressed! We highly recommend the program.

I have been continually impressed with the quality of the education, the personality of the teachers, the amount of space (both inside and out) that the children have to play, and - most importantly - how much happiness and growth it has brought to my children. I have had one graduate from The Young School and another start as a newborn infant and wouldn't move them to another daycare for any reason. I highly recommend The Young School to anyone looking for top-notch child care in the area.

We love the Young School, both of our kids go to the King's Contrivance location. We like the educational programs during the academic year, the feedback they provide on our kids' progress, and the freedom to play and have fun independently throughout the day. It's really a step above "daycare" facilities and it truly is a "school." One thing we didn't expect was how they've given our kids structure in the day, from scheduled naps (which are crucial!) to coping mechanisms when things don't go their way, it's been fantastic.

Both of my children have been at this school since the infant care program and I couldn't be happier. The teachers are great with the kids, the optional enrichment programs are wonderful for working parents who don't have time for extracurricular activities, and I have very much found that my kindergartner was well prepared for kindergarten based on what she was taught at the Young School. Communication has been amazing from the daily tidbits to parent boards, to the cottage director emails.

I love that the preschool program allows for older and younger children to learn from each other, as it is a mixed age environment (3-5). The curriculum is play and learning based but children receive more structure as they get closer to kindergarten.

My daughter has been attending the Young School for the past two months and I have loved everything about the school so far. When I first walked through the place, I wanted to enroll myself -- it looked so engaging. Their philosophy is to provide students endless opportunities to interact with the real world. Our daughter plays with a variety of fabrics and mirrors and watches a fish tank. They expose her to books even at this young age. Our main care worker cared enough about our daughter to bring in an outfit for their spring "Butterfly Picnic" where they get to see the release of a bunch of butterflies. It is a wonderful school. I highly recommend.

My son is almost 22-months old, and has been attending The Young School since he was 3-months old. He’s never spent time in another daycare, so my experiences with other facilities is limited to conversations with friends. Overall, I am incredibly pleased with TYS.



Pros:

• Every teacher who has cared for my son has been very loving, caring and nurturing.

• The RIE philosophy - to a first time parent visiting TYS I thought some of their practices sounded odd, and I had my doubts about whether it would be a good environment for my child (no high chairs, no sippy cups, etc.) I couldn’t have been more wrong. The RIE philosophy has helped my son be very self-sufficient, and has shown me that my son is capable of a lot more than I had originally expected. Other parents and family members comment all the time about his ability to drink from a cup and sit at the table for meals from such a young age.

• The teachers keep the children engaged through a lot of hands-on activities.

• The focus on learning through play and exploration has been a wonderful way for my child to develop.

• The size and cottage structure of the school has created an environment that allowed my son to form a close bond with his primary teachers, while giving him exposure to others. Almost every teacher in the school knows my son by name.

• Wonderful outdoor space! Playgrounds, fields, bike paths… I can’t say enough positive things about the outdoor space. We toured five other daycare facilities in the Columbia area and none had outdoor space that compared to TYS.

• Children stay with the same class and teachers for the first two years.



Cons:

• I’ve heard of other schools where technology is used more effectively when communicating with parents: electronic check-in/check-out procedures, electronic access to child’s daily information/activity sheets. TYS currently does this via paper.

• Teacher staffing can be an issue - I’ve heard of teachers being denied sick leave or vacation leave because they were short-staffed. This is rare, but I think they could improve by having on-call, back-up teachers available to cover.



Overall, I would rate TYS with 5 out of 5 stars. My son is thriving and absolutely LOVES to go school in the morning.

I find The Young School to be perfect for my little girl! They were able to train my daughter to use utensils and drinking from a cup (no sippy cups required!). They let us know when things need to be changed to accommodate her new skills or independence. The school plans for activities for all the kids to enjoy. For example, they have water play for all ages (other than infants), circle/ story time, playing with instruments, etc. I cannot wait to have her join the toddler / pre-K program where they have so many classes where she can explore, learn, and have fun!

I feel very fortunate that we found TYS @ Guilford Rd. We have had our daughter there since she was 8 weeks old. Their quality of care is what made me be able to go back to work and not worry about how she was being treated and if she was getting enough attention. The teachers are amazing and are extremely helpful. They even tried to ensure that I got to see the first time she rolled over, took her first step, etc. when I was at work. They really do enable a smooth integration between daycare and home and try to make the communication as easy as possible without requiring meetings – unless desired. I cannot say enough wonderful things about this daycare and the teachers working there.