Barefoot Preschool

Karen, Gilat, Brenda, and Camille are like family to us now. Karen truly saved our family by creating a spot for our daughter in the middle of the year when my work schedule suddenly shifted. She has such a deep love for children and so much wisdom—every conversation with her about my child felt grounding and supportive. Our daughter absolutely loved her teachers and the environment at Barefoot. The animals, the garden, and the atelier were such magical parts of her experience. She was so happy and engaged, and it made us feel connected to the school in a very community-driven way through playdates, Shabbat, volunteer work, and even camping, which became such a special bonding time with other families. Barefoot is truly unique. I appreciated the opportunities to be involved when I could, but it was also such a comfort knowing that when I was busy, she was still in good hands, surrounded by people who loved her, and having so much fun.

We had our 3 year old daughter going to barefoot after we were displaced due to the palisades wildfire. They have welcome us mid year with open arms, the community at the school is really tight. Our daughter felt comfortable quickly and has enjoyed her time there very much.

I had my son enrolled here in 2021-2022. It was a difficult time coming out of Covid, but they handled it with absolute grace. The staff was generous, caring, and talented. My son is not Jewish, yet felt at home in the space and made friendships that endured after he left. They have an abundance of resources, pets and plants for kids to care for, cooked lunches, and overall a warm and welcoming space. I highly recommend them.

We were lucky enough to find Barefoot during my son's pandemic Kindergarten year when elementary schools were shut down. He attended Barefoot's incredibly safe, nurturing, creative, project-based program a few days a week to supplement his online school experience. He got so much out of his experience that we now think about that year as a blessing in disguise. While he wasn't able to attend his "regular" school, his love of learning was nurtured at Barefoot, and his mind was opened up to so many new experiences. He still asks to visit Barefoot to this day. We are so grateful to the teachers there for providing him with such a supportive and imaginative environment!

Barefoot Atelier is an absolute dream of a school!! I am beyond grateful to have spent 3 magical years at this school and heartbroken to be moving on! Some highlights: (i) Teachers! Consistently warm, kind and nurturing staff. They meet the kids where they are with focus on social emotional development through conversation, discussion of feelings and play. (ii) Kids play hard and get dirty! They garden, paint, craft, cook, dance, sing, yoga, dress up, run around, imagine, create to their hearts’ content. (iii) Nature! Kids are immersed in nature and exposed to the cycle of life, such as through incubation of chicks in eggs, growing them into chickens and now watching them lay their own eggs, caterpillar metamorphosis, caring for a bearded dragon, tortoises and bunnies, gardening and field trips. (iv) Field trips! my daughter has learned and grown through school exploration of the greater LA area, including to Malibu Creek, Red Rocks, the beach, tide pools, the CA Science Center, Natural History Museum, Heal the Bay aquarium and optional weekend school camping trips for the whole family (we participated in Ohai and Malibu Creek – pack of kids having a blast exploring shallow creek habitats, camp fires, s'mores – so much fun for the whole family). (v) Reggio program. Child-led exploration through Reggio-Emilia program builds autonomy and confidence and encourages curiosity. Lessons and then field trips are organized around children’s questions and interests (dinosaurs, outer space, insects, you name it!). I didn’t expect it but my daughter is writing some and well on her way to reading despite having never been forced to sit at a desk to learn lecture-style! (Before finding Barefoot, we spent one week at a school that had 2-year-olds sitting at desks, and limited recesses on a concrete playground -- NOT for us.) (vi) Creative projects. Recently the kids have been focused on the ocean, marine life, and how to solve ocean pollution. Using recycled cardboard materials, they built and decorated an amazing 5-foot-tall coral reef! One of countless examples. (vii) Food. Healthy organic lunch program, snacks and kids get involved in so much of the cooking, making tea and smoothies using herbs and ingredients they grow in the garden (such as recently, pesto pasta!). (viii) Community. The school’s intimate community feels like an extension of our family. Parents are welcome participants to the extent they want to be, joining for celebrations or just popping by to read a story. The school constantly communicates with parents via the app posting dozens of pictures that enable parents to observe the fun, learning and growth daily. (ix) NO SCREENS. ever. (x) My daughter LOVES going to school and LOVES her teachers. I cannot say enough good things about this magical place. A better, more enriching preschool does not exist. Wish I could give 100 stars!!!