Highland Avenue Christian School

We absolutely love Highland Avenue Preschool. The staff is amazing, patient and truly desire to show Jesus to the kids each day. Highly Recommend!!

My son attended during 2014 for two years. We hoped our son would learn about God as well as basics to help prep him for Kindergarten. Neither was accomplished, what they do provide is a safe clean environment and it’s fairly inexpensive. If your looking just for that, then this place will work, they do know how to have fun. The last year he attended, we realized he didn’t know his ABC or basic shapes or counting, simple things that should prep them for Kindergarten. Perhaps the school has changed but just make sure you know what to expect. Ask for curriculum and what will be taught. Check regularly to make sure learning objectives are achieved. This is important because it’s lays the foundation for your kids. I also want to mention it’s a fun place and the people were great. Just wish they had better curriculum.

It took me many many tours to decide on this pre school and even then I was nervous leaving my lil ones. The staff has been nothing but patient and understood my worries as a momma. I'm very thankful for them. My kids teachers are excellent Mrs. Regina and Mrs. destiny are truly wonderful. The front staff from the director and mrs Loretta are just fantastic and never made me feel bad for asking a million question. I highly recommend this school. The staff is educated, compassionate and just great all around.

My daughter attended from July-Dec 2016. When I turned in the enrollment paperwork, I did not sign the form agreeing to the school’s policies because they didn't give me the parent handbook or any information about the policies. I was asked twice to sign the document, and both times I asked to see the policies I would be agreeing to. I was told it would not be available for another month but I needed to sign now anyway. I was told by the front office staff, “all the other parents sign it.” The packet of information I received was so incomplete that I did not know lunch was provided. So for the first couple of days I packed my daughter a peanut-free lunch. On the second day, I was told not to bring food for her anymore. It was made clear to me that no outside food was allowed under any circumstances. However, one day in October, my daughter informed me that she was given a bright purple cupcake that a parent had brought in. I called the school about it and was again told “no outside food.” I asked why cupcakes were handed out. The woman who answered my call said, “well, that was special.” It didn't make sense to me. Also in October I was told I could no longer provide a water bottle for my daughter because of "The State." From then on, whenever I picked her up from school she was thirsty and immediately asked me for water. I have checked with other preschools governed by the same California state regulations and they do not have this policy. In fact, they highly encourage parents to send a water bottle to school with their children to promote independence and prevent dehydration. I chose a Christian school hoping she would gain more exposure to basic, typical Bible stories told to children her age. Instead, she has heard more about Casper the Ghost, elves, and skeletons. She tells me she learned “Jesus is the rock” and about “dry bones” but doesn’t know what any of that means. Her classroom was decorated with ghosts, skeletons, scarecrows, and santas. The final straw was the excessive use of videos to entertain the children. The kids watched TV merely because it was school picture day, Halloween, the week before Thanksgiving, or just because it was relatively cold or windy outside. One day when my husband dropped our daughter off the whole school was watching a video. My daughter asked if she could do work instead. Denied. My husband asked if she could just sit at the table with a paper and pencil. That request was denied too! After all that, we decided to leave the school. I wrote the director a letter and cc-ed the pastor, listing all the reasons we were leaving. Never received any response or apology of any kind. Maybe these kinds of issues don't bother you and it would be a great school for your child, plenty of other people are fine with it. But it definitely didn't work for us.

It's a really great school, my 2daughters are in this school, they really love it and they are happy everyday, the teachers are really nice