Lil' Rascals Academy

I am a teacher, so education is extremely important to me. I have one 3 year old daughter at Lil Rascals, and I am completely satisfied. The two teachers whom she has had while there have shown great care and diligence as to potty training and behavioral intervention, whenever necessary. Teacher-child ratio is good(about 10-1). Ms. Nicola, the teacher for the older two's, is always having them do arts and crafts and sharing pictures of their work and play via Brightwheel. Sonia, the school director, is amazing and has been with the company for many years. She is bilingual and knowledgeable of the field. Both the kids and parents love her! I am a first time parent who stayed home with my daughter for two years after birth. I can tell you, I was extremely concerned about leaving her with people other than family. Within a week, Lil Rascals faculty and staff felt like family. The preschool has VPK, after school care, summer camp, transportation, and other services to meet different parents' needs. Thank you all all at Lil Rascals for a great year!

Extremely disappointed with how this daycare treats children with autism. My daughter, who is autistic, attended this center for 7 to 8 months without any issues. That all changed when a new teacher started. Shortly after, my daughter was triggered something the staff was fully aware could happen given her diagnosis. Instead of addressing the situation with understanding or professionalism, they kicked her out with no effort to resolve the matter or support her needs. The most upsetting part? They refused to give me a refund after abruptly removing her. This place clearly lacks proper training, compassion, and protocols for children on the spectrum. I would not recommend this daycare to any parent of a neurodivergent child.

My daughter attended Lil Rascals Academy in Davie for the first week of school because the school she originally was supposed to go to was Flamingo Elementary with her sister but she was waitlisted. While she was there for one week I noticed that Mrs. Luz wasn't very professional as a teacher's standard should be. She didn't introduce herself to the parents or make the students feel welcomed. She appeared to be overwhelmed and not in control of the group of kids. She lacked compassion and empathy when my child and other children were crying on the first few days. She mispronounced my child's name a few times, which is a red flag for me because if you mistake my child for another's because of similar sounding or pronunciation, that's how children go unaccounted for and missing. My child told me on several occasions that Mrs. Luz ignored her, told her she was "crying for no reason." And to just "be quiet and sit down". My child also told me when the children dont listen and sit down Mrs. Luz puts them in a stool chair in time out. There was no level of warmth or acknowledgement that my child mattered to any of the teachers. I expect a certain level of compassion when dealing with children of this age which I didn't feel. I also felt like she has no real certificate of training as a teacher with a Bachelor's level or higher. She is just simply a day care provider with "nanny" credentials for lack of a better term. The classroom was small and didn't have toys or centers appropriate for ages 4-5 but more for infants. If I knew this was going to be more of a daycare setting I would of kept her home with her father, the whole point of VPK is to have a curriculum to prepare the students for Kindergarten. I also don't like that there is no cafeteria where they can eat in a/c , they have to sit outside in a covered patio area with benches and a small park. With the heat advisory lately this upset me that my child ate outside, uncomfortable and sweaty in FL heat! To top it all off, my child got COVID from this school and at that point she stayed home for 3 days and I got notified from Flamingo Elementary that a seat opened up for her, which I immediately accepted! I am absolutely thrilled she is out of Lil Rascals academy and into a real school. If you want your kid to be taken care of by a babysitter/ nanny then by all means take them here but if you want a real education for your kids and a compassionate environment where they thrive, I recommend sending them to an elementary school in your boundary instead.

I can’t say enough good things about this school and their camps! My son absolutely loves it here, and because of that, I do too. He first attended their spring camp and had such an amazing experience that we enrolled him again for the summer camp—and he couldn’t be happier! There are tons of fun activities and exciting field trips, which keep him engaged and constantly looking forward to each day. We originally chose this camp because two of his close friends were already attending, but what really impressed us was how welcoming and caring the staff are. They’ve created such a warm, comfortable environment that my son feels completely at home. Even though we live in Boca, I don’t mind the drive at all—it’s 100% worth it to see how happy and eager he is to go each morning. This camp has truly been a gift for our family!

I would not recommend this daycare. My daughter started in the infant class when she was three months old. Everyday when I would arrive to pick her up, different teachers would tell me that she “behaved badly”. When asked how a three month old could possibly behave badly, they stated that she had cried a lot and only wanted to be carried… One day when I arrived for pick up, they told me that she had cried so hard that she vomited, but they didn’t call me right when it happened to tell me to pick her up early. Another day that I went to pick her up, her outfit was soaked and she was laying in the crib crying so it was evident that she had been crying for a while. Another red flag, was that the main teacher had constantly referred to an Asain infant in the class as the “Chinese boy”, not by his name and most likely not even knowing if his family is really even from China. I expressed all of these concerns along with other concerns to the director, and then removed my daughter from the daycare. She was only enrolled for about 3-4 weeks.