Stepping Stone School Xvii

My daughter started stepping stone Hyde park in July! At 8months. Kaitlynn and her team have been awesome, patient, and courteous to me. They really make you feel comfortable and my daughter loves them. Stepping stone makes things as easy as possible by providing meals ( and GOOD MEALS) and making this an all around experience for us parents not to worry. A lot of the staff have children and I’ve noticed that they care for our children as if they were their own and provide great care. I really appreciate at them cause WHEW being a new mom is not for the weak. we have to remind ourselves they care for our children each day and be grateful for places like stepping stone.

- gave my son dairy after being informed of an allergy, asked me if it was an intolerance at pick up, but did not mention giving it to him. (Today) - rarely answer the phone, even after calling me and leaving no voicemail (the past 3 months) - when told this was unprofessional, the school said it was my fault for not being immediately available to pick up (2 months ago) - after lost my tuition check for two weeks but then still charged me late, which impacted my finances significantly due to lack of clear communication after me being in the hospital during this time (1 month-2 weeks ago) - teachers suggested we begin potty training and then stopped doing it at daycare while I maintained trying at home, leaving things inconsistent and harder on me and my son without communicating with me past updating the tadpole app (today) - teachers are usually overwhelmed and busy, making it difficult to check in with them about how his day was without feeling like you are taking away from the other kids care (past 3 months) - do not recommend this location. Other locations (shoal creek, the one two streets down) seem fine. I had my daughter at shoal creek, and my son I have intent to transfer without returning past to get his items.

My 4-month-old son is always happy when we drop him off at Stepping Stone Hyde Park. This morning he was smiling & reaching to be held by his teacher. The principal, Denise, and the infant teachers are wonderful. My son has learned a lot in their care. It gives me peace of mind to see him so happy at drop off! I appreciate that the teachers use the Tadpoles app on the iPads to track feeding, naps, diaper changes & send us pictures. The app is very helpful to know how his day went and when to feed him at home once we pick him up. I drop my son off late, but when I do, the other babies in his class are happily playing with a variety of toys, napping, or being fed. My son loves their soft books so I need to buy some for him to play with at home.

We've had some ups and downs over the years, but ultimately our daughter loves her teachers, and the curriculum has been great. Reading another review that was negative talked about issues with putting them in other diapers not provided by the parents which is true, and everything that review mentioned has unfortunately happened to us but I genuinely feel it's due to a lack of staffing which I fear every daycare is facing. An example would be the inaccurate reports in the parent app where they report 3oz offered, 3 oz given when we're bringing 5oz bottles. I figured it's probably better they're focusing on watching the kids rather than updating an app, but I would love if there was time for them to improve their daily reports. They have always loved my girls and tell me stories about their day at pickup. The older classrooms don't have the problem with the app as much. The lack of staffing leads to having classes that many times combined in order to meet daycare ratio guidelines and that means my child may not be in in a classroom with their own diapers readily available. I feel this campus does the best they can with the resources they have. We've gone through at least 5 principals in the 3 years we've been there. The current principal, Robin has been the most genuine and helpful so far. Alicia is my daughter's teacher and she provides great updates when I'm able to see catch her at drop off/pickup. We get multiple pictures sent daily which we love. Overall there's room for improvement but my girls are fed and taken care of so I will continue to keep my girls there. My daughter is also extremely bright, loves singing, has developed strong friendships and I feel like a lot of her personal growth is due to the work and curriculum at Stepping Stone.

Our two year old daughter has been enrolled at Stepping Stone Hyde Park since she was about 3 months old. We have been very pleased with their staff and programming. Teachers seem very interactive and seem to care about their work. Several of the teachers have worked at this location since our daughter was an infant. Staff are communicative and easy to get in contact with. We get daily written, and photo / video updates. We are expecting another baby and plan to enroll our soon to arrive child at stepping stone as well. Highly recommended!