Kiddie Academy of Burlington

I have sent my 3 kids to KA Burlington since 2018 and the youngest one is still going there. We love the staff at KA who are very professional, compassionate and involved with the kids. The premise is always clean. Their curriculum is designed to fit a child's early education needs and while they take care of early academics, they also work hard to keep the kids healthy through their own meals program (breakfast, lunch, snacks provided). My kids always return home happy and content. Current teachers like Ms Mikhaila, Ms. Nancy, Ms. Grace are amazing not just with kids but also with parents. I was reading through the Google reviews and was surprised by some of the negative comments. All these years I never had any bad experience where I felt my kids were neglected or not treated properly. (and I am NOT related to the KA owners or the staff). I understand some of the previous staff / management members were difficult to deal with, and I had my share with them as well. However, that never reflected on the care they provide to the children at the facility. They are more flexible and accommodating compared to other facilities like Primrose or Goddard, while providing the same level of quality childcare. I have seen the teachers going above and beyond to take care of the children. Few years ago, my daughter accidently hurt herself while playing and her teacher (Ms Kathy) was carrying her most of the day to soothe her. I often see them holding the kids (specially the infants, toddlers) to comfort them instead of just calling the parents for early pickup which most places will do.

My younger kid stayed here for almost one year. There are kind teachers if you have good luck, but not all of them: I saw one teacher pushed him rudely. The management was poor: my kid got moved to another room without any notification and the director handled the communication with parents badly. I will not recommend this place to any families, even though the location is convenient and tuition is reasonable. There is a reason why it's cheaper and there's no waiting list.

Both of my kids go here, with the oldest about to graduate. My husband and I both love Kiddie Academy! All of the teachers and office staff are very professional and have always treated both of our kids like they are their own. They are always super flexible with our needs and always very responsive (both through phone and email). They are always thinking of fun activities for the kids and always finding new ways to keep them engaged, and I love that they provide all the meals and snacks. With Covid, they were always very professional with coming up with protocols and procedures and sticking to them! Tina and Steph who work in the office are basically super heroes, they do an excellent job of running the daycare, and making everything seem seamless, and also do an amazing job of keeping parents updated on any relevant information. The facilities themselves are also very modern, clean and welcoming - there is also a very nice outdoor play area (one for bigger kids and one for the smaller kids). Definitely worth checking out! I can't imagine trusting anyone else with my kids :)

(The original post was posted 5 years ago, hopefully things have changed?) First of all, inside scoop about the reviews: Most of them are NOT a reflection of the school, but a show of respect and loyalty for the family who owns the school (we've never met them, they were never on the premises). Other handful of the reviews are solicited by the directors from the few parents they happen to get along with, and those same parents reviewed in several places. Our two kids spent 1 year in this place. We started at Kiddie when we moved to the area, and our current daycare was too far for the commute. The previous daycare was our first experience and we thought it was norm to be a part of the team of caring for our kiddos, involved in their upbringing, discussing successes and strategizing together with teachers to resolve problems. And then we joined Kiddie, impressed by the ratings; the food and the cameras were a huge bonus. Kiddie Academy was a rude awakening. In Kiddie, a parent is not a part of a caring team, they are the enemy. The management does not support parent-teacher communication, or any steps to bring the school community together. Things you will never know: - There are no evaluations, no feedback (tadpoles are super confusing, and nobody knows what all the abbreviations mean there), you will never know how your child is doing. - You will never know if there is anyone who is sick in the classroom, they will keep it very quiet until all the children in the class go thru the virus/etc. Cameras are great, and we loved peaking at our little ones during the day. But they can't help with the things you can't hear. Our older kid is a chatter box, and the things we had to "UN-TEACH" are(straight out of our kid's mouth): - "There are boys colors and girls colors" -"I don't want to be a teacher anymore because Ms. Lauren said teachers don't make much money" - "English is the only language I'm allowed to speak" (later learned that was directed to the group of Chinese kids. Too much to unpack here) - "Ms. Danielle said we can't paint the unicorn because I'm wearing a pretty dress and she doesn't want me to get it dirty. So she pained it herself during our nap" - (after we left the school) "i miss X and Y, but i'm glad the boys don't make fun of me anymore" (apparently she was consistently bullied by a group of boys who made fun of her hair, and nobody EVER noticed) The director team Tina and Heather are the most unprofessional, condescending team who treated me and my husband with an eye roll for every question, not to mention an issue, we've ever had. That became very frustrating, and grew into the need for several official meetings to resolve the issues and the awkward dynamic that grew from it. We got a lot of lip service, like the other parent who reviewed Kristy's bullying behavior, saying that they always have good intentions, and everyone is well-qualified, etc, but in practice, that proven to be not true. Within exception of a handful of teachers, the new hires especially looked like acts of desperation for extra hands. Most certainly did not showed skills of an educators. With all that said, if you child is an infant or under 2 years old, and your kids is lucky enough to join the class with Angelisa and Julia (infant room) or Alyssa and Tiffany (transitional room), your kid is in magical golden hands. Alyssa especially and Tiffany are SIMPLY AMAZING and a reason why this school isn't getting 0 stars. My boy misses them greatly. These teachers are great people and these ones, along with two other teachers from a preschool room (one who always wears a hairband and one with short hair, can't remember their names now, as my kids we not in their class), they seemed to really care about the kids and the work they were doing with them. Final word: When we left, we felt relieved like after a good barf. The teachers and directors don't treat everyone like this, they are very inconsistent and play favorites with kids. Maybe yours will get lucky?...

We really like Kiddie Academy. My daughter has a great time at school and talks about her friends and teachers often. The facility is always very clean. I love that they have an outside area for the kids to play and burn some energy. Overall, this is a great facility for kids. ~Thank you!