Academics PreKindergarten Royal City

Thanks Xiaoheng!

My daughter (2.5 yrs at enrolment) has attended full time daycare for the past 3 months at this location and I can already see a positive change in her development. She has learned so much through the different areas of study and play. Amongst the caring staff, she has two fantastic teachers that she instantly bonded with. The school provides nutritious meals and has a safe outdoor space. Everyday I receive a detailed and personal report from the teachers about my daughter’s day, which includes photos of her doing activities. The teachers have been very supportive of her potty training and the facilities are set up for the children to grow with the classroom in this regard. The classrooms and nap areas are always clean and orderly and the learning materials and toys are in great condition. I was very impressed by the recent Winter performance jointly put on by the Academics PreKindergarten schools. The children performed in a full-sized theatre and the show was very well planned, organized and executed. So far this school has met or exceeded my expectations for her daycare needs and I would recommend this daycare without hesitation!

We came here based on a referrals recommendations, and even referred to our own friend. Then everything went downhill with this daycare and it all starts from a bad top management. Sadly we had to withdraw our children and go to a better run daycare.

Over my child’s 1.5 years at this daycare my confidence in the teachers and the management kept going downhills. My review will obviously be quite subjective but I'm going to firstly point out an objective fact about this daycare. Do NOT sign up your kids here if you don't like being locked down in a contract. Each year this daycare will ask you to sign a re-enrollment agreement in April. You will have to pay an additional deposit on top you the one you've already paid. Plus you must agree not to withdraw until July 1. With the 2-full-moth withdrawal notice policy, this means you're locked down until Oct 31. With any sudden change in your life like moving, sickness etc. you WILL lose your deposit! The following are the main reasons why I got my child out of there at all costs. 1. High teacher turnover rate. Very few tenured teachers there. Not only may it have a negative impact on the children, it'll also be difficult to have a consistent activity quality. 2. Teachers show lack of care. My child has autism and ADHD symptoms. This means he has trouble understanding and following instructions. He would be left alone laying on the floor playing with his own toys while the other children were having group activities. The teachers excuses were "we don't want to force the kids doing things they don't like." Surprisingly at the new daycare for 3 only days, I've seen him doing group activities, sitting on the chair playing with the toys. Of course he would still walk away with his own agenda, but the teachers (not just one teacher) slowly redirected him step by step back to where he was. Don’t get me wrong I don’t want him always staying with the group. The key is FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS. The teachers here do not seem to understand this. Their excuse would be they tried and he wouldn’t listen and there are other children they’re looking after. 3. Unsupportive director, bad customer service. Every time I raise concerns to the director. She would reply in a way that makes me feel I was “overreacting”. On Mar 30 and 31, my child had pee accidents 2 days in a roll but the daily reports did not reflect them. I had no way to know when and how they happened or if he had been in the wet pants for some time before changed. I contacted the director on Apr 1 and never got any reply. She also failed to inform me about an accident where a teacher allegedly pulled my child hard from the chair. I heard from another parent (who she informed regarding the same accident) and I got a call from a Licensing officer before her.