Ellwood Daycare - Edmonton

First of all, you can't judge a daycare based on good or bad online reviews, obviously. You have to see for yourself and see if your family "meshes" with the facility style. This family-owned daycare is very formal. They don't call me by my first name, for example, and the kids call the staff Teacher Jane, etc. and they wear scrubs. Most of the staff are college-educated registered nurses and teachers from the Philippines. I personally feel better knowing my kid is being taken care of by professionals. As a group, they are older and seem inifinitely more patient with the kids than I've seen at other daycares. They are very warm with the children but don't put up with kids' fighting and whining, etc. To deal with this, I've observed that they're good with re-directing and distraction, and I've never seen anyone in time-out. On the other hand, I don't see kids crying off by themselves for very long. Someone always comes over quickly to give hugs or involve them in a game or whatever. My kid keeps coming home singing new songs, and she knows all the names of the teachers and her friends. She always comes home relaxed and happy, with her hair tidier than it is at home, I'm ashamed to say. I know when it's been one of her favorite lunches because she's too full to eat dinner. It's a relatively new facility, and they keep improving, adding new features (like the hot lunch) and new playground equipment, etc. As I said, you have to check out the facilities yourself. For families who prefer an informal day-home situation, it might seem a bit more structured. It made us feel comfortable, though, and it worked out very well for us.

One of the worst and Unprofessional behaviour from owner/Director. Would never never never recommend this to any parents. My wife and I visited this daycare and day 1 he was very happy and pleased that our baby will join his day care. Same day we deposited the reservation $200 and he told us our 10month old baby can join from February onwards because they have some visitors coming who will check all paperwork and after that visit our son can join the day care. When in January we went he said no visit didn’t happen so you son can join in March 3rd. On our 2nd visit we met the lady owner (His wife : Virginia) she was so rude and started Yelling on her husband that why did u accept the part time where its so expensive for them to hire teacher to take care of babies. She made him so embarrassed in front of everyone. But anyways we came in to that agreement that our Son can join on March 3rd 2020. Later we got call again on Feb 4th  that not on March 3rd he can Join from March 6th we said ok anyways. So today February  7th they call that they don’t have vacancies and they gave us cheap price so they can’t take our child and will give our refund. We were so frustrated and angry on their behaviour or unprofessional attitude. Comeon we reserved the spot 3 months in advance and at very last moment when we were so relax for our son to join back they refused to take it. Today when we went to day care to meet him he said if you want your son spot in March you have to pay $250 extra. He was all together a different personality and arrogant too. Don’t know who was he talking to over phone in his language I couldn’t understand at all. But looks like it he was following the directions from his wife. For all parents i would recommend never go for this day care. I can go on and on on this but not worth it.

This is a response to the review regarding our apparent poor customer service over the phone. Let it be known that when this person called, he was already booked to come for a visit. My mother, Virginia (also the owner and director), has made it her policy that we do not stay on the phone for too long as we ought to be with children. Our children are our utmost priority. Still, this person insisted to ask irrelevant questions and kept wasting my mother's time. We are familiar with other daycare centers' tactic to front as parents wanting to enroll their children when, in fact, they are trying to spy on their competition. My mother might have appeared rude towards this supposed particular customer, but she was not being unreasonable. Our work speaks for itself. We are very proud of the work that we do. We are happy to collaborate with other daycare centers within sound professional bounds. But we cannot be faulted for protecting our business.

To be honest the 1 star review is already being generous. This daycare was nothing as we expected. We enrolled our 2 year old here because of how much closer it was to home. The grass is definitely not always greener on the other side. Don't get me wrong, the facility was clean to say the least. A lot of the amenities seem new. Our biggest problems were with the personnel and how they treated us as parents. Unable to meet our expectations it was them who requested we remove our son from their sevice. If this review sounds spiteful and petty well there's a reason. I'm open to speak more about it but the 1 star should speak for itself.

Our daughter has been going here for a year now and she loves it. Shes well taken care of by all her teachers and cant wait to get there every morning. I know shes in good hands when I leave her every morning and she thrives with the schedule. Very happy with there care.

My son has attended Ellwood Daycare for four years. Our experience has been very positive. Approachable and caring staff, clean and stimulating environment. My son is always excited to tell me about the new things he learns each day. The outside play space is big and open. Unmatched in the area. Highly recommend.

My kids have been attending this daycare for a few years now. The staff have become like family. Highly recommend this daycare. I can leave knowing my kids are well looked after. They are safe, happy and have so much fun with all the activities.

Very honest and humble family owned Daycare, it's sad to see my daughter leave as she will be with her grandparent's care. She always felt safe and comfortable with them. She will miss them dearly as they take care of the children as if it's family. They focus on behavior and learning skills. As parents with a very fast pace lifestyle we do worry where we leave our kids and here at Elwood I always felt great leaving her behind. I wish this place nothing but success and hope the city our govt can start funding Daycares like this properly so parents don't have to pay a fortune. Also don't bother reading the bad reviews they are all from competitors of other daycare owners which obviously you need to stay away from(fake google reviews)