Montessori School At Five Canyons

It’s a shame that I have to write this negative review of this school. I know all the teachers are great and we will miss them. The problem with this school is the owner/​director. She lies, cheats, and tries to intimidate the parents to get more money… it’s all about money! We were penalized for withdrawing from the school, even though we followed the parents handbook by giving a 30 day notice. Then the director sent us harassment letters about our son. I don’t know where she learned her way of treating people (treating people like idiots to be exact) but it won’t work in the long run…

At Montessori School at Five Canyons our daughter has been thriving. The teachers are experienced and trained in knowing when to allow the children to discover their own solutions to challenges or when to provide gentle guidance. Our daughter came to the school a year and a half ago at the age of three afraid to make mistakes or try new things. She has been encouraged to explore and grow at her own comfortable pace and that has given her so much confidence. She now comes home every day excited to have learned new things or tested new skills. They integrate many subjects into the curriculum such as astronomy, anatomy, geography, art history, nutrition and social justice, just to name a few. In a short time, my daughter has learned to read and her social skills have improved dramatically as well as her ability to focus and problem solve. Equally important however, she has a ton of fun there whether it’s playing outside, helping take care of the classroom pets, gardening, making artwork or singing in music class. Although we are particularly pleased and impressed with her current teachers, Ms. Sarah and Ms. Mimi, all of the teachers and staff at Five Canyons have been kind, compassionate, friendly and communicative. This speaks volumes about the school’s director, Ms. Meher, who’s vision and leadership have created such an outstanding preschool. Oh, and by the way, before we enrolled in December of 2014, we toured and researched half a dozen other Montessori preschools in the east bay. We wanted a school with a diverse mix racially, culturally, GLBT families, & socio-​economically. We have found M5C to be such a welcoming and supportive environment for our family and we couldn’t be happier with our decision to send our daughter there.

We cannot be thankful enough for this school. Our child has been here since she was 3 ½, and has flourished under their care. The most important things to us — she is happy, noticed by the teachers, and she is safe. Every day, we feel this is the case. She is supervised well and yet allowed to work out her problems and find her own solutions — figure out how to be frustrated and still move forward. She is calm and happy every day when we pick her up, and excited to go to school. If she is having an issue, the teachers address it immediately, calmly, and continuously until it is resolved, and always let us know what is happening. I am so thankful for everyone — the teachers, the office staff, everyone — it is hard to leave your child in the hands of others, but this place I have no hesitation!

My husband and I found this school for our 18 month old, and we started him there as soon as we moved to Castro Valley (from San Francisco). We’ve been very impressed with the level of education and the professionalism of the staff. Frankly, I have never witnessed anything negative like some of the one-​star reviews here suggest. In fact, our son is more well behaved than when he started. He’s extremely social and active, and he’s learning in leaps and bounds. He comes home every day with new vocabulary, he’s starting to sing, and he can already count to ten on his own. He’s now just a little over two years old. TWO!
The educational program is well structured with the children rotating into a new classroom once they turn 2, 3, 4, etc. When our son needs special attention, he gets it. We’ve worked with the staff on consistent language around discipline; and, it’s working. We’ve been very happy with the more open-​ended and practical approach to education that allows a student to explore and learn on his/​her own. There are always lots of activities being presented, too. He’s excited to show us things he’s learned at school when we arrive to pick him up.
One of the parents reviewing this school complained that parents are asked to volunteer with the school. REALLY?! If anything, we’d like to be even more involved. We love providing snacks and engaging the other children, parents, and staff. This has been a very positive and rewarding experience for our son. The staff and school population are diverse with respect to race and ethnicity, gender, religion, etc., and that’s very important to us. Best of all, the tuition here costs us less than daycare in the city! Thanks, M5C.

Expensive
Scam on tuition
Lots of holidays
Very bad attitude both director and the assistant

This place is a scam. Consider yourself warned. You should stay away.
I signed up my kid @ this school and they made me sign a 1-​year contract. Little did I know… in order to stop going, there is a ONE MONTH PENALTY. I wanted to pull my kid out after 4 months due to being very unhappy with them — and they came after me relentlessly for a ONE MONTH CHARGE as a get out of jail fee.
I tried to reason with them and challenged the rule, but the owner threatened collection if I don’t pay. Their attitude turned 360 (as compared to when you were enrolling, of course). In the end, I paid but WHAT A SCAM!!!
Now… on why I wanted to pull out my kid:
1) Curriculum is so-​so. Kids are often spread out and «encouraged to do their own thing» (i.e. the teachers aren’t doing much)
2) Parents have to work at this place — they all it «Parents Work Party». As a parent, I’d like to be involved but helping out should not be mandated as (a) I work full time, and (b) I pay A LOT of money to being my child here. For these «work parties», you are OBLIGATED to work for 2 weekends to help school paint, clean, pull weeds, etc. mmm… what is tuition for? I have enough work at home already!!! What a joke. Oh yeah, in case you’re wondering, these are laborious chores, not to be disguised by having fun as they call these «parent work parties».
3) Parents have to take turns and provide snacks or the class. Again, why then the high tuition? And yes, some parents bring junk.
4) Anything and everything you request would cost EXTRA.
5) Office is unprofessional and unorganized. There is no formal invoicing. «Invoices» are done on a «pulled out piece of scratch paper» and owner will «sign to verify» the piece of paper is from the office.
This place is only good at one thing — - Signing you up (aka taking your money).
I guarantee you — everything is downhill after that.
All the 5-​star reviews are a joke on this «business». Oh yeah, that’s your tuition at work too… they’re obviously paying someone to scrub the bad reviews.

My oldest daughter has been at M5C for three years and my youngest just started in September. What a wonderful school! Not only are they happy and joyful when they go to school and return, but the information they share with us at the dinner table about their day just amazes me.
The curriculum is challenging them to be independent and find their own path toward problem solving. Montessori is not for every family — but it’s a great fit for mine. The teachers are warm, open and amazing. And the special events they host for children and their families to build community is much appreciated.
Excellent school — highly recommend for families looking for a first school experience for their kids that is positive, nurturing, and whole-​child focused.

I went to tour this school for my 3 year old and the first look can be deceiving. This is a beautiful school with so much potential but the staff are a turn off. The director is rude and inflexible. I have wanted to like this school because of the location and the fact that it’s one of the few montissori schools in Castro Valley. But the director is so intimidating so I’d hate to imagine how she’d treat my child. She was constantly telling kids what not to do on the tour. The secretary is always rushed and cold and this is a big turn off. Most parents I have talked to who interviewed this school feel the same way.

My younger daughter went here for 1 school year. I had limited options bc she wasn’t potty trained — but of all the places I toured, I liked this one best. If I could rate the individual teachers, Ms. Marta would be 5 stars. She seems highly competent, caring and warm. Miss Sarah was also consistently friendly. However, there were many things I did not like about the school that ultimately made me feel like we had to make a change. Things got off to a bad start to begin with. We picked an enrollment date and I submitted payment. THEN i learned that I was supposed to phase my daughter in 1 hour at a time. This should have been made clear from the start. I am a working parent — and I don’t have time to spend 10 days slowly introducing my child to your site. I understand this is their way –and they want to make it easier on my child — but you need to make that clear. Another thing I found VERY misleading was how they advertised their hours/​rates. The hours they had posted — you can’t actually send your child there for those rates — the rates include 8 – 9 hours.(can’t remember) Again, for a working parent — this was next to impossible. They also made you commit to a specific schedule. Most preschools are open during a set number of hours — and if you pay for full time tuition — you can drop off and pick up anytime during those open hours. Not here. This just added one more layer of difficulty in working with them. Next, my daughter’s only issues with diaper rash were while she attended this school. They made weak attempts to wipe her– and it literally showed. Next, I had to hunt for my child’s belongings almost every day. Her lunch bag would be outside but her sweaters and socks could be found anywhere –other kids’ cubbies, other classrooms — who knows. I could have over looked all of this — but what I really hated was some of the teachers’ attitudes. My daughter’s main teacher didn’t arrive until 9. So if I dropped my daughter off at 8:30 — she would need to be with another classroom. That assistant teacher would not even acknowledge my child and act exasperated and annoyed that she had more kids to watch. Well — I am paying someone to watch her during these hours — so if you don’t like the ratio — you should talk to your boss — not give parents attitude.
Ultimately, I don’t think the Montessori method was for her. She has been thriving in a play based environment. My only regret in pulling her was how sad my daughter was never to see Ms. Marta again.

We initially came to Montessori Schoool at Five Canyons when our oldest daughter was two. She had just been moved to the «two year old room» at another preschool and it was horrible. We were frantic to find her another preschool immediately. I toured the Montessori school and when I entered the first classroom I couldn’t believe my eyes. The children (2 – 3 yrs old) were peacefully going about their routine which included cleaning up their work and preparing for lunch. I immediately noticed the shelves all stocked with creative, stimulating, age appropriate items throughout the room. I was in awe. We immediately enrolled our daughter and she was placed in a class of 6 children with a very loving, caring teacher who helped make her transition successful. She progressed through the different rooms as she grew and got older. My older daughter had some issues with transitions in general and the teachers worked with my daughter and I to help us through it. My daughter felt safe, secure, and happy to be at the school which was a huge relief to me when I was at work.
Our second daughter entered this school at 18 months and the transition was fantastic. She was familiar with the school and many teachers already which made it easy. She also flourished in this school and came home talking about things I never would’ve expected at the preschool level (e.g. anatomy, solor system).
Both of our daughters were at this school until 5 years old. They both learned a lot about responsibility, independence, and cooperative play. They gained self-​confidence and were enriched by the strong curriculum. They both entered kindergarten VERY well prepared. I feel fortunate to have found this amazing school and our daughters both benefited tremendously. I highly recommend this school to anyone looking for a caring, stimulating, peaceful environment for their child.

We sent our older daughter to the Montessori of five canyons for 3 years while we lived in Bay area. We really liked the warmth of the teachers at this school as well different activities this school offers for different age groups.
Our daughter loved going to this school and learnt a lot during the three most important years of her childhood. We moved out of bay area just before she was about to go to kindergarten and even now while she is attending one of the best elementary schools here, she still remembers her montessori five canyons school and misses her teachers and her friends.
We have a younger son and if we stayed in Bay area, we would have sent him as well to this montessori school.
This school will always hold a special place in our heart along with our daughter’s childhood memories.

When we were looking for a pre-​school for our older daughter we spent a lot of time looking for a school that was safe, clean and provided good enrichment for our daughter. We fell in love with Montessori at Five Canyons right from the start. The school is inviting and clean, the teachers are incredibly warm, kind and knowledgeable. We were soon amazed to hear our 3 year old talk of human anatomy and the planets of the solar system, and while we were thrilled with what she was learning, what touched us the most was the level of care and one-​on-​one attention she was receiving. We had heard of Montessori before, but to watch our child flourish at this school has truly made us impressed. When my daughter was having a hard time adjusting to a new class, I got daily updates from the teacher and sweet hand written notes to encourage my daughter. To know our child’s teacher truly understands our child – her strengths, her challenges and her unique inner spirit – put our hearts at ease.
We did not hesitate at all to send our younger daughters there as well. The fact that my older daughters have enjoyed going there and always want to return to help out at their old school is a testament to how secure and appreciated they felt at this school.

I was looking for a preschool for my 3 year old daughter and I was super excited about finding this school. The playground and site is super clean and everyone was friendly at first.
When I was about to sign her up, I spoke with the site director because I needed extra child care for two days a week. The director informed me that I would have to pay for day care for five days a week even though I only needed it for two days. She said that the kids had to have a consistent schedule all 5 days and that it would interfere with the child teacher ratio if my daughter needed to be there an hour earlier two days a week. She said I had to pay for her to be there the extra hours everyday. I told her that I wanted to spend time with my child and not have her in school if I was home. She went on to say that I could pick her up anytime I wanted but would have to pay for 3 extra consistent hours on days when I didn’t even need it.
I asked her if I could drop her off at 815 if the start time was 830, she said no, 825 is more concise. On their website, it says they work with your schedule, but in reality they have no flexibility, and all they care about is money!
I also called alameda licensing to ask about them, and they have so many complaints. You can call and check for yourself! My first impression was totally wrong, and in the end I’m happy I didn’t send my daughter to this school!

This review is after a long tour and long meeting with the director.
The campus is located in the quiet suburbs of Castro Valley Five Canyons neighborhood. I love the quiet location. The parking can be challenging if there is a school function because it’s in a narrow court street. The facility is really nice and clean. I looked for any long term staining or smells from neglect but couldn’t find any (Cleanliness is really important to me!). There are small animals such as fish or a bird or a turtle in each classroom. The animals were well cared for and their cages and tanks were clean (I have lots of animal pets so I look for any neglect in that too). The children were all happy and independently learning. My husband and I were really impressed (husband is a public school teacher). The outdoor play area is really cute and there is even a vegetable garden where children compost and tend to the garden. Here are some of the more remarkable things we saw that day we visited:
1) A two year old finished her snack of fruits walked her dish over to the sink to rinse her plate and put it on the drying rack. She then walked over to select her learning activity and sat down to play/​learn with it… She’s 2 years old!
2) A 4 year old boy was sitting by himself practicing pouring liquids through a funnel. He spilled some water so he walked over to get a mop to clean up the mess. He then put the mop back and continued with his pouring… All this without being told to do so by a teacher.
3) The kindergarten class was practicing writing sentences.
The students were not bothered by our presence nor were they distracted. They continued to do their activities.
I won’t lie, it’s a pricey preschool compared to some other popular places in Castro Valley. We visited another highly rated preschool and they were also very excellent but they were what you expect from a more traditional public school. I think the kids from the other school will be well prepared for kindergarten but Montessori at Five Canyons was just too amazing to pass up and is worth the extra money. The Montessori Five Canyons has more to it than just a preschool because it requires parent participation and material fees but that is normal for other Montessori schools too.
We immediately enrolled our son into this program. Montessori isn’t for everyone and I think that it depends on the family and on the child. Montessori encourages independence and learning how to function at school, home, and in their community.

This is a great school that cares deeply about the programs they teach. It is multicultural and promotes diversity at a young age. My 4 year old boy loves it here and his behavior and learning have improved at a fantastic rate.
The school is well kept, and as part of the Montessori program, the activities are always fresh and new for the children to learn. There are plenty of activities for the children to participate in including gymnastics, soccer, parades and school plays and concerts. Parents are well engaged in a lot of these activities too.
My only slight criticism would be the number of days that the school closes outside of regular holidays. But they do offer summer school which is a huge bonus.

Beautiful campus especially outdoor playground with nice set up and good teachers. However, I don’t think the on site director is giving enough time and caring on the development of the children; instead she cares more about the school’s reputation. We often receive different comments from the director and teachers. Definitely, she didn’t put enough time on observing and understanding the kids. Again, she is really focusing on the reputation, if your kids is smart, behaved and follow her direct, I don’t think there will be any problem. BUT, if your kid is having some issues, hyperactive or not listening to commend well, be prepared to listen a lot of complaints from the director without giving any useful suggestion. (even she always title she has 30 years of early childhood experiences) Believe me, the director is hard to work on personalized plan if there is any needed. Also, like the previous reviewer says, I have seen one of the teacher and the director grabbing and yelling on kids when they are misbehaved; maybe it will work on some kids, but how can we trust an educator by seeing grabbing, yelling and these kinds of negative approachings.

Our daughter attended the Montessori at Five Canyons for three years, and she’s just now finishing Kindergarten there. It has been a great experience for all of us, and we are really going to miss the staff and the other parents there. This school has a real strong sense of community, and the teachers are caring, skilled and knowledgeable.
Our daughter got a really solid start toward first grade, and we are very happy with the results. My wife and I both work full time, so our little girl spends all day there, five days a week — she has benefited tremendously from this experience, and our big concern now is whether a public school atmosphere will be able to keep up the momentum.
If we had to do it all over again, we’d do it at Montessori at Five Canyons. If you are already familiar with the Montessori approach to education, I would tell you that this school is «top drawer».

My 3.5-year-old child came home with a bruise underneath his eye. He told me the same boy, we had already reported to the school was bullying our child, pushed him against a bookshelve. The response of the head teacher was to say that it didn’t happen, as she was watching. She then took my child by his wrists, made him look into her eyes and said, «Look at me, don’t go home and tell your mommy you are being pushed when you are not». This was 5 min after she told me she had no idea what activity he had done that same morning. She should not force him to say that he was lying. I trust my child. Again that same boy punched my son in a line of kids between the head teacher and the ‘heaviest’ set teacher. They both smiled at that boy and said nothing. They had no idea I was watching. They were taking revenge as initiated by the Director and her daughter-​in-​law who is the Site Director. I had gotten on the wrong side of them from the beginning because I told them I noticed my child was wandering around the classroom never doing any work, only for staged viewings, after I had requested he needed more guidance and encouragement. He always frustrated and in tears. The site director and her mother-​in law viewed this request as criticism. They refused to accept what I was seeing. Whenever we made a request it got back to the Director via her daughter-​in-​law as a complaint. Should we have raised concerns about the following? On at least three occasions when I arrived early during the outdoor playtime to collect my child he was in soiled clothes full of poop and urine with 4 to 5 teachers watching. On one occasion he could barely walk because of all the poop and urine between his legs and soaked clothes. The new teacher (incidentally the 3^rd new teacher in six months for his room) with her ’13 years of Montessori experience’ looked quite shocked when I told her and she said it was dry 30 mins earlier! He was in the same diaper I sent him in that morning. The head teacher claimed they could not leave the kids in the yard to change other kids, even though other teachers were always present. The staff not only openly supported my son’s bully but they too bullied me as a concerned parent. The Site Director told me to ‘stop having a chat’ with a teacher at drop off. It was a brief sentence or two about potty training, which they never made any attempt to do. She never had any inhibitions talking herself at length to parents, especially with the fathers about a game or something. She always had her eye on me, diverting her attention away from her own class. Again she left her class to pound on me about not attending a summons via the phone from the Director, ordering me to meet her, without giving me any information on why I should drop everything and run back to the school to see her. The Site Director made no attempt to come near me when I was changing my child on their property, and on their paid time. Yet the Director insisted that they went out of their way to help my child. They were not bothered that he was unhappy. I mentioned it many times. The Director insisted he was fine and said maybe it was a ‘phase’. I tried a different approach by volunteering because they seemed as if nothing but childish praises and help on top of the high fees is what they needed to function. That didn’t work either. The Director also suggested I was a bad parent. Then my son started having horrible nightmares, screaming ‘somebody help me’. The Director smiled and asked why I hadn’t taken him out sooner. She said that I should read a textbook on the Montessori Philosophy and that children do wander. When I shared my experience with other parents the Director said I was ‘bad mouthing them to other parents!’ Most if not all parents discuss their child’s pre-​school experiences. It was so confusing for us since they said they could cater for our son’s specific needs before we enrolled him. The Director’s grandchildren were also attending the school. I doubt if they would have been allowed to lie in the corner of the dramp grass, soaked in their own poop and urine, or to wander around the class aimlessly, and of course get bullied by other children. In the spirit of that school I expect nothing short of a defensive response from the Director. How can you be defensive of child neglect, by flashing your resume, experience and the number of other satisfied parents? I witnessed the indifference and neglect first hand. After we withdrew our son from the school, his nightmares stopped, his speech developed enormously, and he clearly tells us he never wants to go back to that school again.

My 22 month old grandson has attended this school for four months. He is in a class of six, with a truly gifted teacher. The school is located in a nice residential area, is secure, clean and organized, with tons of educational materials to keep kids busy at work. I spent an hour observing in his classroom recently. The emphasis for the young ones is on learning activities that are fun, with an focus on responsibility. Even at this young age, kids are allowed to select their own materials, work independently and must return the materials to the correct place when finished. There are group activities for story time, song time, snack, outside games, etc. If a child misbehaves (e.g. hits someone), he/​she is placed for two minutes in the «thinking chair». Everything is age-appropriate.(I should mention here, in an effort toward full disclosure, that I hold a doctorate in educational administration.) This is a first rate school and I am very happy that our grandson has the privilege of attending.