Peppertree Schools of Los Gatos

I brought my three months old son to Peppertree after having great experience with my daughter in infant room and 1 – 2 years rooms. I am sorry to say I have to bring my rating down to 2 stars from 5. I took him out after 2 weeks and paid full tuition as well as penalty because of leaving without a month notice.
My son was much lower maintenance than my daughter at that age. So, he would sit by himself for quite sometime between feedings. But when he cried after sitting by himself for a long time, he was not tended to quickly. I witnessed it several times at surprise visits and even pickups that he was crying inconsolably (that he never did at home). They told me that they were warming his bottle. I could sense he was totally lost and tired when I picked him up in the evening. Main teacher in the room hardly ever listened to me when I told her how to give him bottle (he is breastfed and took bottle in a certain manner). I found her really slow in doing her job and definitely not on top of the things. Two teachers who came in the later half of the day had their own favorites. I never saw them talking or tending to my baby. They came in and played with their respective favorites babies. At drop off when I brought my son in, Miss Marlena never cared to take him from me or acknowledge that he is here. I had to just leave his carseat in the room without anyone welcoming me or him. While Miss Marlena would put another baby in her lap and talk so sweetly to him (same baby everyday). I don’t see why could she not involve two babies at the same time. It just broke my heart everyday. I just hoped that my baby got a turn too at some point but never witnessed it. I could only sense distress in his behavior.
Miss Narrissa took awesome care of my baby and figured how to give him bottle (she was amazing with my daughter in 2+ room as well). But unfortunately, she used fill in for teachers and was not in room for extended period of time. Danna also was able to put some effort to give him bottle but overall he was hungry and distressed most of the day. So, after two weeks I took him out. Due to our long relationship with Danna, I didn’t outrightly express my extreme displeasure while leaving, although I gave her feedback when he was still enrolled. But I think its only fair that I update my review for future parents. Danna, if you are reading it for god sake, buy a temperature controlled bottle warmer. You are using a 30 years old crockpot with such a low temperature that bottles are cold even after 15 – 20 minutes. I understand that you don’t want to up the heat in order to be safe, that’s why you need better equipment with temperature on it. My son was breastfed so I asked them to warm milk just up to the body’s temperature but it was always cold, no matter how long they put bottle in there it never reached body temperature.
If you are bringing your kid to 12 – 24 room and Ms Rosa is still there bring them in. But be careful in infant room, your baby may not be teachers’ favorite. Some teachers are really unprofessional like that in infant room. Also, if your baby is breast and bottle fed, teachers are not capable to deal with that. Also, if Miss Anjani is still there in 2+ room then by all means don’t bring your child. My daughter who is 4 still complains that Miss Anjani was rude to her and used to shout at her. She has not seen Miss Anjani over 1.5 years but still remembers that. I had brought this to Danna’s attention while my daughter was there but Danna always defended Miss Anjani. Even though I saw her shouting at other kids as well and I reported right away. I was just about to take my daughter out when Ms Anjani went on a few months long vacation and Ms Narissa joined. Because of that we stayed there until my daughter turned 3. If Ms Anjani is last teacher on earth, I will still not send my child to be in her class.
It saddened me how this school has gone downhill on so many levels. I for one, provided Danna with constant feedback but she is mostly dismissive about issues. There had been awesome teachers along the way but most of them have left. My daughter received awesome care from Ms Suzy, Ms Rosa, Ms Maggy, Ms Lesley and Ms Narissa. Last time I checked only Miss Rosa was there.

Hi Dana so glad I met you yesterday and got to see the unprofessional and rudeness behavior from you. came in with my 2 year old son to see if you have opening so I can start him immediately since my daughter is in the cottage house for more than a year. First and for most I have to say I’m pleased with the staff at the cottage house especially Ms Theresa, Barbara, susan, Ali, and Farah. They have been amazing to us from the moment I signed up my daughter in 2014 I must say from meeting you yesterday and got to know the nasty side of you I personally feel bad they have to work for you because if you treat parents in such way how are you with your staff. Yes I didn’t make appointment for a tour but I wasn’t there for a tour I was there to sign him up if was room available. All you could have said to me to come back because you don’t deal with walk in. knowing my daughter goes to cottage house for over a year I was shocked to be treated like such. Not only I will not send my son to your school I refuse to give you business any longer you don’t deserve it for sure. Learn to be professional not cross the line with people. Oh and I hope you don’t call me because I refuse to hear your voice and deal with you. Just so you know no one ever told me «you’re not listening to me and hearing me out «while you are the one who’s interrupting me making nose cross the playground making googoo gagaaaa to another infant while I’m trying to ask question and get to the point why I’m there to begin with. It’s obvious you were the one who was not listening to why I’m there to begin with. I hope you learned a lesson as I learned one too. I bet you with the way you presented your self you have a lot of turn overs. Who wants to work for you. I’m shocked if anyone last a few years working under you :(if it wasn’t for miss Theresa and the rest taking good care of my daughter I would have removed her right away. but I will wait till the year is over.

My son started at Peppertree at 4 months old when I returned to work from maternity leave. I lucked out in finding them just 2 weeks before I was due to go back to work. I had toured a dozen or so infant programs in the area and many of them just did not feel like a good fit. Quality infant care is so hard to find, but Peppertree has it. They were super flexible and let me bring my son in for a few visits before starting in order to become familiar with the setting and the staff. In no time at all, he was smiling at drop off and so eager to go off and play. I never had a guilty commute to work because I’d had to leave a crying child. Danna and her staff obviously care very much about the babies in their charge, and the interaction between the staff and parents is very friendly and open, with lots of honest communication. My son received so much personal attention and loving care during his time in the infant room and I am so grateful to Danna and the other teachers.
Regarding difficulty making initial contact… since I toured a dozen or so local programs, and spoke with many, many more I will say that it’s fairly common to experience difficulty reaching someone when you are not yet part of the program. For lots of places, enrolled families take priority, especially if the program is full and not accepting new enrollments. I understand that it makes it tough to find a new place, but I can assure you that once you’re enrolled at Peppertree, you won’t have any difficulty communicating with the staff.

We have been very pleased with the daycare services provided by Peppertree for our child for the past several years, starting from 6 months old!

Our 18-​month-​old daughter has been going to the toddler room at Peppertree for a few months and I can say that I’ve been very impressed with the level of care and the overall quality of the facility. We looked at a few different places in the area and were ultimately the most impressed with Peppertree because they always seemed to have a good group of kids at every age group and the teachers are really engaged with them. If you look at their schedule of activities for each month, it’s a really fun way of keeping them engaged. We’re always surprised when she comes home singing new songs.
That said, we had similar experiences with the initial follow-​up and other problems getting in touch with the right people. It was a little frustrating but it in no way reflects how the school operates as an organization. When it comes to the day-​to-​day care, they are extremely diligent and quick to respond. They caught our daughter’s Hand Foot and Mouth disease within minutes of us dropping her off and it’s something that would’ve baffled us for a long time if we were just working with a nanny or watching her ourselves.
We only really know the toddler room but it’s also great to see a lot of the ethnic diversity that makes this neighborhood so great. I love that our daughter’s first group of friends isn’t completely homogenous.
Overall, we really like Peppertree and wouldn’t hesitate to send another child to the school.

We considered enrolling our son here in the infant program (we weren’t crazy about the preschool program but got a good feeling from the infant/​toddler center). We toured & were told there was availability & just to call to follow up once we made our decision, but when we tried to follow up, they never picked up the phone or returned our voicemail or email.
I sincerely hope the parents who have kids enrolled have access to a different phone line because at one point we tried calling several times a day for a week & no one ever picked up. I’d be really concerned about enrolling my kid somewhere that can’t be reached by phone.
Needless to say we moved on in our childcare search!

Our 21 month old son has been here starting at 12 months. He really loves it and loves the people there (one of his first words was the name of one of the caregivers). They have a great setup for the toddlers with a large room divided in two by a low shelf and gate. It lets the 12 – 18 month kids be together on one side, the bigger/​faster kids together on the other side, and then some mixed time together as well. There’s lots of art projects, stories, and singing to keep them occupied. The other thing I really like about PepperTree is the very large outdoor area for the kids to run around in. The staff really love the kids and the kids love the staff.
Things we love:
great staff that our son really loves
engaging activities throughout the day for the kids
clean facilities that strictly adhere to regulations
great big outdoor space
conveniently located a block off of hwy 85
longer hours (6:30am-6:00pm)
prices are competitive for the quality of the school
Minor Issues:
–not sure if it’s common throughout the industry, but it seems like there’s a lot of turnover in the staff
–our son comes home super messy some days. it’s not a bad thing for him, since he’s having a blast playing with glitter/​glue/​pens/​etc, but some of his clothes end up permanently stained. (again, he loves it, just more of an annoyance for us).
–Napping can be an issue from 12 – 15 months old, as they only do 1 nap during the day and our son was still transitioning from 2 naps.

Well this sucked… I was in dying need of a place for my 1 year old daughter as we would be without a nanny soon. So I called peppertree about their availability. The lady I spoke to was nice and informed me she would look into it and and call me back. I never got called back. I left a bunch of voicemail messages asking for a call but… nothing…nada…niks…de rien (not sure about that last one)
For a place that works with parents a lot, I think they should have been a whole lot more sensitive about the issue.
Baaaaaaad peppertree! Now go and have your time out and think about what you have done.

(FYI: This review is for the Ranch House.) My son started here when he was 5 months old and I had to return to work full-​time. It was very hard for me to leave him in someone else’s care, especially at a daycare center, but the staff at Peppertree helped me through the transition. I visited the Infant room with him a few times before I returned to work and got to know the teachers and staff. I filled out a needs & services form and they were great about keeping to his own schedule and meeting my requests. They recorded his daily schedule (naps, feeding times, diaper changes, etc.) on a sheet so I knew how his day went everyday, which gave me peace of mind. I called incessantly the first week to check to see how he was doing and they would give me reports. It turned out he loved the teachers and his new friends at Peppertree, and I was the one worrying. After seeing him adjust so well to Peppertree, I was able to return to work without having to worry about him. The teachers in the Infant room are so caring and sweet; he LOVED being with them. There were no tears at dropoff! He is now in the Toddler room and loves playing in the big playground outdoors everyday, as well as the daily arts & crafts time.

Our son attended Peppertree for 3 ½ years, from age 3 to 6.5. We chose Peppertree because we agreed with their mission, their philosophy on care and discipline, and how they carried out both when working with the children. We resonated with their chosen balance between academics and unstructured play. We love that the school environment is like a home and therefore welcoming and comfortable for our son. The owners care about children, and about their school, and they work very hard so that everyone has a positive experience. The communication with parents has been consistently outstanding. We always felt that Peppertree, my husband and I worked as a team. Peppertree’s teachers become like family to the children. Their Junior-​K program worked hard to ensure our son was well prepared for Kindergarden — and he was! Our 2^nd son will begin their preschool program this Fall and we could not be more excited for him.
We highly recommend Peppertree School!

My son is almost 3 years old, and has been attending Peppertree since he was 4 months. There have been many changes since we’ve started there in January 2008, and all for the better. The information flow to the parents has improved, teacher morale has improved, and the overall atmosphere is positive, warm and loving. The teachers have always treated my son with respect, and have communicated easily and honestly with us. My son loves to to go to school here, and is always singing new songs he’s learned or telling us about projects he worked on. The caregivers that he had as a baby are still there, and are enjoying watching him grow up — likewise, he still loves popping his head into the infant room to say hi to them and the new babies!
I love Peppertree’s flexibility. Recently, after a serious accident that affected my family, Peppertree went above and beyond to make that period of time as easy as possible for us, so we didn’t have to add that to our list of worries. Additionally, the assistant director, Jennifer, has been great disseminating information about issues or illnesses that affect the Peppertree families as a whole. Any issues with teachers (there have been few) have been dealt with swiftly and with minimal disruption. Any questions or concerns that we’ve had have been welcomed, addressed and resolved to our satisfaction.
Obviously, not every school is right for every family; however, we’ve found that Peppertree meets our needs, our son is happy there, and he’s learned so much in the warm & loving environment.

My son Ian has been going here for two years now. The facility is nice. The staff is excellent and my son has a great time there. I should also mention that my son is autistic and also goes to autistic preschool. We felt it was important for our son to socialize with neurotypical kids too. The staff at Peppertree has accommodated for him very well and my son has thrived there.

I moved my son here after he had been SICK for several miserable months at another daycare. I couldn’t be happier with the care he gets here at Peppertree. The teachers are attentive and he loves it there. He comes home singing songs… he is only 18mo mind you. He runs and play and has only been sick once since the move. He actually wants to go in the morning without the tears. They take pride in the school, the cleanliness and I would recommend this daycare to anyone.

Two years ago when I started looking for a place to call home, I interviewed at many locations. Majority of the time I knew right after walking in that I did not want to work in some of those environments. When I walked into Peppertree, I knew that this was the place for me! I picked them; fortunately for me, they picked me too! I, Jennifer, am now the current director at the Peppertree Ranch House Location and I love my job.
I’ve read the reviews on Unilocal as well as other sites and some of the parents. I’m not here to talk about them only to say that every parent wants different things for their children and sometimes a school is not a good fit for a family. Most of the time both parties agree and part ways amicably and sometimes schools can’t do anything else to make a family happy.
I can tell you that as of the last year, every family that I’ve had come through my doors has been heard. I have encouraged parents to talk to me and expressed my open door policy. I try hard to know each family member that drops off and picks up and make it my business to know how each child is doing so that I can speak knowledgably regarding that child. I strive to admit when I don’t know something and then find out an answer. I am not an owner, not everything is in my control, but the parents that I have in my center all know that I’ll do my very best to figure out any issues that they see, whether it be part of the physical school, the staffing, another child, a behavior, or changes in the family at home. They also know that I’ll do it respectfully of all parties involved, I can be trusted.
Additionally, I like to communicate with parents. I’d rather parents have the information and make choices for their family than assume that I know what’s best. If we have a particularly nasty flu going around, I’ll send out an email to all parents with details, number of children, which rooms, and what we are doing to stop it. I send out a monthly newsletter with input from each classroom and important updates regarding the center. We also host holiday potlucks and occasional weekend outings; we went to the SF Zoo this month, so that parents can meet each other and their children’s friends. Additionally, we occasionally host a parent’s night out so that parents can have a date night! All of this to bring families and our school closer together, family like.
I know my review means less than parent reviews since I have a vested interest, but I hope it reminds people that there are two sides to every story and that people very rarely review things like schools unless they are feeling a very strong emotion. Please schedule a tour today with any school you are interested in, let that first gut feeling be your guide at first then use the reviews to help guide your questions. Any reputable school should have no problem talking about both the good and the bad, none of us are perfect, we are all humans working in a very demanding and sensitive field. Alrighty, stepping of my soapbox now, thanks for listening.
BTW: I only gave 4 stars, because I feel like 5 stars means we have no room for improvement, what fun would life be if we had nothing to work towards? I know every program has room for improvement!

I’m very pleased with our choice to go with peppertree for my sons first preschool experience. He loves going and never wants to leave. He’s learnt so much since he started a month ago! I love the way the teachers interact with the children. They speak to them with respect and kindness. Its structured but very fun at the same time. They really do make learning fun. He comes home each week with a new song to sing for me and loves to show off what he learnt. I’ve recommended this school to many other parents knowing they’ll love it too.