Quarry Lane School

While this is the pricier option in the area I wouldn’t go as far to say you get what you pay for.
Overall, my child is super social and loves the interaction. The teachers are good with him.

My daughters are here and I am so grateful. They run a tight ship admininstratively, they are VERY good and communicating with the parents, they have great systems for providing updates/​concerns about your children, they have great «extras» like camping or carnival week or dress up days, the teachers are very personal and loving but also professional and capible, my children stay healthy much more than our other school, my kids are so happy and run in to hug their teachers, they are happy to brag about their day.

I can’t say enough wonderful things about the Quarry Lane School. My daughter is now a preschooler and has been attending the school since an infant. My daughter LOVES her teachers and feels like they are her family. You can tell that the teacher’s genuinely care about all of the kids and know them very well. I have seen my daughter thrive academically while she is here. She is proud to share everything she learns each day when she comes home. We love that she has Spanish and Music on a weekly basis. My daughter can be somewhat of a picky eater, but she has began to eat more since she tries a lot of healthy snacks at school. Communication is very important to me and I love that the director sends emails about upcoming events that the school has. Any questions or concerns that I have are always quickly addressed by the director. I couldn’t ask for a safer, academic, yet fun preschool for my daughter to attend.

Overall we are happy with the school. There were up and down at times, but our boy was happy there, that’s the thing that we care the most. He likes most teachers over there. Bike day was his favorite. Now our son is ready for kindergarten. Thanks to Quarry Lane for preparing him for the next step. Will certainly recommend.

If you’re looking for a babysitter not education, than please note the coddling does stop with the Young Preschool classes at 2 years — you may or may not like the stricter curriculum and style that does change quickly from the infant to toddler classes. I personally prefer the idea of a larger school that I feel promotes early independence. Depending on the child’s comfort and confidence level this might be hard when they’re all mixed in a larger group.
Some have mentioned feeling the child to teacher ratio was too high and of course safety and feeling trust for the school are imperative, I can only speak for our family but we have truly felt there is a great balance between structure and independence. I can see how this might be tougher for shyer kids. My daughter did cry when she first changed to higher ratio classrooms where she was no longer carried, etc but after about 2 – 3 weeks of adjustment, loved it.
I am astounded at how far she has advanced in every way past the children of friends of family that are even 1 – 2 years older. She has better manners and comprehension that children far older than herself, and the teachers have been very helping working with her on boundaries, and limits, which I like and her strong personality needs. I visited 5 schools before settling on Quarry Lane, private schools and childcare centers, and would not even consider another school. I could not be more pleased with Quarry Lane teachers, programs and other offerings.
Pros
–great curriculum
–good communication about events and programs
–user friendly website
–qualified teachers
–diverse staff and student body
–very clean and organized
–potty training started before child was 2, we could not have done it so quickly without them
–stricter than average training on behavior/​manners at a slightly younger age group
–extracurricular on site like language, soccer, tumbling, ballet, music
–nice parent events and community drives, great spirit days
–great security
–great staff, especially the admissions counselor who continues to be communicative, helpful, and engaged in my daughters growth
Cons
–classroom transition is well communicated but day 1 can still be kind of confusing
–lots of teachers and backups sometimes you don’t know a name for a while, picture and bio on website would be great
–parking lot is very tiny, many parents don’t follow the rules and continue to double park or wait in the car blocking the street, I find this lack of courtesy infuriating
–no sidewalk, just grass so if you park on the street you walk through bumpy lawn which is harder to maneuver with car seat, heels, other kids in tow
–not much parent association communication, perhaps that comes with K-​12?
–there is one local academy not too far away with an organic/​natural only snack menu which I envy, Quarry Lane should provide this for the price

My son attended this school for about 9 months. It took me a full month to truly digest how horrible our experience was here. Below are the pro’s and con’s from my families experience. He did do okay in the Flashy Fish class. Once he was moved to Bouncing Bunnies, everything became a challenge. He regressed socially, would have major meltdowns at most drop offs, etc. The child the teachers would describe was a completely different than the child at home.
Cons —
High tuition rates. This school is all about bringing in the money.
Class ratio 1 – 10. The California maximum.
With a high class ratio, comes «incidents» —
Less diaper changes. On Monday my son would have no rashes, by Thursday the rashes would be back.
Attention being spread so thinly = more physical incidents among children. It became the norm for my son to have fat lips, scratches, and bruises.

Parking is not set up for multiple families dropping off their children in the morning.
Physically forcing children to do things. Example: I was told multiple times «It’s a good thing your son doesn’t bruise easily.» He was physically being held down during nap time. He was expected to sit on a mat for two hours, even if he was unable to sleep.
School has poor communication —
Emails are lengthy and do not contain all needed information.
They evaluated my son, with no prior warning. He was «graded» on everything from his ability to eat, to how high he can count.
The school has a weird smell. I still can not figure out what it was.
Pro’s —
Flexible hours
School photo’s and book fairs
He has since started a new program (with a much smaller student/​teacher ratio). His social ability is completely back, he doesn’t meltdown at drop off, and there is no physically forcing my child to do anything. Overall he is happier, and excited to learn new things.

There seem to be very mixed reviews about a year to 2 back… but my experience with my daughter (4yrs old) for last 6+months has been truly amazing. She just loves to be going to school and loves her friends/​teachers. And, her social skills, speaking ability and general knowledge (yes she is only pre-​k kid) has improved so much. Based on earlier reviews, looks like retaining teachers is a problem… but I m not sure how much of it one can control but so far in Boulder st school, I ve been seeing same faces from the start. More than anything, my daughter loves to get up every morning in anticipation of going to school — that answers everything about her 10hrs life in school. She loves her miss Rostini & Michelle. Just keep doing what you are now and rock on.

I can’t say enough great things about this school and staff! My son has attended Montessori his first year and then we were recommended to this school. We have three boys in attendance, two, three and four! All of the boys thrive in this encouraging, structured and friendly environment. The staff work as a team to really get to know each child and how to help them individually develop and excel! As a parent I feel welcomed, informed and involved! There is always something planned for the children to keep things fun! Even at the preschool age the children learn Spanish, Music and are offered Tuff Tumblers classes if you choose! One thing that really stood out to me on my tour, Kelly welcomed me and told me about the requirements their staff need in childhood development. I have really seen what a difference this makes! Anyhow, thank you Quarry Lane’s Staff, Administrators and Teachers!

This school is nothing but a fraud institution, no morals. The founder of school is arrogant and rude hence can’t retain any staff. Heavy turn over of his staff and teachers demonstrates what the he is interested in. Every year you will see a bunch new teachers if not a few teachers in one school year to teach or confuse the kids as he can‘t retain them at least for one year. Last few years there were 3 – 5 teachers to teach a subject as he could not retain a single teacher for 9 months. It is all about money! It is just a glorified public school at private school expense. If you want quality of education then you need to consider other options to get the bang for your buck. The school is not interested in your kids‘ progress but in your $$$$. I can go on and on about this school.

My son has been attending the half day preschool for 3 weeks now and we are completely happy so far. He was previously at another local preschool and seemed pretty miserable. He is now excited to attend school and loves going three days per week. He has even asked us to send him every day. Yes, this place is expensive. Yes, this place is academic. You get what you pay for, though. In just three short weeks, my son has gone from not being able to write any letters at all to writing (happily, I might add) several letters. They started utilizing the Handwriting Without Tears program this year and it’s awesome. My kids get tons of free time outside of school to be creative, learn how to interact with others, and run around. I felt it was important for my son to be 100% ready for Kindergarten (academically and socially) when the time comes, and I am totally at ease now that we are at Quarry Lane. They have a perfect mix of academics and socialization. The teachers are gentle and talk to the kids on their level. Also, they send home «homework» and weekly digests so you know what’s been going on in the classroom. The homework is basically just optional stuff to do in your spare time if you feel like it. My son has been excited to practice his letters, so we’ve been doing the letter sheets. Two thumbs way, way up.
p. s. they also have music class MWF, so he gets to attend every day and has been singing the songs at home. Love this!

My son attended this school for 1 year from the ages of one and a half to two and a half. While expensive, the hours were flexible for working parents and several of the teachers were very nice and interested in our son’s development. However, about half of the staff were either too lazy to attend to the children or extremely patronizing.
The academics focused on one letter and number per week, but after a year of this our son was ready to move on. We did get good training in saying «please» and «thank you». Through pickups at different times of day we often noticed children playing alone without supervision. The teacher to student ratio is definitely too low at these young ages.
We found the administrative staff and director to be rude and off-​putting. Our parent-​teacher conference focused on whether our son would work hard enough to meet the demands of an even lower teacher-​to-​student ratio in the class for 2 years 9 months and up. Rather than a failing of the school this situation was presented as a high bar for our toddler to learn to be independent and take care of all his needs (educational, snack, and toilet) by that age!
Overall, not a good value for the money.

My 3 and 5 year old did very well in Quarry Lane (Dublin). They surpassed my expectations scholastically My kids loved going to school each morning. Ms Widmer was very patient and approachable. The staff is helpful and Ms Angela and Ms Lacresha were great with my 3 year old. I hope the 1^st grade experience will be just as great!

This review applies to the preschool on Quarry Lane, Pleasanton, not the grade K-​12 private school located in Dublin. At one point we had 2 children in Quarry Lane Daycare and Preschool and I wouldn’t have wanted to send them anywhere else though it was a bit of a haul from San Ramon. The staff is excellent — very nurturing for the toddlers and younger children, and a little firmer with the older kids who need to learn about limits. The education is topnotch — a good portion of each day is spent on learning the alphabet, numbers, reading, etc. not to mention music and Spanish classes. However, there is also plenty of time spent outdoors in the large play yards which are segregated by class.
The only downside is that the school is quite strict on behavior. Our child was admittedly a bit rambunctious and needed some extra coaching. But the staff goes a little overboard — boys will be boys at playtime, and you can’t expect a child who isn’t sleepy to stay still for 2 hours at nap time (as opposed to reading). However we did find that the staff was willing to work with us to resolve issues — something you won’t find everywhere.
Yes, QL is a bit pricey, but remember you get what you pay for when it comes to preschool. If you are just looking for someone to watch your children all day then hire a nanny or an au pair, or drop your children at at an in-​home daycare. But if you want your children to develop academically and socially, i.e. learn how to get along with other children, then send them to QL. Thanks to QL, our kindergartner is now far ahead of his neighborhood peers in language skills — he basically learned most of the public school K curriculum in his pre-​K class at QL.
Addendum: Due to a couple of moves we have now experienced 4 preschools. QL really stands out for having great teachers and a great learning experience.

My son went to QLS as an infant. We had a great experience in the infant (zebra) and toddler (fish) room. Two weeks before he turned two years old they started the transition to the 2’s (Bunny) room and it was hell. On his Birthday he was in the Bunny room full time. 20 — 24 kids and 3 teachers was a joke. At nap time one teacher (18 years old) can watch all the kids provided they are sleeping, and it’s legal. They only change diapers 3 x a day because it’s all they have time for. By the 3^rd weeks by son had open sores on his bottom and could not sit down in the tub at night. I would count the diapers in his bin in the AM and PM and found he was only changed 2x in a 9 hour day., exactly matching their sign off sheet. I reported the school and they were cited. Needless to say, we and the other 4 familes that moved to Bunnies from the Fish all have found others schools. QLS wants your $$. To this day, I remember speaking with the director about my concerns and her response was «well, this is what we offer». Please be careful.

$$$$ expensive. As of this review a infant is $ 1725 a month. Within one year the cost of daycare has risen about $ 200. They raise their prices without fail every year. Even now when the economy is so bad they are still raising their prices