Nikou Learning Center

The primary school my son attended was the one on Dempsey Rd. He did attend this one for a week.
I must start by saying Ms. Anita is probably one of the sweetest and most loving infant teachers I came across in my search for a center when my son was just shy of 3 mths old. She was so sweet and caring, but way overloaded too. Often she was the only teacher in her infant room which was too much as they need lots of cuddling and so forth. My son was taken great care of when he was from 3 mths till about 12 mths, but then it stopped. Out of frustration, he was biting (granted he was a victim from another horrible biter that just was moved to another/​older class without working to stop the problem). The toys in the infant room are geared to that of less than a year, but children don’t move until they are 18 mths and/​or walking with availability and in close age proximity. He also was slow to walk and makes me wonder if it was the neglect as often I’d find him in a back corner near an emergency exit by himself and unattended. At 16 mths he went to the State St center as the director at Dempsey was getting frustrated and angy at my son for biting. This center I could tell immediately they didn’t want him as they said there was no room and so on… so after a week, we left. I asked the director at Dempsey to move him into the toddler room to see how he’d do and getting the stimulation he was craving. He did initially stop biting, but wasn’t walking much (hello, he was developmentally stunted in the infant room from neglect of an overloaded teacher with no real support or help). The teachers were getting frustrated since he wasn’t walking and then he became the victim of bullying by the same prior child and older bigger kids that would push him down as this room went to 3. He couldn’t escape them either as he was only crawling and slowly walking.
Not too long after returning, the director apologized but said that he was no longer allowed to remain in the center. I called many other centers and when explained the situation, they said that the staff were not properly trained, nor was the director handling this appropriately. Many said they would take him happily and felt that they just needed to identify what the triggers in his biting were and then curb them… which they said is actually fairly easy if the teachers pay close attention. I moved him to another center with smaller class sizes and more classrooms. Within 2 weeks he was walking and several weeks later, not biting. He had a small episode when he moved to the preschool room, but the teachers said that can be normal due to the new transition. It only occurred for the first week.
I would have given the center 2 stars, but I do think Ms. Anita did the best she could with the resources available to her. She is a wonderful teacher, but not given the best support, nor assistance. The center is also beautiful and the equipment for play indoors and the playgrounds outdoors are enormous, modern, and just all around wonderful. The director is nice, but this doesn’t seem to be her forte. She does seem eager to learn, but seems overloaded herself and juggling too much. They have very high turnover though with the teaching staff and I wonder if that is one of the contributing factors of why the director and dedicated staff do have some issues. It is very economical as well.
I wish it would have worked out, but this was just not the ongoing center for my son. Others have done very well though… so don’t completely remove from your list, but look for yourself. I think if they did want some other centers do and have an infant room for 12 weeks– 12 mths, early preschool of 1 – 2 yr, preschool 2 – 3 yr, preschool adv 3 – 4 yrs, pre-​k 4 – 5 and so forth, they would do a great job. This break apart seems to be a great advantage to both the children with their development (emotional, mental, and physical), but also helps the teachers as the classes have a curriculum geared to the appropriate audience. Sorry, I think a child of 9 mths is very, very different than a child of 17 mths or a child of 20 mths to a child of 32 mths.