Parent Testimonials Of Our MA Preschool & Toddler Programs
Three Convenient Locations Serving Parents In Lexington, Bedford, Sudbury, Winchester, Waltham, & Surrounding Areas
“Our son attended two years of the LEAP Summer Fun program in Bedford as well as the Transitional Kindergarten class. We could not be happier with the experience we had. We found that all of the teachers really spent the time to get to know our son and our family to make his time at LEAP a success! The curriculum was both fun and educational. Our son especially enjoyed activities LEAP offered such as yoga, drama, music, and science. Although we have moved onto Kindergarten this year, our son still frequently recalls his favorite classroom memories with good friends and teachers he made at LEAP!”
Michele F.
“Having watched our three children move from LEAP into kindergarten with ease and confidence, we can say with certainty that the LEAP program provides children unparalleled growth – emotional, physical, and intellectual. The breadth of the curriculum combined with caring teachers provides a unique atmosphere where children can be themselves while learning to thrive in a school setting. They are encouraged to explore new ideas, make new friends and develop personal awareness. Without reservation, we would recommend the LEAP program to parents looking for an exceptional preschool experience.”
Andrew & Liza C.
“We sent our children to LEAP because we believe the school offers the best overall preschool experience. We have found the administrators, teachers, and enrichment specialists (science, music, drama, and yoga,) to be truly top-notch. They all are experts in their field and provide an energetic and nurturing environment where each child is made to feel special and encouraged to explore and learn new things. Our children made wonderful friends in the classroom. They were happy at LEAP and well prepared to enter kindergarten with a strong foundation for the love of school and learning. Thank you for making our boys’ first school experience so special.”
Jenna and Derek S.
All three children in our family have loved LEAP. We’ve been at the Bedford and Concord sites, and we give both very high marks and would recommend them to anyone.
We chose LEAP for its emphasis on the social/emotional growth of children, its structured day, and its committed and outstanding teachers and staff.
The teachers are highly qualified and go through a rigorous screening before they are selected to work with our children. They are able to teach to a curriculum that prepares your children for entering kindergarten, but, even more important to us, they use every moment in the classroom as a “teaching moment” to help children sort out conflicts, learn how to be friends and share, and how to negotiate with each other. They provide a structured, predictable routine for the children so that they can feel comfortable anticipating what will happen next in the day. At the same time, the teachers are very flexible: they celebrate children’s different learning styles, working with us, the parents, on any challenges we might be having. One of our children has some learning differences, and the director and teachers worked carefully with us to ensure we had the proper supports in place to make his years at LEAP very successful.
We really liked a couple of key features of the program; the “home visit” at the beginning of the year, when the teachers come to our home before school starts to make the transition to school easy, and the “weekly notes” that come home to parents explaining what is happening in the classroom as a whole, and individually, the child. The curriculum takes shape through stories that the children read every month, which provide a theme that they then learn about through art, dramatic play, song, and movement. As parents, we saw our children’s love of learning take form at an early age. They love school!
Sarah and Jay K.
The teachers were energetic, engaging, fun, and always interested in my child’s experiences—both in and out of the classroom. LEAP teachers are well-trained professionals with pre-school age children and curriculum, yet, they demonstrate personal warmth with children—and parents.
I always found the directors to be resourceful as issues emerged and responsive to any feedback or suggestions I had as a parent. I truly felt like it was a partnership in raising our children to be successful and happy. Though our family graduated from the LEAP School a couple of years ago, I still refer to the directors for child-raising issues and am warmly received. We always drive by the LEAP School with fond feelings, great memories, and feel we are still part of the LEAP Community.”
Leslie Z.
“We have loved our time at the LEAP School. The overall school experience has been such a positive one for our family. The nurturing and caring nature at the school built great foundations for children as they entered kindergarten. The communication with the teachers and administration is very informative and helpful as our kids grew through the years. All three of our children attended LEAP (13, 10, 4 ½), both for the school year and summer programs. We will be sad to have our time end as a LEAP School family.”
Beth and Steve H.
“After carefully considering many options for our daughter’s preschool experience, we chose the LEAP School in Bedford. We were drawn to LEAP’s commitment to provide a family-centered education for our little one. And boy did they deliver: we enjoyed constant communication with our daughter’s teachers, we were welcomed into her classroom at drop-off and pick-up times as well as during holiday parties and special events, and we were given multiple opportunities to get to know her classmates and their parents. Knowing that the teachers so totally understand our child, and what happens during the year at school and at home, gives me much comfort as her mom, and makes me so happy for her. Their goals and objectives for the water play are perfect, and so eloquently stated in our communication it makes me want to fill a giant bucket and have the whole family join in on some quality water play!
The close relationship between home and her first school helped our daughter to develop confidence in her abilities, and a deep and, we hope, abiding love for school and for learning. Thanks LEAP!”
Liz C.
Sean and Lisa O.
“During her three years at LEAP, our daughter grew from a young toddler who spoke few words to a confident, competent four-year-old who loves going to school. LEAP teachers know their craft and their students. This combination allows the teachers to have high standards for the children, always within a developmentally appropriate framework. LEAP teachers are entirely dedicated to making every project or activity engaging and fun. The appreciation, respect, and affection between teachers and students is palpable, all of which helped our daughter take risks and learn to nurture relationships with peers as well as adults. In an age when children are led increasingly early to a curriculum that emphasizes paper and pencil exercises, we are deeply grateful for LEAP’s commitment to hands-on learning and plenty of outdoor play. We feel sure that LEAP has inspired our daughter to a path of lifetime learning, as well as laying a strong foundation for her future academic endeavors. We cannot imagine having chosen a better preschool for our daughter or our family.”
Genevieve and John W.
“Deciding to send my three children to the LEAP school has been one of the best child-rearing decisions my husband and I have made for our family. Every staff member at LEAP has been supportive, kind, understanding, and reassuring as we have worked our way through these important developmental preschool years. The skills my children have learned at LEAP, particularly through social interaction and encouraged imaginative play, have served them well and more than sufficiently prepared them for elementary school. My children have enjoyed their time at LEAP, sometimes wishing, even in fourth grade, that their new school would be more like LEAP! We are thankful for the time each child has had at LEAP, for their unique experiences there, and for the wonderful way we have always been treated.”
Gretchen and Chris R.
“I have four children – three of them have attended The LEAP School in Concord and my fourth child will start in the fall of 2012. If you are looking for a warm and nurturing environment as your child’s first school experience, LEAP is top-notch! The real value of LEAP is the directors and the amazing teaching staff. Your child will learn important life skills such as making friends, sharing, and respect for others, as well as kindergarten readiness skills, all the while building a positive self-image. Each of my children came to school with very different personalities and needs, and they BLOSSOMED with the positive and respectful ways the teachers instruct each child. Not only do my children have wonderful memories of their experience at LEAP, but each received a great foundation for learning and transitioned to elementary school successfully. LEAP is good for the whole family – we could not have made a better preschool choice for my children.”
Kirsten and John F.
Our grandson James Peter has reveled in his school experiences at the LEAP School for the past two years, ready to launch into kindergarten in the fall, ably prepared by his loving and competent teachers for the learning and new experiences that lie ahead. For James, LEAP has been an oasis of calm predictability and exciting challenges socially, academically, physically, and emotionally. He loves the rhythm of the days, the chance to play freely, to talk about books, numbers, letters, and words, to tell stories and to embrace the arts, and, most importantly, to laugh a lot. He has become a yoga aficionado, often showing the adults in his life how to stretch or do the downward dog. He loves that the teachers don’t disparage boy play—boys enacting superhero scenes and acts of valor outside or during free playtime. He loves the fact that there are costumes and legos and building materials. He has learned as an only child through his LEAP education the give-and-take of sharing and not always getting what you want when you think you need it, but learning to figure out alternative choices.
He loves that his teachers are kind and funny and talk to him about how they figure things out for themselves when they have challenges and choices. He loves that they talk about sports and the Boston sports teams with him. We as grandparents and career educators not only love the beautiful, orderly, light, physical spaces at the LEAP school in Bedford but the astute developmental fit between the children and their educational program. LEAP does not push children into developmentally inappropriate activities but rather lets each child learn as much as he can through the rich curricular offerings he encounters. When James applied to two Boston private schools this year for the next leg of his educational journey, both schools expressed admiration (and in one case astonishment) at how well versed he was in both pre-reading and math skills. They also talked about his ease in talking to teachers and answering the questions of the admissions officer. We know that LEAP is the central reason James is so at ease sharing what he knows and how much he enjoys school. James’s two years at LEAP have been a gift for him and his family—one that we will never forget and are eternally grateful for how it will influence his educational journey forever.
Lorraine W.
