Windsor Academy – Rengstorff

This Rengstorff location is under construction or planning, but my child goes to the Mary location and my review is based on the experience.
My 3-​yr old child spent a week in Mary location and she became visibly more confident and adventurous/​curious in several aspects within the short span of the past week. She volunteers for riding bikes and climbing up the ladders, which she had been scared of. My child had been in a pretty good child care before, so I can’t help scratching my head about what caused this seemingly sudden positive change.
From my perspective, the communication between the teachers and parents conveys lots of information. There’s a communication book that help exchanging notes between parents and teachers EVERYDAY. Teachers or the director announce many things through emails, and they are open to feedbacks from parents. Teachers-​children communication is quite intense. Whenever I visited there, I can see the high amount of meaningful communication between the children and the teachers. I sometimes had to wait for a while until their conversation finished. Teachers are very experienced, and they know how to handle their demanding job. (BTW, this place is more toward the play side, not the academy side, so please don’t be fooled by the name.)
As far as I have seen, they care diversity, the community around the facility, the parent community, and the environment. I haven’t experienced any activity yet, but I would doubt if additional experience with Windsor would make me less satisfied.
The cost is definitely at the higher end, but I think the staff definitely worths the cost.
For wait-​listing the child, calling the Windsor Academy at Mary ahead of time would be necessary We wait-​listed our child a year ago. It is very likely that they would not receive the call from future parents and once the voice mail or email is left, it would take a while for them to reach back. This delay is totally normal for them because they manage the resource pretty economically and responding back to future parents is not their top priority. That delay had been my major complaint before, but I now totally understand why.
As a parent of the Mary location, I would have mixed feeling about this MTV place. On one hand, this place opens up the great experience of Windsor Academy to more people with this nice looking building. On the other hand, construction and enrolling new students should distract much attention of the staff at Windsor, which could potentially be negative to our child. But from what I have seen from the staff, I think they should figure out the best way to make the transition happen with lots of communication with parents.

Our son is currently at Windsor Academy in Sunnyvale, and my review of that location is also on Unilocal —
* Overall, we love Windsor — fantastic teachers, great children who are encouraged to interact through mixed age groups, small family atmosphere, and phenomenal community. My son has been there for 2 years now, and he started when he was a little under 3. We’re going onto a 3^rd year before kindergarten!
* Field trips rock. They happen every month, and they go to places like Costco, the Triton Art Museum, the neighborhood bakery, karate studio, and more. Few preschools actually do field trips like this.
* Thoughtful planning of mixed age groups. I love how Windsor very deliberately plans out how to enable a mix of ages within the school. For example, at the McKinley facility, in addition to the core group of 3 year old kids, they also usually have 2 – 3 leaders (1 – 2 years older, rotated in from the Mary facility) and a couple afterschoolers (elementary age). K loves being a leader.
* Fun out of school time activities such as — caroling in the neighborhood in December (imagine a flock of kids going store to store at Mary Manor and serenading folks. Halloween costume picnic where all families get involved, weekly (optional) park playdates and more
* Homecooked lunches. The school provides lunches, and everyone gets the same meal, which really helps pickier kids try new things. When I drop K off in the morning, the teacher usually has something wonderful smelling cooking already.
Preschool should be about play, discovery, exploration and socialization, and Windsor has been all that and more for us. Big props to the teaching team for creating and maintaining this lovely little school.

Our daughter attends the McKinley campus of Windsor, and I couldn’t be more excited that Windsor is able to expand and include more children in this wonderful experience. I’m writing a review for the new location because I have utmost trust in directors Shanam and Sahil and their amazing teaching staff that the new location will be as exceptional as the first two. They are already involving the new teachers in the current program to ensure continuity of culture.
Due to a job change last year, we moved my now 3.5 year old daughter across the country when she was 2.5, a few months before we had another daughter (now 1 year). During the transition I visited ten preschools all over the peninsula and immediately fell in love with Windsor during our meeting with the director, Shanam. Her philosophy was completely in line with our own: that a school that is supportive, nurturing, and loving, promotes lifetime learning by tapping into the child’s curiosity and exuberance and providing joyous daily investigations into the world. Windsor’s research-​based approach to pedagogy takes the best practices of the top early learning philosophies and combines them in a unique, wonderful, and effective way.
Our daughter is introspective and sensitive by nature, and with our major life transitions last year, I was worried about her being supported in her school environment. Windsor could not have been more perfect for her. The school environment is cheerful, immaculately clean, and invites exploration. It was a perfect balance between the chaotic play zone and stark classroom we found at other schools.
The staff could not be more respectful, nurturing, and encouraging with the children. In the first week we received communications that made it clear they were already getting to know her, and finding ways to respect her boundaries while expanding them. (The home/​school communication is amazing. Daily child-​specific written communication, weekly school-​wide communication, monthly pictures and curriculum communication, field trip pictures, bi-​annual conferences and more.)
She has learned so much all stemming from inspired inquiry — from gaining complete independence in self-​care, to her letters, numbers, sight words, and science, and all with an exuberant joy that lifts my heart. A few examples of our chats at pick up:
1. She pumped her fist in the air and said, «Mom! I’m a winner! We played soccer and we’re all winners!»
2. She explained the difference between the words reflect and refract, «They sound the same, but they’re not. They’re different ways light works — and one makes a rainbow! We made rainbows!»
3. She said, «I went the whole day without holding blankie! I love it, but I don’t need it so much anymore.»
4. She exclaimed, «We visited the fire station today! I know 9−1−1 and stop, drop, roll. Don’t be afraid if you see the firefighter in a mask. He is a helper!»
5. After their weekly nature walk she said, «We all touched a wet rock! It will evaporate and fly up into the sky soon.»
She is constantly surprising us with her new found independence, knowledge, and social awareness. Windsor is a special place that I strongly recommend.