A T.L.C. Preschool & Extended Care, Inc.

My 4 y/o’s previous wonderful preschool closed in June 2015 and upon hearing good things about ATLC, I decided to enroll my child in their full time all day program (both spouses work full time). This turned out to be one of the worst parenting decisions I have ever made.
After three months of full time enrollment, I will summarize ATLC this way: it is not a child centered program, it is dated program that serves the needs of the teachers and administrators in their quest for order and uncreative repetition. They do not get to know the child individually, they do not attempt to help these young kids understand and process their emotions. The program is not flexible in meeting the needs of children of varying temperaments. The ratio of teacher to student is too high. NAEYC recommends 6 to 9 kids per teacher for 3 to 5 year olds. ATLC is 10 to 1 (or more in some classrooms), and the aftercare ratio is even higher. The morning program is not very creative, the projects the kids work on are a bit dull. Worksheets don’t belong in a preschool. The kids should doing painting, free coloring and drawing, sand play, using Playdoh, clay and modeling, and building things from scratch.
I didn’t come to these conclusions right away, it took a couple of months of observations. Not long after my child started I saw little things that bothered me, that were not in the best interest of the children, but I silenced my inner concerns and convinced myself those little things were inconsequential. Turns out they weren’t, and started to really add up and spell emotional disaster for my kiddo. After three months of full time attendance, I pulled my child out, and aside from this review, never hearing of or seeing this preschool again is not soon enough to erase the bad memory of it from my conscience.
Let me say right out that if you have a spirited child with lots of emotions, or if you have a bright, creative, independent, and/​or assertive child, run, don’t walk away from this preschool. The dated playbook of this place will for sure wear them down and suck their spirit dry.
The Director misrepresented the program to us as a true all day/​full time program, but it is not. It is a morning preschool program, mediocre at best (see comments above), with aftercare that is nothing more than glorified babysitting. And not even good babysitting, it’s bad babysitting. There is not a minimum of 2 hours of outdoor time per day for the kids. These are preschoolers, they need a minimum outdoor playtime per day of 2 hours (per pediatricians and child psychologists). In the aftercare, the babysitters, er teachers, at 4:45PM everyday lead the kids off the play structure, where undoubtedly they are having fun with their friends, and take them inside and plop them in front of the TV until their parents pick them up at 5:30. Yes, a preschool that charges $ 1300+ a month leaves kids in front of the TV. That was my first red flag that this place was not child-​focused. And the Director conveniently didn’t tell me this on our tour.
A true full time program should have the same teacher or set of teachers with a group of kids all day. But at ATLC, the kids are with their regular preschool teacher for the morning program, and in the afternoon they are with an ever revolving set of teachers (again more like babysitters) who upon my observation are not engaged with the kids, are not connected intellectually, emotionally, and socially with the kids. And they are not very nurturing. For cookie-​cutter kids, this might be okay, but my kiddo is emotional and needs nurturing and engagement and really needs to be understood. When she doesn’t get that, and when she gets bored she acts out. The teachers don’t try to work with the kids to help them process their emotions. They simply do not have the skill and training to work with these kids in any connected, intellectual way.
When I suggested to the Director that the school invest in a little teacher training for the teachers/​babysitters, she seemed clueless and in denial.
In the end, the emotional stress of having to go through so many transitions during the day, and being with so many different teachers/​babysitters every different day was too much for my child. Surely the owners of this place have no formal training in Early Childhood Education and Psychology, or in the Teaching Pyramid by the Center on the Social Emotional Foundations in Early Learning (CSEFEL). This place is a business first and a preschool second. They could really invest in updating their program
Lastly, for $ 1300+ a month, they don’t provide hot meals, parents have to bring lunch, and the teachers don’t really pay attention to whether the kids eat or not. They also give junk food for snacks, i.e. goldfish crackers, other processed foods, and sugary drinks. They just have no clue about healthy eating and healthy emotional care.

I sent my 3-​year-​old to A T.L.C after I read all the above good reviews. To my surprise, I found quite a few things bugging me at A T.L.C., and my son stopped going there after two months.
First, among all the documents parents have to sign for enrollment, one of them says as long as your kid is at the school, parents can visit any time, with or without reasons (can’t remember the exact wording). But A T.L.C states in their policy that parents have to report to the office before they go and check on their kids. Don’t like they have their policy in contradiction with the law.
Second, my son is very outgoing and makes friends very easily (according to previous experiences in other preschools). Every morning when dad dropped him off, he hid behind dad’s back for a couple seconds. That was new! He never did that in any other places. And then I noticed he couldn’t name any of the kids in his class. That was new, too! My son is very good at names, he used to talk about the friends he played with at school all the time. And then, there was one day, he was not very well, I picked him up earlier before lunch. I waited outside until they finished the story, and I went into the room. After I said thanks and bye to the teacher, my son yelled bye to the teacher and other kids with excitement. To my big surprise, not a single person, not the teacher, not any kid, said bye back to him. At that time, I understood why my son acted so differently.
Third, one day I dropped by, my son’s class was going back to classroom from playground. I saw the teacher stopped the line of kids, just to correct some kids who didn’t walk straightly in the line. I mean, seriously?! They are a bunch of 3-​year-​olds, is walking in a perfect straight line really so important to them?
Fourth, one time the teacher told me my son complained about stomach, and he seemed fine after a while. I held him in arms while I was talking to the teacher. When we were done talking, the teacher turned to say to my son «you tummy ached today, right? are you feeling better?» My son turned away immediately and hid his face on my shoulder. My son could get upset with teachers if they are strict to him, I get it. But not like this. He always gets back to normal with the teachers very quickly.
Fifth, they only have curriculum activities in the morning, in the afternoon, it’s like a day care situation. I’m totally fine with that. The teachers work in the morning are not the ones in the afternoon. I expected to get some feedback on how my son’s day was from the teachers. But that didn’t happen because the afternoon teachers didn’t know anything in the morning, they didn’t even know whether my son took a nap or not. Still haven’t figured out how could that be!
Sixth, they use name tags for kids, and the name tags are pinned to kids’ clothes, not safe pins for kids, just regular pins. I mean teachers are supposed to remember kids’ names, 20 something kids per classroom, not rocket science. More important, I’m really not comfortable with those pins, they are simply not safe for kids. I didn’t know how it happened (because they had different teachers in the morning and afternoon, and guess they didn’t talk), one day the pin actually ripped my son’s t-​shirt, a big hole. Luckily, my son was ok, only his clothes was ripped. But who knows what can happen if there is a next time.
To me, phonics, maths, rules and disciplines, I agree those are important things for kids to learn. However, playing happily, making friends, building social skills, are much more important, especially for preschoolers. Kids have to feel comfortable with the teachers and the environment, and then they can learn better.
Glad that my son went to A T.L.C. for only two months. Now he is going to another preschool, and everything gets back to normal.

My family loves ATLC! My twins went there for Pre-​K to gain structure that wasn’t present in their earlier preschool (Creative Minds). They came out very prepared for kindergarten having covered sight words, basic phonics, penmanship, counting, and a host of other topics. At the end of the year they put on an adorable concert — I think learning all those songs helped them to become better learners more broadly. Their teachers even made them scrapbooks which tracked their progression throughout the year. For twin parents — I really liked how ATLC helped my boys with their transition into being in separate classrooms. For the first time they gained their own identity separate from their twin.
The facility of ATLC is housed in a building owned by the Cambrian school district. It’s older, but it is well stocked. The rooms are fun of ‘favorite toys’ from both today and yesteryear. The playground is unbelievable. When Happy Hollow when through its big renovation a few years ago ATLC bought several things (including the old carousel). I also love how ATLC is co-​located with the Cambrianna Sports Center. My kids took gymnastics and dance there and the coaches both picked them up and dropped them back off (very convenient for a working parent).
Lastly I’ll mention that this school has been around a long time. It was founded by the owner’s mother. A lot of the teachers were once students of the school themselves.
It’s a jewel you should definitely check out.

My husband and I have been bringing our son to A T.L.C. Preschool & Extended Care for over a year now. We are so grateful to have found such a wonderful school! The staff is extremely genuine, caring and helpful. They take the time to get to know you and your child! We could not have asked for a more positive, loving and safe environment!
We have watched our son grow leaps and bounds in the Pre-​K program and so excited to watch him enter into Kindergarten. The teachers really interact and spend quality time with the children! He had so many fun projects that really helped him digest what he was learning and excited to come home and share with us!
My son loves it and looks forward to going each and every day! As parents, we couldn’t ask for more!

Engaged teachers. Creative learning experiences, not babysitting. Multiple, educated topical leaders (eg. French, Spanish, Biology, kinesiology). Security of premises during school hours appears to be okay to good.
Facility is a bit tired but that’s only minor constructive criticism I can offer after 6-​months our child has been going.

I feel so lucky to have found this school. This is our second year attending. Our oldest graduated from their Kindergarten program with the confidence she needed to move on and our little one is currently in their Jr. K program. Here are my reasons for loving this school. 1) The variety of programs they have the children introduced to are phenomenal. They learn basic words in French, Spanish, basic sign language, music, sports, the list goes on and on… not your typical school/​daycare program. 2) Should you chose, the curbside drop offs and pick ups are a helpful option on those crazy mornings. A teacher greets you at your car and takes your child to the classroom and the same at pick up. 3) The office staff are truly friendly and know each and every child by name and know who all the parents are. 4) And mostly importantly, the teachers are all fantastic! They’re all genuinely caring and completely competent. This is a safe, happy and loving environment with the best of both worlds… learning and fun!

ATLC is a wonderful preschool. The staff is so loving and friendly. My daughter has been enrolled for 7 months now and still comes out of class each time beaming. As we walk through the school the staff and teachers know my daughters name, which I really like. Ms Yvonne is a wonderful & caring teacher, as well as Ms Jessica. I toured other preschools before deciding on ATLC. I like that it is so big, that kids have room to play, & that they have a room to sing songs with Ms Jayne. Unlike other preschools that are one tiny room for everything. I feel very lucky that my daughter attends ATLC and look forward to our younger daughter attending in a few years.

The most loving and caring environment I could imagine for my daughters first experience in school!
The staff is extremely caring and genuine. They ALL know my child, and who she belongs to. It’s really a great feeling to go somewhere that the entire staff knows my child’s name. .
I found the school here on Unilocal.:-) and couldn’t be happier. We live a ten minute walk away. It’s more than i could ask. FABULOUS. And, gets your feet in the door for other school programs and siblings.
You will not be disappointed with ATLC Preschool

I love this preschool! My older son went there for 2 years and now my second son is there. They have the nicest teachers and good balance of playing and learning. It is one of the longest morning session I know of… drop off at 8:15 pick-​up at 12:30. Can’t beat that!
It isn’t a social preschool! Because there is a drop-​off system, you don’t see and meet the parents as you might at other preschools! The teachers are 100% competent so you don’t have to give up your free time to help with class parties and art projects.

My son has been in attendance here for 2 years, and he LOVES it! I have another child entering next year and we’re really looking forward to it as well.
ATLC does very little advertising, and relies mostly on word-​of-​mouth. And you can’t argue with the fact that they have 3^rd-​generation students attending regularly now. It’s almost unheard of to have a school with this much return.
We first found out about the school from some students we attended Stratford School with. They raved about the school and the families. other than the standard entries in the various parenting magazines, I haven’t seen much else.
If you are considering a preschool, contact them.