Magical Beginnings Learning Center

I have two girls age 4 (Preschool) and 2 (Toddler Room) that attend Magical Beginnings in Wakefield. My oldest started in the infant room at 12 weeks old and my second started at the age of 8 weeks old.
My husband and I toyed with the idea of a home daycare or a learning center for a short time, but ultimately the hours and days that Magical Beginnings were open worked best for us. It also didn’t hurt that they choose on their own to get an extra accreditation from NAEYC, which proves to me that they don’t mind any auditors popping it at any time.
Many people will say that they choose a home daycare so that the child is feeling a bit more «love», but I couldn’t disagree more! My husband and I both agree that our children receive BOTH a tremendous amount of love and wonderful learning experience at Magical Beginnings.
The professionalism from the Directors, the teachers, aides, etc… is impeccable! They all communicate so well.
The teachers also have a wonderful curriculum each week which engages my child to ask questions not only at school, but also at home. They are not only learning «educationally» but also learning how to be self sufficient and put their own jackets on and pour their own juice.
Each day I’m amazed by a new task that they are completing and how proud of themselves that they are. They are giving my children love, learning and confidence and they can’t wait to go to school every day!

In early 2013, I was looking for child care services for my soon-​to-​be-​born infant starting in November 2013. I visited several child care centers and settled on Magical Beginnings in Wakefield because they were very close to home, well-​accredited, and reasonably priced. I was told that I should reserve my spot quickly before they fill up, so I sent in my deposit + application fee of $ 750 in late May. The deposit is non-​refundable, which I figured wasn’t a problem because we had every intention of using this child care center, and I figured even if something happened, they’d probably be reasonable and refund it if they were able to fill my spot (and if they weren’t able to fill the spot, obviously they should keep the money). Unfortunately, something happened, and I had to relocate out of state for work and therefore couldn’t use this daycare center.
That’s where I had a disappointing experience with Magical Beginnings. As soon as I found out in mid June, I notified Magical Beginnings that I wouldn’t be able to send my daughter there. I wanted to give them as much notice as possible so they could fill the spot with a paying customer. I had only sent in my deposit a month earlier, and was giving them over 4 months notice, so I was hoping they’d do the reasonable thing and refund my deposit. In fact, when I spoke to them on the phone, they said they had a waiting list, so clearly they’d have no trouble filling the spot.
I had to ask if they’d refund my deposit. I had hoped they’d just offer without me asking, since $ 750 is a significant amount of money to hold from me if they didn’t have a logical reason to keep it. But they didn’t. And after I asked (very politely), they simply said the deposit is non-​refundable. I then explained why I had hoped they’d refund the deposit (again, politely), but I was just told that it’s non-​refundable and that they could have the director call me. Unfortunately, I never got a call, so instead I wrote an email to the director (again, very polite) with logical reasoning as to why it would be nice if they refunded the deposit. All I got was a response that they’d refund $ 50 with no reasonable explanation why they’d keep $ 700 of my money other than «it’s non-​refundable.»
They’re within their rights to keep the money, since the paperwork I signed said it was non-​refundable. And if I had canceled at the last minute or they were unable to fill my slot, of course it would make total sense for them to keep the money. But I gave them lots of notice. And they have plenty of time to fill the slot (and appear to have done so). And if it’s worth anything, it’s not like I canceled for no reason… the job relocation was sudden and unexpected.
I can’t speak to how well this child care center runs on a day to day basis, but I get a really bad feeling from anyone who would keep $ 700 of my money without a good reason. Just really disappointed in how they conducted themselves. That’s a lot of money.

Our 2 ½ year old grandson has been attending Magical Beginnings in Wakefield since he was only 15 months old. He is a happy, healthy, thriving little boy. We could never thank the staff but especially his teacher Miss Jodie & Miss Ginny enough for all they have done for our family. I highly recommend them!

My daughter (now 13 months old) has been attending Magical Beginnings since she was 4 months old. Originally we planned to use an in-​home daycare but we got a weird vibe during our test week and had to scramble to find a new place. We lucked out as MB was just opening a new infant room in Wakefield and had space.
We were a little nervous as we picked MB based on our tour and interview with the director; we didn’t get to meet her teachers as they hadn’t even been hired yet. It was a gamble that paid off. We love Miss Katy and Miss Sue, but more importantly, so does our daughter. Even during her phases of separation anxiety, she is always calm and happy at drop-​off and pickup and has big smiles for her teachers and classmates.
The communication from the staff is excellent and they are very flexible. Our daughter is a very easy baby in many ways, but she likes to skip naps and got distracted during bottle feeding, but Katy and Sue have worked hard with us on those issues. They also do lots of fun activities and crafts and we have been saving her day logs and «artwork» in her baby book.
Soon, our girl will transition to the toddler room; I’m impressed with the communication and planning around this step so far, but I don’t know who will be more sad about my girl leaving the infant classroom: her or me and my husband.