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June 2024 by Mariame Roy
We are thrilled to be part of the Scandi family. This is an amazing school in every way. Our daughter has been attending Scandi for three years and we plan to send our son in the fall. Our daughter looks forward to school every day and never stops talking about all the fun stuff she does with her friends. Our daughter has been taught to be her own little independent and confident person. Scandi has also become our second home with it’s diverse and interesting community.
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June 2024 by Mila Richman
2 Years of Scandi School...yesterday was our last day. We’ve made so many friends and memories here over the last two years and feel very lucky to have had such amazing teachers watching over our son.
That said, I have many conflicting feeling towards the school. No daycare or school is perfect and everyone has to make compromises. Our son was 18 months when we enrolled, and at that time, it was the only daycare where we walked in and felt at ease / comfortable. We loved the focus on outdoors and having a healthy snack and lunch served daily. That was enough for us. Our son is now almost 3.5 years old, and the same is still important, but I'd also add that curriculum / approach to learning has made its way up the list.
With that, its hard to give the school a single rating and walk away. Here’s my breakdown of multiple categories, hope it helps with choosing the school that's right for your kid.
1. Teachers 5/5 : The teaching staff at Scandi is truly amazing. I dropped off my son everyday feeling like I left him him with family. They go above and beyond to make sure parents are comfortable, communicate with us daily through Slack with pictures and updates. They focus on building a community in the classroom.
2. Program 3/5 : I didn’t know what Emilia Regio was when we started, but I didn’t care. Over the years I got to understand the program and it basically boils down to an arts curriculum. There’s no focus on music, or sports. You can imagine my highly energetic toddler boy needed more as he grew. It’s also child led which is fantastic for babies and infants. But when your toddler is ready for potty training, the school has incredibly weird rules (...because of this child led concept). If the kid didn't verbally tell you they wanted to use the potty it meant they weren't ready. If they had an accident, they weren't potty trained. The teachers weren't allowed to support in potty training, the kid just had to show up perfect and there was no room for mistakes. It was odd...a lot of the teachers came with Montessori School experience so they were also shocked at restrictions.
3. Food 5/5 : They eat amazing super yummy healthy food everyday. My son literally asks for carrots and cucumbers to munch on. The chef at the school is creative and creates a fun community around the kitchen with parents. Food was a big reason we were drawn to Scandi. Most daycares serve pizza and nuggets (which is crazy to me!)
4. Scandi Culture 5/5 : Rain, shine, snow, the kiddos are outside for an hour or two a day. I think a big part of the reason my son rarely got sick was because they were outside so much, in the fresh air playing. Meanwhile I saw my friends kiddos stuck inside for weeks on end.
5. Calendar 1/5 : The school calendar is not aligned with ANY calendar. There’s breaks all the time, professional development days in the middle of the week, early dismissal days, the school year ends first week of June. It was fine for our first year but it got old pretty quickly. And of course if you do the math, your monthly costs actually end up being even more when you factor all these days off.
6. Administration 1/5 : Considering the price we were paying, you’d think we’d get top notch communication? We did not. The administration is so bad with communication it’s almost shocking. There also seems to be some preferential treatment towards more tenured teachers. It seems like besides the PD days, teachers are kind of left on their own. They also seem to get limited communication from the administration, and even support.
Thank you Scandi! No regrets on our end, walking away happy and ready for whatever the next school has in store for us.
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June 2024 by Lizzy Ott
As another beautiful school year comes to a close I feel compelled to say how very grateful I am for this school, their staff, and the community they've built. We have felt so lucky to be a part of this school for the last 5 years. We started my oldest when we moved to Jersey City right before the pandemic. We now have three children there (soon to be four) and have never looked back. Every set of teachers and every group of kids is better than the next and they truly foster and help kids grow in a way you don't see everywhere. They focus on the WHOLE child so I know my kids aren't only learning academics, but they are learning how to care for other people, how to nourish their bodies, and love the outdoors. I cant imagine a better environment for their formative years. And I have to say, for my formative years as a parent, Im so grateful for the support of each teacher + Administrator. They know how to love my children, but not sugar coat the realities of the growing pains and tougher stuff. Thank you Scandi - we're so grateful to grow right along side of you !
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May 2024 by s prakash
We were very excited about this school and were in our 2nd year, but quickly learned the truth. The teachers, administration are extremely rude. What the website says and what is practiced couldn't be more far apart. They talk about kindness, mindfulness, open-mindedness, that is far from it, they are unresponsive and extremely rude, especially the director and her 2nd in command. The teachers think it's fine to speak rudely with parents. More so, it is our belief our son was being bullied by his teacher as we would often hear how he would just start crying for no reason, as soon as we switched schools it stopped. There is complete contradiction in their statements, on one hand they say they want the child to lead but get upset when the child doesn't follow, they say it's an outdoor school but at any occasion they don't go out and when they do it's often no more than an hour (which is strange for them labeling yourself as outdoor), there is no curriculum, and when our son switched schools he was extremely behind, in writing and speaking compared to kids his age. Lastly, if you are a person of color please dont consider this school, there is almost no diversity and the staff have a complete lack of understanding of different cultures and how that might affect how children behave in the classroom. The school can arbitrarily kick you out without a care and refuse to refund your money - there less than zero care for the child and for the parents. They are money hungry and a ton of green washing. For the amount you pay, there way better options out there, Buyer be warned.
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October 2023 by Manija Mayel
Best school to work at and attend! Going on 10 years, not biased at all:) That should say something. My daughter briefly attended during her pre-school years. It left a great impression on her, making her confident and skillful, emotionally resilient, supported and supportive, empathetic. It’s a true gem of a school and I can’t recommend it enough to new parents!
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October 2023 by Roberto Silveira
Best school in the area!
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October 2023 by Sandy y
Excellent teachers and staff. My children love it!
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January 2023 by S K
Best school my son went to
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July 2018 by Roberta Kendall
The children get to be children. Our boys attended this school for 3 years until they sadly aged out. I miss the "no sugar" policy knowing that they were only given healthy food options which were cooked fresh on site every day. I miss them happily coming home with a bag of muddy clothes because they got to play in the rain. I miss sitting in the outdoor space watching the kids play while the parents enjoyed one another's company. This school is a community where kids learn to how to express their emotions, how to empathize and how to be creative. They are encouraged to be independent and curious. Each child matters and has a voice. Each child learns how others matter too..
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July 2017 by meena babu
Registered for this school when i was 3 months pregnant in 2011 but i was told couple of years later that there is no spot available for my daughter. But i learnt from an art teacher who had moved in only 11 months earlier that her kid got in. I didn't understand, felt like being discriminated. But later my DD got into their summer program but noticed that she wasn't being cleaned up properly during nappy change. Glad that i didn't continue to send her here but chose Apple Montessori in Hoboken. It was a bit of a hike but my daughter was well taken care of.
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July 2017 by Chelsea Winegarden
So great that they offer vegan food for little kids
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July 2016 by Rebecca Lundgren
A wonderful school.
