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November 2023 by Meera Patel
The Goddard School has been a wonderful experience for us and for both of our boys. They have strived and grown so much since their time there, and we are just so excited to be able to watch them go through these experiences. All the teachers are so dedicated to the children’s growth and development and it really shows. Finally, Goddard creates such a wonderful and fun learning environment that my boys look forward to going to school every day. Thank you to all the Goddard staff and teachers for everything you do to ensure a safe and enjoyable learning environment for our children!
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November 2023 by Julie Haecker
We love the personnel both in the office and the classrooms. Our child has grown tremendously since starting both in her academics and her social- emotional development.
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November 2023 by Renay G.
Best preschool around! Excellent teachers and staff. They teach beyond the basics and I feel safe knowing my children are cared for at Goddard.
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September 2023 by Andre V
The school is really professionally run, has a clean and nice looking campus. We also like the security measures in place. The teachers are patient and knowledgeable and are excellent at communicating with us.
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July 2023 by Kelley Stanley
Our experience with Goddard in Collierville could not have been better in the 5 years we had our children there. Our oldest was there from the infant class through preschool graduation. The teachers and administrators are among the best. Some even feel like family. Leaving a newborn for the first time can be difficult but Goddard made the transition as easy as possible. They fully supported the potty training phase and worked with us on any and every incident that arose throughout our child’s time at Goddard. The preschool learning exceeded our expectations. We are eternally grateful for the enrichment Goddard Collierville provided to our family.
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July 2023 by Karen Griffin
Fantastic curriculum & nurturing teachers, from the infant room to the pre-k program. They've overcome staffing issues (that all industries faced) during/shortly after the pandemic. The teachers, school owners, and administrators have been an important part of our "village" and we consider many of them friends. They truly do so much to take care of the kids, foster friendships amongst them, and teach them everything from sign language to Mandarin.Also, TGS Collierville goes above and beyond to keep the school open when there's inclement weather, as long as it's safe to drive, vs following what the public schools do. They are truly an asset to working families in Collierville.
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July 2023 by Nicole Hanni
Amazing experience. So glad we picked Goddard for our daughter to spend her first 5 years.
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December 2022 by Erica Pearson
Love this place! And so does my 1 year old son :)I love his teachers, the owners, and really all the staff I have come in contact with. The owners are friendly, helpful, and happy to answer any questions. The teachers truly love the kids and always have fun little stories to tell me about his day at pickup. Even the administrative staff was calling my son by name and checking on him in his class from his first day there. I love the pictures on his daily report and seeing how much fun he has doing the various activities throughout the day. It’s a huge relief to have zero concerns about the care he receives while there. Thank you Goddard!
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December 2022 by Alexis Taylor
If I could rate this school a -10 I would. Starting with the owners. Ashley and Gary are rude and unprofessional. To staff, children, and parents. Classrooms are never cleaned properly. Subs are left alone in classrooms without proper training. The teachers have favorites among the children and will neglect the ones whom parents they dislike. Please do not send your babies here. It is not safe nor worth the headache. If you decide to tour..take off you shoe in multiple classrooms and walk in your sock to see how filthy it really is. This school has been reported to DHS multiple times and it has never made the news. Beware of whom you trust with your babies…because a fake smile and Zoom Tour can make hell look like heaven…
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December 2022 by Hayley Rowland
When we moved to Collierville in the summer of 2019, we were looking to enroll our youngest child in their Pre-K classroom. Before we enrolled him, we had a conversation with the owners about the sensory issues that our child had and some of the problems he had gone through at his previous daycare. The owners overwhelmingly assured us that they had much experience in working with children who had sensory issues and the teachers in the Tigers classroom were veterans who would be able to work with our child. Hearing this, we decided to enroll our child in their classroom. While the first couple of months went well, things unraveled fast after this initial period. The classroom was very chaotic. This was due to them enrolling nearly the state maximum allowable number of students in the classroom. When the issues with our child arose, they had a label on him as a problem child. Their attitude towards him, as well as me and my husband, completely changed. Since I work in the Education field, I did plenty of research, talked to colleagues, therapists, and other teachers, trying to find a solution. In our child's final week with Goddard, we ended up sending noise-cancelling headphones with him, as a tool to help with the amount of noise and chaos in the room. His teacher broke them on the first day. She threw them away. To this day, nearly three years later, our son still tells the same story about how this teacher broke his headphones. The owners, teachers, and even some of the parents left us feeling hopeless and that our son needed a “special school”. We removed him and ended up enrolling him in Goddard-Cordova. It was a night and day experience! Our child went from two teachers who were overwhelmed and stressed to a teacher who was SO excited to teach and just had an overall drive and passion for her student’s success. The atmosphere in the classroom was completely different; the class functioned like a family. There was so much love every time we walked into the classroom. While his teacher knew of his background, she did not see these labels on him. Our son loved her so much and she gave him the confidence that was lost at Collierville. She utilized the noise-cancelling headphones from day one. He used the headphones for a few months and then ended up feeling confident to not use them anymore! Because of this experience at Cordova, it allowed him to springboard into Kindergarten. He is at the top of his class in Math and Reading. He is a leader in his classroom and has found a love of art and music. At the end of this, I don’t blame my son's teachers at Collierville. They were put in a lose-lose situation by the owners. I truly believe they wanted the best for our son. I wish the owners would have been honest with us before we enrolled to let us know that they would not be a good fit for us. We had been told that from other daycares. While it hurts to hear, it would’ve saved us months of stress. I will add that I’ve heard that there are new owners of Collierville and things have improved. I truly hope so. While it was upsetting to have my son go through this, I don’t want any other child to have to go through what he went through. I don’t think the owners realized how much damage was done to my son. The emotional toll it took on him was substantial. In 2020, our son was diagnosed with High Functioning Autism. While I am so glad that we have a diagnosis now and an amazingly supportive team around us, I only wish that Goddard and other Early Childhood Centers would realize that they can play a critical role in early detection of delays, disabilities, etc. While they cannot diagnose, having a strong background in ECD should enable them to be well educated in Early Childhood issues in order to give parents some advice, support, guidance, etc. As Goddard is a well-known name in the ECD field, I truly expected a different outcome and more support.
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September 2022 by M. I.
My 4 year-old son told me that the teacher locked him outside of the classroom during the transfer from Monkeys (main class) to after school care (Froggies class). Talked to the director (who is great) about the incident and was told that the Monkeys' teacher denied that she left my child alone in the hallway during the transfer but the Froggies' teacher admitted that it was true and said he was only alone in the hallway for a short time. The Froggies' teacher also admitted that she did not know who opened the classroom door to let my son inside and that she didnt report the lack of supervision incident to management. The director stated that they watched the video but there was a blind spot in that area which limited their view but a parent was leaving the building during that same time and s/he could have opened the door to let my son into the room. No apologies or explanations to me from either teacher regarding the significant lack of supervision. The director did attempt to accommodate my request to move my son to the Polar Bears class a few days ahead of schedule to address my concerns about the lack of oversight from the Monkeys/Froggies teachers and possible retaliation from same. However, the owner overruled this accommodation and told me that the director was not authorized to make this decision. She also refused to provide me with an incident report despite my multiple requests which led me to contacting the corporate office and TN Dept. of Human Services. We did have a positive experience with the Polar Bears class the short time that my son remained there after the incident until the fall 2022 school year started. There are some great things at this location, e.g., curriculum, indoor and outdoor classroom, director and assistant director and some not so great things, e.g., lack of supervision and owner's response to same.
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May 2021 by Megan P.
This school and staff broke my 2.5 year old son's spirit, and taught him bad behaviors. He attended for over a year and loved his classmates and main teacher. Everything was great until 3-4 months ago when his secondary teacher moved back to her country due to visa expiring. Since then, he had a secondary teacher who he is still petrified of and still talks about how she hurt him (she is still working at the school now with babies who cannot talk or stand up for themselves). His main teacher stated he is not the only one from the class who is still afraid of her, yet she is still allowed to teach in the school. He has been let out of the classroom into the hallway BY HIMSELF, by a teacher or other adult, over 3 different times. One of which, I came to pick him Up from school, saw him sitting in the hallway alone, and the director, teacher, staff, all had no idea he was even missing from his class. Imagine being a parent and coming to see your child sitting in the hallway alone, and no adult knowing he was even missing. Anything could have happened to him. I started noticing aggressive behaviors in him since the secondary teacher left, including hitting and kicking. He learned this from his classmates, as I observed multiple days when I came to pick my son up, he was being hit or kicked by other classmates, and the adults in the room not saying anything to the child/children being aggressive. Anytime my son exhibited the same behavior however, they were quick to tell me and use him as a scapegoat claiming he was "unsafe to be around other children". When a teacher and adult let him out of the room once, the owner called my son a "liability" AT 2.5 YEARS OLD! My son's last day at this school was Friday 5/7/21 due to being kicked out of school because he was being blamed for making his classroom unsafe, was a liability, and the staff claim they "tried everything", despite me offering multiple solutions for them. If I as a single mother can control my son's behavior at home by counting to 3 and using a time out system, and they cannot at a school, that is on the staff. That should never be blamed on a 2.5 year old child. They kicked him out without any warning, and informed me over a zoom call while I was at work, despite them knowing I'm a single mother, work full time, and that all daycares have wait lists. My son cried that day, all weekend, and this morning when he was unable to go to his classroom and see his friends, and he did not understand why. And as a mother, there is nothing I can tell him which is a helpless feeling. I will not punish him, as he did nothing wrong. I cannot explain to him that a bunch of adults were blaming him for classroom issues, and kicked him out of school because of this. I begged and pleaded with the director and female owner of the school to please give him another chance, allow him to move up to the next classroom (which he was scheduled to do on June 1), etc. but the owner kept stating "my decision won't change" without any reasoning provided to me. I'm hoping my son isn't emotionally damaged because of this, and that he can overcome this without losing self-confidence, and without placing blame on himself for something he did not have any part in. I am saddened, hurt, and angry that a group of adults who are trained in child development were more than willing to hurt my son like that after knowing him for over a year, without any sort of notice or conversation with me prior to him being kicked out of the school. On his last day of school when I picked him up, I observed him interacting with the other children briefly, as this would be his last day to do so. In that brief moment, I saw a boy throw a hard toy at my son's head, and hit him in the back. My son did nothing but continue building his blocks. Two adults were in the room at this time, and neither said a word to the boy who hurt my son. But yet, my son was blamed for the aggression and lack of safety in the room, to the point he got kicked out withou
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April 2021 by Dalton S.
The Goddard School has been nothing short of a blessing to our family. We are constantly striving to give our kids the best opportunities, and Goddard has definitely done that! Our son has learned more in the few months he has been attending than he did in three years at his previous daycare. Children are our future, and this school is an amazing head-start for them!
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December 2020 by Cathy Jo Mattson
The teachers are wonderful - degreed, kind, experienced, and our families are so supportive of their children's learning environment!
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December 2018 by Stephanie Wiggins Burch
The Goddard School of Collierville has been so wonderful for our 4 month old. She is definitely positively stimulated at her school. Her teachers: Mrs. Meg, Mrs. Brana, and Miss Kelly are the absolue best. When Sybil sees her teachers, her eyes light up and she grins ear to ear. The owner's, Cathy Jo and Paul make sure all of their kid's and parents feel special. It's a great feeling to drop my baby off where she is happy and know she is loved.