REVIEW OF Sunflower Early Learning Society BY parent, Diana Mirhosseini

(5) Student Experience

I was initially worried when signing up my son for preschool, as he was extremely attached to me, however the teachers did a FANTASTIC job at bonding with him and creating a sense of safety and love for him, so by the end of the first week of preschool, he went from refusing to go into the classroom, to running in to hug his teachers and forgetting to say bye to me. My son absolutely loves the activities the teachers organize for the kids, he loves circle time, and music class (they bring a music teacher once a week to introduce fun musical instruments, dances, and songs). I love how the teachers do a wonderful job of fostering a play-based learning environment. Everything they do (activities, nature walks, arts & crafts) is super fun and engaging for the kids, and you can tell, that everything is rooted in learning real skills for life.

(5) School Leadership

They do an extremely good job at keeping parents up-to-date with everything that happens at school: from weekly recap emails with everything the kids did that week at school (including beautiful photos of our children), to individual emails sent from the teachers to a parent on milestones, or things that need to be worked on (e.g., they emailed me when my son when to the bathroom all by himself, unassisted). The school director is very friendly and approachable and does an awesome job at keeping us in the loop with upcoming events and reminders.

(5) Teaching

It is very easy to tell that the teachers love their job, and are passionate about teaching these little kids all the skills they need in this world. I believe they follow the emilia reggio philosophy, which is all about finding out what makes each child curious, and on the other hand, what challenges them. The teachers do a great job at making sure each child receives an equal and fair amount of attention, and they are very knowledgeable at instilling firm but kind boundaries when needed. I believe my son has developed so much intellectually from their teaching and instructions, and he always comes back home eager to tell me and show me what he learned, or what activities he did (i.e., arts & crafts).

(4.5) Academics

Currently, my son is in his first year of preschool, so the academic curriculum for this year was focused on developing basic skills and understanding of the world around him. They focused on understanding objects, dots, nature, and how the world around us functions at its most basic level. I believe they do a really good job at teaching the kids and inspiring them to be curious. A big strength of this model of teaching is that it enables the kids to ask questions, as opposed to being taught something that you simply have to memorize. One thing they could improve on (in my opinion) is perhaps introducing slightly more challenging concepts (like numbers, what sounds each letter makes, and how they form words together, very basic geography... looking at maps, where we live, etc), but I'm sure that will come in the next year of preschool.

(5) Extracurriculars

So far, in the first year of preschool, there have not been too many extracurricular activities, but that is to be expected, as the kids are too young, and at this age, it's mostly the parent's job to select activities and extra-curricular things for them. I am not sure how much they encourage competition in the classroom, but I prefer that they encourage team playing at this age.

(5) Students

I like that it's a pretty small school, I think they have less than 100 students across the various classes (I might be completely mistaken about this number), but nevertheless, it's a small school, so it feels like a tight-knit community. The atmosphere is friendly and caring. All the students in my son's class get along very well, and my son can't wait to come home and tell me which of his friends he played with that day. The teacher does a fantastic job making sure all the kids feel included, and fostering a great environment for making friendships and getting to know each child. At parent-teacher conferences, they often tell us which kids my son loves to play with, and encourage us to reach out to the parents of the other kids to arrange playdates, to deepen those friendships too.

(5) School Life

As mentioned above, the first two days of preschool my son did not want to leave my side, however, he now absolutely loves going to preschool and is actually sad sometimes when I come to pick him up and say it's time to go home. This is because he loves his teachers, his friends, and all the fun things they get to do there (and how it's always something new, toys are rotated, new activities are introduced, and new musical instruments are brought). And I think this is true for all the kids, they all enjoy being in school and look forward to their time spent there (whether it's in the classroom, in the gymnasium, or in the garden). Really, the only downside, is that it's ONLY 2.5 hours per day (either three or two days per week) for the first year of preschool.

(5) Community

The school does a wonderful job organizing community events, where all the kids get to have fun together while the parents meet each other and mingle. What I love about these community events is that the school gets the Kindergarteners to help out and our little pre-schoolers see that the bigger kids play a big part in making these events happen, and it naturally inspires them. We are always encouraged to reach out to other parents and organize play dates, and we each receive a copy of other parents' emails in order to contact them. The school also invites the parents to participate and get involved in the classroom, and they organize certain events that all the parents get to attend (Halloween costume show, Mother's day, etc).

(5) School Location

The teachers often take the kids for walks in our neighbourhood, which is fantastic, because we truly have a wonderful mix of breathtaking scenery, wonderful house architecture, and fantastic decorations (especially for Christmas and Halloween). It's great for the kids to walk together and have conversations about it all. We live in a very tight-knit community, and the kids get to learn about where they live, as well as make life-long friends.