Seeking a Daycare or Preschool in Castro Valley

4 parent questions ▼
Archived Q&A and reviews ▼

Parent Q&A

Select any title to view the full question and replies.

  • Toddler preschool

    –
    Mar 21, 2024

    Hi fellow parents, 

    Does anybody have recommendations for a high-quality preschool in the San Leandro or Castro Valley area that emphasizes socio-emotional development and learning through play?  Spanish-English bilingual would be a plus!

    Many thanks,

    Melissa

    Mar 21, 2024

    You could check out Magic Days, a Spanish English bilingual daycare/preschool in Castro Valley. My son attended for about a year in 2021 and loved it. However, transparently they didn’t take covid as seriously as I’d have liked, so we switched out son to a different daycare.

    Mar 29, 2024

  • preschool/daycare near Castro Valley

    –
    Dec 28, 2023

    Hello all! Our son just turned one and we are looking into starting daycare/preschool sometime in the next year. I would love somewhere close to our home but it doesn't seem like there are many options in or near Castro Valley... and not much advice on here that is recent that I can find. Any local families with advice on where to start? Bonus points for a bilingual spanish/english program but not a dealbreaker. Safety and happiness of our son is the #1 concern. Thanks in advance!

    Dec 28, 2023

    Are you a member of the Castro Valley Parents Club Facebook group? I would recommend asking there. I would look at Magic Days, La Plazita (downtown SL location) as well as La Escuelita de Laura. 

    Jan 3, 2024

    Hi!!  We looked at a bunch of schools and honestly all of them had positive and negatives. We ended up with Redwood Forest because it is affordable, flexible with scheduling, and the academic needs matched our son’s interests. We don’t align with their religious focus and wish they focused more on social learning. The littlest kid class where you child would be has some of my all time favorite teachers. 

    I put my son on waitlists for numerous locations a year before we wanted preschool so when it came we had multiple options. Because of when we stated school I not as familiar with the options for 1 year olds though.  
     

    My friends liked His Growing Grove even though they too aren’t Christian (common experience in CV) when their kids were younger and then moved them to Redwood when they wanted more classic preschool academics. 
     

    Hope this helps a bit. 


     

    Jan 3, 2024

  • Preschool in Castro Valley & speech delay

    –
    Nov 14, 2017

    We are currently in Oregon but will be moving to the Bay area this summer. Looks like we are going to try to make Castro Valley home base (we will both be working near downtown Oakland), and I am currently researching preschools. We have a wonderful loving 3 year old daughter who has a significant expressive speech delay who currently attends a standard preschool up here in Oregon 3 days a week. She gets speech therapy twice a week, once through the school district up here and another day at a clinic (outsourced by Kaiser insurance). My questions are: 1) Does anyone have positive experiences or recommendations for a preschool in CV that does well for kids with special needs? I would prefer a play based school. Our daughter is also quite sensitive and a rather calm quiet type for her age, although very affectionate and playful after she warms up to new situations. 2) What is the process for setting up speech services through the school district down there and does anyone have a good experience working with CV district for their special needs child?

    Nov 14, 2017

    Hands down - the best preschool for your daughter is The School of the Imagination in Dublin which is located near the border of CV. It is a year-round inclusion school where about a third of the students have mild-moderate special needs. They often have a significant waitlist so I strongly urge you to contact them ASAP to get their list now. Fell free to contact me with any questions. Best of luck on your move!

    Nov 15, 2017

  • Look for recommendations for preschool in castro valley area

    –
    Sep 5, 2017

    I just moved from San Francisco to Castro Valley and I'm looking for a part time preschool in the Castro Valley area for my daughter who will turn 4 in just a few weeks. Seeking recommendations please!!! Thanks in advance!!

    Sep 5, 2017

    Redwood forest preschool is fantastic. Our 3 year old has been there for a year now and we plan to keep him until kindergarten. Feel free to reach out with questions. 

    Sep 20, 2017

Archived Q&A and Reviews

Jan 2015

Hi,

I recently moved to Castro Valley and have a child who will start preschool in the fall.
She has been at a wonderful in-home daycare in Oakland for the past two years. I would love
recommendations for a preschool that is nurturing, safe, and can help her start to get
ready for kindergarten. Ideally it would be in CV but nearby (Hayward, San Leandro) is okay
as well. I figure it's best to start looking now.

Thanks!
New CV Mom

My 3 year old and 4.5 year old are going to Woodroe Woods which is on the border of
Castro Valley and Hayward and we love it. The school is very play based and the kids
get a lot of outside and play time. The school has been around for years and usually
has a long waiting list. But it is worth it.
CV mom

Hi,

I think there are a lot of really good preschools in Castro Valley.

We are living in CV for four years now, and I think the most loved is Woodroe Woods http://woodroewoods.org  Unfortunately, this one is way to expensive for us, but it seems like a wonderful preschool. I would totally check it out if I would have the money. As I don’t, I don't dare to. Way too depressing.

I visited Growing Years last summer and was very impressed with it, too http://www.childcaresmiles.com/growingyearspreschool/default.aspx  I really liked the large playground, the different rooms / houses for the different age groups and the fact that they serve a home cooked (!) lunch at lunchtime.  If it wouldn't have been too expensive too for me, I would have sent my daughter there.

My daughter attends Ms Helen's pre-school on Santa Maria Ave, and she totally loves it. She is mad every weekend that she can't go.  She learned so much so fast, it is totally amazing. They do a new letter, color and number each week, and make a lot of projects around ''the letter of the week'' At Age 4 and 3 months, and after 4 months there, my daughter is on a really good way to reading and writing.

I've met the owner of little sunshine learning center several times, and she was always very, very nice and caring for the kids. She has a nice transition program for the kids to get used to preschool.  http://www.littlesunshinelc.net

The Castro Valley Co-Op parent nursery would be a very helpful option to make new connections and be engaged in the preschool education. They have the most amazing preschool building I have ever been in here in the States (We are from Germany). Check out the playground behind the building - they have two. Problem is, one parent needs to be a 100% stay at home parent, or the hours won't work out.  http://www.cvpns.org/cms/

If you are interested in Montessori, I would recommend The Montessori Giving Tree my son attended a Montessori preschool in San Leandro, and Ms Tisha was the Montessori master adviser for the headteacher, and she subbed several times for her. She is great with children. Her school is based in her house in Castro Valley and has a very lovely set up.

The Castro Valley's mother's club usually holds a pre-school fair each spring, as a new resident in CV, joining would be a good idea (I was a member for 3 years and met a lot of really nice people and kids and got very good local advice on almost everything) http://www.castrovalleymothersclub.com

good luck!
Tina