Preschool Recommendation - North Berkeley
Hello, we have a three year old, and we will be living on Vine and Shattuck. Searching for any recommendations around the area.
Jul 7, 2022
Hello, we have a three year old, and we will be living on Vine and Shattuck. Searching for any recommendations around the area.
Parent Replies
Hi, we have been with the JCC for 5 years (2 lids) and love it. Its a few blocks from you. Its not religious at all, diverse community, play based but really cares about ECE. Kids thrive there and do great when they go on to K
We've been happy with Little Elephant Too! which is on McGee and University. Montessori school with longtime teaching staff and smaller-sized mixed age single classroom. Maybe a little far to walk but definitely bikeable from Shattuck and Vine.
Golestan School!!! It's "Persian Emersion" for preschoolers (my son is in 1-2 grade) but who cares? (my child is Anglo/Chinese) Half the parents are Persian, the rest from everywhere. Progressive and European style program.
My family has been very happy with New School, which is at Cedar and Bonita. Play-based school with lots of field trips and happy kids.
Our older kid just graduated from Children’s Community Center after three happy years there. She—and our whole family, actually—grew by leaps and bounds, and we’re very much looking forward to our younger kid attending in a couple of years. Can’t speak highly enough of the teachers and staff at CCC, most of whom are very longtime early childhood educators. One caveat and positive aspect of CCC, both, is that it’s a parent/teacher cooperative, which means that your family would have regular weekly participation days and a family job—not a doable time commitment for all families, though in our experience, the cooperative model meant we were very meaningfully involved at the preschool and have made many lasting relationships with fellow CCC families.
I highly recommend Cedar Creek montessori, not far from the north Berkeley BART station. Definitely a highlight of my kids' education thus far (one now at Berkeley High, the other in college)
We really love the New House Day School on Hopkins near Alameda. It’s got a great community of people, is an excellent size, and is play-based with a lot of time outdoors and great field trips. The teachers are exceptional and also bring in a music teacher and other special activities. Our kid has thrived there—making great friends, learning a lot, and generally just being very happy.