Berkeley Parents Network: Beacon Preschool

Berkeley Parents Network

Beacon Preschool

Berkeley Parents Network > Reviews > Preschools > Beacon Preschool

September 2006

I am considering sending my 3 1/2 year old boy to Beacon Preschool. Last review I saw about it was in 2004. Anyone have any recent experience if they like it/ don't like it? Any infomation would be much appreciated. I already made one poor preschool choice. Don't want to make another. Thanks very much!
mom of an active preschool boy

My son has been attending Beacon Day School's early childhood program for over a year and a half -- he started in January just before his third birthday. He has been really happy there, and we plan to send our daughter there as well when she is old enough to attend. There are several things that we really like about Beacon that caused us to choose it over other preschools.

The preschool (as well as the elementary and middle schools) has a strong arts focus (music, dance, art), which was very important to us. While other preschools have kids sitting for long periods of time learning the alphabet and numbers by rote, Beacon students work on projects in small pace-driven groups, so the younger kids can be inspired by what's happening at the next table, while the older kids can feel a sense of accomplishment in their more advanced skills. Kids aren't pushed to perform skills beyond their developmental capabilites, but are provided with a lot of support with a high teacher-student ratio. Beacon understands that students have different strengths and ways of learning, and provides them with opportunites to learn in different ways, supporting numbers skills with learning to count beats in music, for example. They're given a solid foundation to become inquisitive learners.

The social aspect of Beacon also really struck us as unique. It has a truly diverse staff and student population. In preschool in particular, learning basic social skills is so incredibly important -- and sometimes challenging! -- and any issues we've had with our son's behavior both in and out of school have been handled by the staff very well. The staff communicate problems (as well as successes) quickly to parents and believe in working as a team with the parents to reinforce good socialization. Bullying is taken seriously and not ignored as it is in too many preschools; similarly, wallflowers are not left to sit alone on the playground. Each student is made to feel competent and special. The children are given ample time to run around and play. Before looking into Beacon, we walked away from an acceptance at another preschool that promised our son would be doing basic multiplication by kindergarten. We came to feel their program was highly rigid, and driven more by parent expectations than by what's best for kids' development. We prefer that our children get there when they're ready to really understand what they're doing -- fourth grade or so, for multiplication, would be just fine. We like, too, Beacon's year-round program and the lack of homework (for the kids in K-8), which are really helpful for working parents' schedules. Most importantly, again, our son is really happy there, and loves to go to school each day. good luck in your search!
Deirdre

I cannot recommend Beacon Preschool. My response is based on a half-year of my 3 year old daughter's attendance in their preschool program in 2003. We enrolled her in the program solely because her brother was attending the elementary school, and it was convenient. She was very unhappy there. The preschool did not seem to be developmental, i.e., play-based, although the kids could occasionally play in the classroom. It was a much more traditional, sit down and listen to the teacher or you will get a timeout kind of program. In fact, my three year old, who is extremely quiet and well behaved (almost to a fault) got time-outs from her teacher for apparently not looking at her when she was reading to the class. Much of her time in this class was spent quietly listening to the teacher, which seemed hard for kids that age to do. The classroom was too small and had some toys, but they were not on the level with Montessori educational toys, and the kids were expected to play with them for only certain alloted times. The teacher my child had was given to raising her voice at the kids as well. While we were aware that tsome of the preschool teachers at Beacon seemed warmer and more qualified, it was not our luck to get one. The playground was mediocre at best. The only part of the program worth recommending was the music teacher. Unless you live near the school or in Alameda, the drive to and from Beacon is not worth it either.
Berkeley mom

Our extremely active son began attending Beacon Day School when he was 4 years old ... after we made a previous poor preschool choice too! We are thrilled with Beacon and can't imagine him attending school anywhere else (he's in a K/1 class at Beacon now.)

Our son had a great preschool year and made lots of friends. He woke up every morning wanting to go to school -- as opposed to crying and asking us not to leave him at the previous preschool. He adored all the pre-school teachers and developed great social and emotional skills along with language arts and math skills.

Don't let anyone tell you the play ground is lacking .. the children have a great time outside! Our son loved flying paper airplanes, riding the bikes and simply running around ... besides there's a new climbing structure as well!
A Family Happy to Have Found Beacon Day School

Re: Pre-K Progams for December Birthday (Oct 2005)
Beacon Day School located on the Oakland waterfront addresses the needs of those children with late fall birthdays by assessing them and placing them either in a Junior Kindergarten (as part of our Early Childhood Program) or a K/1 class. Beacon's founding premise is to educate children for life in today's knowledge-based world, by providing the tools, skills and approach that establish the independent learner. Please call Admissions at (510) 437-2311 to schedule a tour in October or to attend an open house. ab

July 2003

My husband and I have recently relocated to the East Bay and are considering enrolling our 4.5 year old boy in the Beacon School preschool program. We would be very interested in hearing from others about their experience with the preschool. C. A.

Beacon is great! My son has been in the preschool program for 2 years and is now headed to their kindergarten. He has thrived in their program and loves it. They have great teachers with very low turnover, a truly child-centered curriculum, and a fabulous community.

What I love most: the music program and teacher; REAL diversity (kids of all colors and backgrounds, single-parents, same-sex parents, multi-racial families, and diverse economic backgrounds); the school founder and director who really understands kids and parenting and modern families and is available. Year-round program, I don't have to find summer ''camp'' every year, but they're flexible if you do want to take time for camp. For the future, I completely buy into the ''no homework'' until 5th grade policy. There's probably much more...

What could improve: the playground really needs an update. They use tire mulch (which is awful stuff, I was cleaning it out of my kid's ears this morning), but the kids don't care and it has plenty of room and is safe. More nutritious daily snacks (mostly crackers).

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