Toured a new daycare/school today

soon2b3

I just wanted to share the 411 on my tour of Carrington Academy today.  It seems that a lot of our school's (goddard) teachers are leaving to go teach at this new school Carrington.  The campus that I toured is at Hwy 9 and McFarland area, so like North Alpharetta, Forsyth County area.  Anyways, it's twice the distance from our house as our current school but even so I'm still contemplating making the switch.  It is a family owned and operated and they have 3 locations (windmere, midway, and this one - McFarland). 

The facilities were really nice, but I expect that since they are brand new.  The classrooms were LARGE compared to any other school I had visited in the past 4 years.  Their security system seemed upgraded from other schools, the usual keypad check in but then the lobby area is seperated from the classes too and there is a big screen tv with monitors in each of the classrooms that you can watch your children from.  They have NAEYC accreditation and seem to maintain low student:teacher ratios.  I met one of the owners, the exec director and the program director today and 2 of the teachers. 

I just wanted to share in case anyone is looking for a school in this area.   https://www.carringtonacademy.com/ 

Mrs Manners

I toured that one too when we were looking and thought it was nice as well. Just wanted to mention that you might also want to check Oak Grove Academy if you're looking for something in that area (it's on Hwy 9 behind the Suntrust & McDonalds, across from that Kroger). Both of those are right down from my house (like 2 miles) so if you do put your kiddos there, we'll have to do a meetup sometime!

DizzyBlonde

Mrs Manners:

I toured that one too when we were looking and thought it was nice as well. Just wanted to mention that you might also want to check Oak Grove Academy if you're looking for something in that area (it's on Hwy 9 behind the Suntrust & McDonalds, across from that Kroger). Both of those are right down from my house (like 2 miles) so if you do put your kiddos there, we'll have to do a meetup sometime!

Are you at Oak Grove? We were there this morning for a tour/more information. We were also looking at Akers. I'll have to add Carrington to our list to look at...would either of you be willing to share general weekly/monthly pricing on Carrington (PMs are good if you don't want to broadcast it...)

Mrs Manners

Before Sean was born, I toured several daycares in the area and chose Oak Grove for him to attend. When he was born a preemie, and right in the middle of RSV & flu season, his doctors recommended we do anything we could to keep him out of a daycare setting. So we ended up hiring a nanny to watch him with the intention of putting him in daycare. Well...he's 2.5 years old now and we still have the nanny. We love her and she loves him, but we can barely afford her anymore and I honestly think he'd be happy in a daycare setting because of the stimulation and interacation with other kids. He's been going to "preschool" and will go three mornings per week this year, but because of the times, we still have to have the nanny during that time because she has to take him and pick him up. My ONLY hesitation with putting him in daycare is that I have no idea what to do with him when he's sick. Neither dh or I could have taken off work as much as he was sick last year (mostly from preschool) or we would both have lost our jobs. If only I could find a little old lady or something who was willing to come watch him when he had to stay home. Any ideas on that front for me?

So that was the super long answer to your question I will tell you that at the time I was looking, I had EIGHT different neighbors and one mom I met at the park recommend Oak Grove to me. Carrington was brand new at the time so none of them had kids there.

ETA: I don't know toddler rates, but I remember that Oak Grove was $995/mth if you paid in full for an infant. Carrington was slightly less I believe.