The Goddard School

Both my boys attended Goddard and we were extremely pleased with our experience. The teachers are the heart of their program. My boys were always well cared for and were taught lessons that helped them form a strong social, emotional, and educational foundation. The facility for learning was top notch! During our tenure there, they added promethean boards to two classrooms, they added a splash pad for the summer months, and they added an online communication system that provided daily information, pictures and video of my their day. And finally, the best part about Goddard were all the sweet children my boys got to meet. The owners provide numerous activities that allowed us to build a community. We will forever keep so many fond memories of our time there! They were great years! Thank you Goddard teachers and owner!

Great school. Amazing Staff. Love how much both of my daughters learned here before heading to Kindergarten. I would recommend this school to anyone in a heartbeat!

Much better than other Goddard schools in Gilbert. This one is run really well, by people who really know what they are doing. The teachers are good, and they send you pictures of your child throughout the day so you can actually see what they are doing, and know that they are being taken care of. The director, Ms Stacey, is great, she has her MS degree and is really knowledgeable about child development and education. Ms Penny (owner) is really nice and great to work with as well. We had our child at the other Goddard on Higley, this one is run so much better by people who actually know what they are doing. This is what a preschool should be.

My wife and I signed up our 4 year old last month and she has been attending The Goddard School now for a little over 1 month. I am VERY VERY impressed with this school and recommend it for any parent and below are the reasons why:
1. Teachers
The teachers are amazing and the ratio of children to teachers is much better and manageable as opposed to the last daycare our daughter went to. They also are educated and have their degree’s and this is very important for me to leave my daughter with them.
2. Cleanliness
The school is very clean, both indoor and outdoor. The bathrooms are clean and I havent noticed anything dirty about the school.
3. Education
My daughter gets the education that she was lacking at other schools here at The Goddard School! The first week she attended she was talking to me about the planets in our solar system and even last week she was talking to me about plants. In just one month I have a little 4 year old girl who is on her way to becoming an Astronomer with a green thumb and that pleases both my wife and I VERY VERY MUCH!
4. Activities
The activities the children do are excellent. They get to work out, do yoga and my daughter is even involved in dance lessons and gets to do a recital this summer!
All in all, both my wife and I are VERY impressed and VERY happy with this school and we wanted to send a Kudos to Cystal Bragg (Manager), Penny Melchanik (Director) and Stacey Bonenberger (Teacher)!!! Keep up the hard work because it has helped my daughter TONS!!!

I have a 2yo and 4yo attending Goddard School. My 4yo actually asks if its a school day on the weekends because he wants to go, and at pickup once told me to come back later.
The Goddard School surpasses so many other preschools in so many ways:
Teachers with degrees.
Daily Reports– Even pictures of your child during his time at school. They even have parent teacher conferences.
Bathroom Access in each room and potty training assistance
Healthy lunch option
Snacks posted so you know what your child is having
Class size
Curriculum that is fun. Making learning fun is a talent and Goddard does it.
Higher Standards. They must uphold to Goddard as well as State Standards
Playground with grass, shade, and even a splash pad
Availability– ½ days, full days, school hours, and even attending different days of the week are all options

The Goddard School is amazing! I have a 2 year old and a 3 year old that attend M-​F. They are always happy when I pick them up and when I mention their teachers to them outside of school they always smile and have great things to say. I travel a lot for work and love receiving 5 – 10 pictures or videos of activities my kids are doing throughout the day. There is nothing better than getting picture of your child smiling and enjoying an art activity or a video of them singing a song with the group. The 3 year old class has a lot of structure and learning — I can’t believe my kid can count to ten in Spanish. The 2 year old room provides a lot of love and getting the kids to play and interact with one another. This has been a perfect fit for my children and I couldn’t imagine them any where else.
Thank you Goddard!

We signed my little one up to attend 2 days a week, T and Th. I just wanted her to interact with other kids and have fun. When we arrived, the teacher wasn’t the same one we met at our tour. They assured me she was great. Things were fine until she moved up a few months later to the 2’s. There was another transition in teachers (it happens A LOT there) and this new teacher was ‘so great’ I heard. My daughter moved to her class when she turned 2 and things just went downhill. I picked my daughter up the first few times and she was wandering around or in the bathroom crying at the top of her lungs. The teacher told me, ‘she’s having a bad day.’ I told the teacher AND the assistant director/​curriculum director to PLEASE call me if she is crying and I will be there in a flash to get her. I took it upon myself to call that day and check on her. (She only went for 3 hrs in the am.) I could hear her crying in the background! The teacher told me, ‘this isn’t the right environment for her.’
WHAT??? I couldn’t believe it. My daughter is healthy, happy and LOVES doing activities and playing with kids… what is going on!!!
I picked her up immediately, and when I walked in, the assistant director had her head down, ignoring me as if I wasn’t there… WHY? Who knows. She probably knew I was upset because NO one called me.
I got my daughter, and left. The assistant and the curriculum person was up front chatting, no one asked why I was there early, or what is going on.
This place has SO much turn over (just being there a few short months there were teachers coming and going.) Do they care about the kids? They sure didn’t about mine. It’s not some fancy place they pretend it to be… it’s a daycare. A regular daycare that shoves capacity amount of kids in a room and collects your $.
We since have found an actual pre-​school program through a church in Gilbert that is run like a school. All of the kids start and go home at the same time, and NOT ONCE has my daughter cried! My husband and I are shocked at the difference of the 2 places. We bought in to the hype of the place and the fact it was made out to be this preschool program. It’s not.
If you want a preschool, this isn’t it. If you want a babysitter type daycare, this is a VERY low grade place to go. :-(

My daughter has attended The Goddard School for 8 months now, and we could not be happier to have found such a caring and fun environment for our little girl. My wife and I toured three other schools in the area, and we know we made the right choice.
Staff– Really, this is probably the most important aspect for us. Our daughter is treated so well by the teachers, and the front office staff is very welcoming and helpful. The staff are nurturing and patient, and they genuinely seem happy to be at work each day. They also have a low teacher: child ratio.
Curriculum– They offer sign language and Mandarin, as well as the building blocks of learning such as reading, writing, math, etc.
Facility– The building is very clean, easy to access, and parking is ample. The classrooms are alive with student artwork and happy students engaged in learning through play.
A few extras:
Unlike some other area preschools, we have the option of bringing our own food or purchasing the catered lunch options. This is a great benefit for us because our daughter has some dietary restrictions so we appreciate that flexibility.
The playground is much nicer than others we have seen. It is safe and clean, and the kids have a blast playing outside when weather permits. During the summer months, when it is too hot be outside much of the day, they have ‘water’ days which mean varied activities depending on the age group.

I visited and toured five preschools in my area. Goddard School did the best job of showing me what their school offered without making me feel pressured to enroll my son. Because my guy is an only child, we wanted him to attend preschool to be around kiddos his own age and have the chance to work on social skills. He attended Goddard School from the age of 2 ½ — 5 years old. We’ve been thrilled with his time at Goddard School. Penny, the director, does a great job of being available for any positive or constructive feed back. I’ve seen her greet a gaggle of kiddos by name and she genuinely seems to enjoy her profession.
One of the things that impressed me over the years was the consistency of teachers. This is not a school that gets a new batch of instructors every year. The teaching staff is made up of quality, highly educated and highly approachable individuals. The staff does a great job of growing academic as well as social skills. To this day, even in Kindergarten at a different school, my son will use some of the phrases and social graces he learned at Goddard School.
Big kudos to Penny, Ms. Bohlman (love her!), Ms. Davis (miss her!) and the rest of the Goddard School family. — BG