La Petite Academy

I had an appointment to tour the facility at 9:30 at the Lakeside Dr, Richmond location. We were on time. My son and I stood outside of the building ringing the doorbell for about 5 minutes. Maybe it wasn’t working, I have no idea. Right as I’m trying to call the facility to come and let me in a mom and her son came up and punched in the code and let us in. She told us she would let someone know I was there.
We hung out at the front desk for another ten minutes. No one came to greet us, literally, until 9:45. While we waited at the front desk (separated from the classrooms by clear glass windows and a door) I could hear one of the staff yelling at one of the kids. I want to be very careful with the word «yelling» because I know it’s a strong word to use when talking about staff in a preschool setting. She was yelling. Her voice was loud and demanding, clearly irritated, and directed at one student by name. I could not see who the staff member was, I could just hear her.
The woman who finally came to do the tour was very nice. She talked with my son a little bit and then walked us through the facility. It was very brief. She didn’t show us the playground, just commented that kids play outside for about 45 minutes and that staff does head counts on all of the children routinely. Other than that she told me about how important it was that staff pay attention to the children’s allergy lists at meal time because state checks that kind of stuff apparently, and she told me that kids my son’s age do a lot of «cutting» as she’s pointing to the kids cutting shapes out of magazines. The kids also have journals they do with the staff to help prepare them for kindergarten.
Then the tour was over. She hands me a folder with the price list and at the same time she informs that they do not currently have openings.

My daughter started La Petite when she was 4 and graduated when she was 5. She attended Kindercare before that, had I have known how amazing La Petite was before that, we would have made the switch years earlier!!! Excellent care, education, and teachers.