Mira Mesa Presbyterian Church Preschool

I love this place! My son started here when he was 2.5 and he just loves it. Mrs Erickson is the best teacher we could find. He loves school so much that on the days he stays home he keeps complaining that he misses school. I love how small the class sizes are and how focused the school is on learning through play. Their playground area is incredible and the whole place has a homely wonderful vibe which is just great for a kid his age. Will be putting my second son there in fall. My only drawback to the school is that they don’t offer 5 days a week — it’s always just 2 or 3 days. Now since he is 3 it would be nice to send him there everyday.

I will write this review based totally on my personal experience. We decided to enrol our 2 yr old son in this pre-​school and we were very excited and pleased after talking to the Director Ms. Diane. Our son is a very active kid and anyone who have had children in their lives knows that 2 yr old kids are expereincing new things and constantly adapting to new situations plus they are not that efficient in communicating since they can’t talk fully at that age which leads to minor frustrations sometimes, and we thought that putting him in the school will help his development a lot. However, our impression of this preschool changed entirely just after the second class.
Our son was very excited on the first day at school and I can proudly say that he was the happiest looking kid in the bunch on that day. We were nervous but we left him at school and came back home and went back to pick him up. While picking up, we were told by his class teacher (whom I will not name here but will say that she is probably in her 50’s) that «your kid is a bit too active and is not ready for pre-​school, we will keep him for another day or two and if things don’t change we will have to ask you to discontinue him». Even more so, this was told to us loud and clear in front of other parents in a very unprofessional and insulting manner. This was extremely dissapointing and insulting for us and our child, afterall he is just a 2 year old child, not a trained adult and the very reason for us putting him in the school was so that he can learn interpersonal skills. We took him to school the second day and he was extremely excited that day too, unfortunately just before the class began he threw up a little (luckily) outside the class and everyone knows that children at this age throw up all the time. As we stood there trying to calm him and clean him up, the class teacher stood behind us complaining that «throwing up is not acceptable» and she went on saying that «he probably threw up because he was an unhappy child» and that was the tipping point for us. That was the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard, and couldn’t in a 100 years thought of coming from a pre-​school teacher. The assistant janitor was better behaved than her. After hearing such bizarre statements from a class teacher we decided to take him back home that day. We strongly believe that a pre-​school teacher who judged him after spending just 3 hrs in the first class (each class is 3 hrs long) is not a suitable person for our child to be around.
She never had a single hint of smile on her face since day 1 and lacked the energy and enthusiasm and it was clear from her facial expressions and the way she spoke to not only us but everyone else. It seem to be just «A JOB» for her. May be it’s due her age, lack of patience and energy, I don’t know. You need to have active teachers for young students who are dedicated and patient enough to give the child time to adapt to new things and to guide them in a positive way. Not all kids are the same and she seem to lack that understanding and it was probably our mistake that we took our child there before talking to her in person, I was also told by one of my colleague that MMPP «used» to be a wonderful place for childrens but things have definitely changed now, I just wished I spoke to her before going there. If you have a FULLY trained «2 year old» you can go ahead and give this place a try, because everyone else seem to be really nice there, but otherwise I strongly suggest you talk to the class teacher personally before making any descision. We finally withdrew our son from the school since we felt that the teacher somehow developed a biased opinion against him. We took him elsewhere and he is extremely happy now. I respect Ms. Diane since she apologized for this whole ordeal. There are probably other better teachers in this school but I don’t feel all that excited to go find out.

This is my twins’ second year at MMPP and I couldn’t be happier. They really love going to school and love both of their teachers (Mrs. Cook last year and Mrs. Bowers this year). The school-​to-​home communication is great, kids are always safe, supervised and most importantly — having tons of fun. Whenever I talk to other parents from this school everyone is always saying nice things about the preschool and their teachers.

Love. Love. Love. Words can’t express the gratefulness I have for MMPP. I am a mom of four, and when my oldest was ready for preschool I had a lot of apprehension about him starting a school environment because he is high-​energy and always pushing the boundaries… and I knew it would take the right teacher to bring out his best. Well, did they ever! Ms. Bowers was our first teacher. She is the warmest person, and genuinely loves kids. We also had Ms. Wills for a summer program, and she is a sweetheart. His second year he had Ms. Coleman who we loved! My second son started in the two year old program with Ms. Erickson and Ms. Labaw… they are saints. Each teacher has their own unique personality and style, but the underlying theme was their love for kids, and their vast experience and knowledge of this age group. The fact that I decided to start my second son so early was strictly because of the confidence I had in MMPP and the positive results I saw with my older son. We have since moved out of state and I am so sad that my younger two won’t be able to experience MMPP, and as I am starting to «shop» for preschools in our new state I am comparing them all to MMPP and hoping I find something that comes close… They truly felt like family, and I know that was the experience of all the other parents I got to know over our time there.