Little Shepherd Day School

I couldn’t have picked a better school for our little one. The staff is amazing and their focused care and attention to STEM and nature activities is above top notch!

Can’t say enough great things about Little Shepard Day School/Peter Pan! The teachers are top notch, and the nature aspect is phenomenal. My children absolutely love it there.

Both of my kids have attended Little Shepard since they were infants (currently 4y and 2y). We could not be happier with all of the teachers there! In each room, we felt that our kids received the best care and learned SO much! They are excited to go to school each day and have loads of amazing stories when they get home. The nature program is fantastic and such a cool addition to the curriculum. I truly feel that the teachers here love the students with all their hearts. Some of our best experiences were with Ms. Diana (infant teacher) Ms. Cheri (3s teacher), Ms. Maria & Ms. Bianca (2s teachers), and Ms. Valeria (3s teacher). My kids have wonderful role models and are much better for it! The director, Ms. Kristi, is the absolute best and is wonderful with communication and transparency. I would recommend Little Shepard to everyone!

Great preschool with focus on nature. The teachers truly try to give outdoors time to children whenever weather permitting. Only the few weeks in winter when weather was really bad they didn't get much but otherwise they have been consistent in providing outdoor time. Director Kristi is responsive and knowledgeable, teachers have been great. Prices are reasonable for the going rate in the area. One downside is the payment system where they only take checks directly from the bank or via credit card payment with processing fee. For this day and age a better payment system should be in place. Also, we had unpleasant interaction with the treasurer. The treasurer said we are short on payment for adding on additional days for certain weeks but the payment we submitted is based on the rate last communicated to all parents. Once I pointed that out the treasurer never replied. I assume that meant we were right? At least should reply to confirm the payment is correct even not apologize for misunderstanding the amount? Otherwise my child has been having a great experience at little Shepard.

**Divorced parents beware** Divorced parents have enough to deal with, without having staff member gossiping about one parent to the other. Once is an accident, but three times blatantly gossiping about one side to the other is unacceptable. All three of these instances led to additional stress and strife that didn't need to be there. *My original review (in Yelp) was removed because it did not provide enough detail about my customer experience, so I would be happy to add more detail. My husband and I paid for half of his daughter's preschool tuition (his ex-wife paying the other half). My husband and I spoke to Kristi who assured us that our payments could be made separately. We stressed to Kristi that there had been a lot of issues between parents because my husband's ex wife was doing everything that she could to keep him out of his daughter's lives. Kristi assured us that for them her only concern was the children, even though she had known his ex-wife for quite some time. While my husband's daughter seemed to have a good experience, we did not. Early on we were repeatedly notified when the ex-wife bounced a check or was late on her payment, only we were told that it was our payment that was the issue! After several months of this, they finally got the billing issue notifications under control. Kristi would send out daily emails with pictures and the lesson plans, which we enjoyed, however there were times that information was sent home with the child and we were not notified, for instance a change of date for the spring sing, which we only found out about after showing up on the "wrong" day. There were three separate instances my husband's ex-wife was made aware of things the we had discussed specifically with Kristi, which she tried to use to antagonize us. The first time, Kristi admitted to sharing inappropriate information. She said she made a mistake and would not do it again. The second time she denied that it happened even though there were specific details that only Little Shephard could know. The third time was when we showed up to Spring Sing on the "wrong date". My husband was in the restroom and Kristi came out to speak to me all flustered about how the date had changed and she had sent the information home with the children, so sorry. Again, my husband was in the bathroom. About an hour later my husband received a message from his ex-wife about how I was at Little Shephard on the wrong day, how stupid was I, and what was I doing there without my husband, Kristi told her that my husband was not even there - because Kristi never saw my husband. I immediately emailed Kristi about this, and she denied that she said anything to the ex-wife. This was not acceptable to us after two other such occasions already! I escalated this to the owner who assured me that she was sure that Kristi would apologize and hadn't meant any harm. When I followed up several days later, I was told that she had spoken to Kristi and Kristi had felt she had done nothing wrong. We were dismissed by saying that we should focus on on my step-daughter's upcoming graduation from preschool. Again, my husband and I paid for half of the year's tuition. Once is an accident, but three times blatantly gossiping about one side to the other is unacceptable. All three of these instances led to additional stress and strife that didn't need to be there. EDIT March 2024: interesting that a response was posted 2 weeks ago… to my review from 7 years ago. What a generic and unsatisfactory response. Have they just hired a social media director?!??

I can't say enough wonderful things about Little Shepherd Day School! As a parent who values the importance of connecting children with nature, this preschool has exceeded all my expectations. From the moment I walked into the school, I could tell that Little Shepherd was a special place. The warm and nurturing environment immediately put me at ease with Ms Kristi at the helm. But what truly sets this preschool apart is their incredible nature program. The Nature Program at Little Shepherd is exceptional. It's not just about taking the kids outside; it's about immersing them in the world around them. The teachers guide the children through the wonders of nature, helping them explore and understand what they see. Whether it's observing insects in the garden, identifying different types of leaves, or watching the clouds float by, every outdoor excursion becomes a rich learning experience. Little Shepherd Day School inspires a deep connection with nature. It's heartwarming to see my child come home excitedly sharing new discoveries and stories about their outdoor adventures. I can see the positive impact this school is having on his development. They create a safe, nurturing, and stimulating environment that promotes growth and exploration. Thank you to the dedicated staff for making this preschool a true gem in our community!

I cannot say enough fantastic things about this school! Both of my boys are currently enrolled and have been attending LS for a year now. They’ve exploded with their development since attending, have made close friends, and are cheerful happy and playing every day when we pick them up. All of the teachers are thoughtfully selected (which is REALLY hard to do, to have all high quality staff that you feel comfortable guiding and being with your kids all day), and the entire staff is just wonderful. Even after we moved towns, We still drive out of our way just so that our boys can still go to school there. We will be sad when their time there comes to an end as they grow older!

All 4 of my children have attended this wonderful school and have flourished! Their curriculum is amazing and Kristi the director is such a pleasure to work with! Each and every one of my children have formed strong bonds with the educators here which has only helped them on their educational journey! We can't thank Little Shepherd enough for everything they have done for our family!