My younger son will be attending this school in two weeks. He’s a big bully at home, so I’m looking forward to have him at Star Light as I believe the teachers and faculty there will help me gear him to the right direction.
When I was searching for preschools for my older son (who is currently at Star Light) two years ago, I visited about 9 to 10 different schools. Right when I was discouraged, someone told me to check out this school. I was hesitant at first because this is a Christian school, and I’m more of a Buddhist follower. Anyhow, I decided to give this one a try.
I was glad I did. I liked everything about this school, the hours, the location, and many more. I liked the hot breakfast and lunches that the school serves (nutritionist meals). I liked that the facility is clean and the rooms are spacious. I liked that not only the upper class students (4-5 yrs) get to go to field trips, but the younger ones as well. I liked their curriculum emphasizes learning through playing (academics in the morning, and creative play in the afternoon when students learn about cooking, crafts, music, body movement, etc). I liked that the school is dedicated to the health, safety and enrichment of the children. I liked that the school has performances by the students throughout the year (Christmas, Chinese New Year, graduation, etc.) I liked the extracurricular activities – the Book Fair, the ShoeBox Donation during Christimas, the Easter Egg Hunt, the Chinese New Year Festival. I liked that each new student gets full attention from the teacher on the first week so that the student can ease in the transition without feeling too overwhelming.
Most importantly, I loved the teachers! They cared so much about their students and would discipline them like their own. They preach on mutual respect, no put-downs, and zero tolerance for bullying. Not only do they provide a strong academics program, but they also teach the child to be a more well-rounded person.
However, if you’re the type of parent who don’t like to be involved in the school, then this isn’t it for you. The school hosts workshops throughout the year and expects and encourages the parents to attend. Last year, we had 4 workshops – first workshop is an open-house, second one was a kindergarten workshop (information about the enrollment process), third workshop had a speaker from the health department on the topic about the danger of lead, and the fourth one was allergy.
The only two bad things I can named for this school are: the play yard is a bit run-down and not much parking available (a pain when you drive to pick up your kids). Usually, parents are very courteous and so far I haven’t seen any conflicts with this issue.
My son enjoys going to school every day and doesn’t even want to leave when I pick him up. At first I was a bit uncomfortable sending my child to a Christian preschool. I ended up loving this school so much, I’m willing to bypass that. We waited a year to get into this school (they want 100% potty trained) and it was definitely worth the wait! I’d definitely recommend this school to anyone looking for a preschool in the sunset/richmond district. Oh, one more thing, this school is 90% chinese and 10% mix. If ethnic diversity is something you’re looking for, then you won’t find much here.