Prestige Montessori School

This is NOT a good quality montessori school. They do not abide by the Day Nursery Act guidelines, the children are not well fed. My daughter was injured on the playground falling both on ice and in a pothole. The owners are impolite and unreasonable. I do not recommend this daycare for your child.

AVOID at all costs! The owner does not care in the slighest about children and is judt in it for the buck!!! My son was degraded and left on the cold bathroom floor for hours because he had an accident during a transition to the school.

This is NOT a safe place for your child. The ownwers are horrible , the children are underfed, the day nurseries acts are not followed and the owners are simply in it for the money. DO NOT ENROLL YOUR CHILD.

Absolutely horrible school. The hired staff leaves as fast as they can; the owners are rude, lack any respect for the children they are supposed to nurture or the families who pay their fees. They do not respond well to requests for feedback or attempts to meet in person to discuss issues. For three months the SK class had only one teacher (the owner) for 20 kids. Then they hired a part-time teacher who left at the end of the year rather than go back. The food is a joke and they will not allow you to send your own lunch. It is a complete money grab and since they decided to add grades 1 -4 all they ever wanted to talk about by literally holding you at the door as you dropped off your child was advertising the new program. I saw parents leave yelling "Stop trying to sell me on it" because the attempt was both unprofessional and the approach that of a bad car salesman. If you are considering the school, make every effort to speak with parents whose children have attended and you will only hear horror stories.

Defensive owners, NOT RECOMMENDED!!! When issues are brought to the owners’ attention they become defensive and instead of listening to my concerns they cut me off and place the blame on me and my child using raised voices. When the administrator (co-owner) makes mistakes he fails to admit to it and to apologize. All that comes out from his mouth is “You should have received it [that form]. I don’t know what happened”.

I was greatly disappointed with this school and DO NOT RECOMMEND to any parent. I feel that I was told what I wanted to hear during my first meeting with the head of school but things turned out very different throughout the year. Unfortunately once a child is registered they lock your money for the school year and refunds are not provided. I was being told that my child should be more independent while their son was being dressed by them in front of me, hand fed by the head of school (his mother); given a baby bottle of milk at all times of the day in front of his peers who had to follow outlined snack and lunch time schedule; ate whatever and whenever he wanted in front of other children e.g.: timbits, popcorn, chips; wondered off from classroom to classroom or was running around the school without any consequences. My child on the other hand was receiving regular time outs for trying to be a child or for crying. They punished him by making him sit on a cold floor for long periods of time. I agree with other parents, the owners are in it for the money. They don’t care about the parents (who pay such high tuition fees) and their children. They will use any occasion to have food drives in order to save themselves money.

The consistency of negative feedback from parents is a testament to this poorly run daycare. I think most parents would be more forgiving if the owners were genuinely sincere about providing excellent child care services. However, given that the most crucial years for a child’s development has been overshadowed by greedy, self-indulgent and unqualified individuals whose main goal is to get your money first, talk later, is extremely bothersome and should be either investigated by the Canadian Council of Montesorri Administrators (CCMA) or have their membership revoked. This particular daycare has truly forgot the CCMA 12 Code of Ethics or failed to get a copy.

I agree with all of the above comments. The owner/manager is 100% focused on making money and has no interest/passion for children or their development. Despite the fact that we pay dearly for tuition and a meal plan we receive a fundraising pamphlet every month and there is at least one or two days every month where we are required to bring food for a 'party'. The food list involves all sorts of sweets and other unhealthy foods and they serve pizza every Friday. It makes me question what they are actually feeding the children the rest of the week. I also have trouble believing that someone who can't seem to teach their own son discipline and independence is qualified to provide these simple life lessons to other children. I would NOT recommend this school to anyone and will not be enrolling my child in the future.

I am unaffiliated with the parents above but would have to agree with most of the comments. I am disappointed in the choice we made and wish that I would have come across comments like this when I enrolled my child. Perhaps I would have reconsidered this decision. The teachers are fine but I find interacting with the owners very frustrating.

I have to disgree with the above comments. My expereince withthis school has been great! I have received infomrmation quite timely, and so much so that i have both my sons in this school. They have always been there to speak to, and given me answers to my questions. I have no problem recommending this school. I have actually been there at lunch time to see what they are serving and it has always been delicious healthy meals. I can not beleive the difference for the better in my son, and the results we have seen. This is a great school!!

I can not disagree more with the comments above. I looked everywhere for schools especially Montessori schools in Oakville. I visited them all. As soon as I entered Prestige, and spoke to the owners, I new I found the right school. Every school that I had been to I just did not get the right feel to it. This is my second year there, it keeps getting better and better. The owners, from my expereince are always there and always eager to help. Great job!!

This school is a JOKE! These owners a just out for the money! They don't care at all about the children! If the students are messy when they eat they are called degrading names. My son came home in tears because the male owner yelled at another boy during lunch saying "what is this? Are you an animal! Do you eat like this at home?" My son was afraid that if he was messy during lunch he would also get yelled at as well. Their son is wild and uncontrollable! They constantly send out rude emails warning the parents not to send their kids to school sick, meanwhile their son shows up at school with PNEMONIA running around with a can of pop in his hands! Great food to give your child when he is sick! They constantly tell parents that their children must be independent while they still have to dress their son for recess. My son hates going there everyday because he has to listen to their son scream and kick the walls during his frequent tantrums. I would have loved to pull my child out earlier but another friend of mine warned me that when her daughter was pulled out in December they SUED her for the tuition for the rest of the school year and won! She is still paying tuition even though her child no longer attends this school. What's worse is they have also done this to other parents! Although the teachers her are fantastic the owners are horrible. STAY AWAY!!!

Don't be swayed by the beautiful building. Although the teachers are good, they can never keep staff. As of June they have no one to work there in the fall except the wife. They will lie to your face, make negative comments about your children to other parents. They leave during the day to pick tiles for their new house, and to get their hair done. Oh and if you want to leave, expect to get sued. Don't send your child.

I feel terribly dissappointed in this school, especially when entrusting something as precious as my child. While the teachers are excellent and very loving...they don't stay long. The owners are at times rude and very defensive, especially the "administrator" co-owner,(who doesn't have any credentials with working with children and he definately doesn't stay in the office) The initial positive pleasantries are a facade, once they get your money things change, but you are locked into a contract and expected to pay and not leave. Owners talk about children and families to other parents. Favoritism is seem with particular children and parents, so unprofessional! Constant montly parties that parents are expected to fund and pressured to do so even though parents pay for a daily meal plan. There are constant fundraisers to raise money though I don't see the outcome of the money raised, does it benefit the school and the children or the administrators pockets? My child crys and doesn't want to go there....what does that say?? Won't be re-enrolling my child and I wouldn't recommend the school.

I have two children enrolled at this school, one since 2009 and my 2 year old just started this past September. Personally, in choosing a Montessori school I was looking at the program, the materials and the environment as well as the staff and interactions they would have with my children. My son who is 4 and half is able to fluently read from Time magazine. While he may not comprehend the the text the fact that he can read at that level amazes me. He is also able to do simple addition and subtraction. The cognitive and social skills he has developed have enabled him to be successful in problem solving and interacting in all areas of life. My 2 year old was able to recognize numbers 1 through 5 on paper within 2 months being there just 3 days per week. Her vocabulary and comprehension levels are constantly and consistently expanding. She was able to describe the life cycle of a pumpkin,correctly name and identify all the parts of an apple(some of which I didn't know)and name the 7 continents by the end of October which is about 24 school days. It is her first childcare experience, so I was impressed and relieved that she was able to transition to being in a new environment and acquire all these skills at the same time. In order to address any concerns or challenges I had, the administrators allowed me to form a parent council this year which was opened up to all parents to volunteer and be heard. Prestige Montessori is a private school not a daycare and as such the fees reflect this. I researched all the Montessori schools in Burlington and Oakville and as someone with a diploma in Early Childhood Education felt most comfortable with Prestige for the balance of education and nurturing being offered to the children. The authentic implementation of the methods and theories created by Maria Montessori at Prestige makes it the right choice for my family and I. If you are looking for strong academic and social development for your child Prestige is a superior choice, if you are looking for a daycare, low fees, minimal parental involvement then it would likely not be a good fit for you.

The only thing I like about the school is the "Teachers"-who are nice & shows concern about the students.The co-owner(lady) is very nice too & treats my kid & me with respect. But the Man(co-owner) should avoid even coming out of his office & greet people inthe morning, whenever I see his face my day goes bad. He is very rude-no need for the words to hurt peopl, even your bodylanguage can say a lot.His presence, attitude(negative),conversation(money minded) etc etc list will go on upsets me a lot & I keep my temper in control when I go to pick/drop my kid. Bottom line-MALE CO-OWNER-KINDLY COME IN LATE & LEAVE EARLY SO THAT YOU CAN AVOID UPSETTING PARENTS WITH YOU NONSENSE BEHAVIOUR"

We just moved to Oakville, and of course was looking for a great school in the area. We went from school open house to open house before calling Prestige Montessori. The owner was very accomodating on the phone, and booked our appointment. After meeting both owners, getting a school tour and reading the detailed brochure given to us, we new this was the school for our son. I also asked some of the parents as we were there towards the end of the day, outside to get an objective view. We had seen so many schools, and wanted to make sure. We have not been disappointed with our sons early results. He has progressed so much in a short period. The owners are very accomodating and easy to deal with and very friendly. I could not be more pleased with a school. You can see they love children and what they do. We have subsequently re-enrolled for next year!!