BRIDGES PRESCHOOL at Wesley Early Learning Center, Tampa | Fees, Rankings, Address, Admission, Vacancies, Reviews & More

We are new to the daycare world and were not sure what to expect but we quickly realized this place was not the place for our family. I think this place has good teachers but unfortunately we were not lucky to have any of them in our kid’s classroom (young one year olds). Below I list the 4 main reasons we left this place.

Our kid has food allergies and bc this is a daycare that’s not a nut free facility and kids bring their own food, this was a major concern for us. His room was not “ready” for our little guy on his first day, the teachers were not even aware of his allergies, no signs were in his room indicating his allergies, other parents had not been notified of his allergies, it was a total chaos. They said they didn’t have time to prepare bc we didn’t submit paperwork until the day before, even though we had this discussion with them 3 times in 3 different occasions prior to his first day. On his first day, the morning teacher did not take our kid’s food allergies seriously, her response to us was “I’ll do what I can” and acted as if she was bothered by it. Teachers are also not trained on how to use Epipens in case of an emergency, only the director and assistant director.

I came to this place to drop off my kid’s lunch after they had been out in the playground, while I was talking to his morning teacher, a man who works there approched us as he was holding the hand of a little boy who was also in my son’s classroom and told the teacher that he had found him wandering around in the chapel, the teacher had not even noticed the child was missing from her classroom, she acted as if nothing had happened and took the kid. I was shocked and so concerned. I unenrolled my kid the next day.

My kid fell down at home and had a bruise on his face, the following day they texted us around 3pm letting us know he had been hurt playing with a friend and sent us a picture of the exact same bruise he had gotten at home the night before and told us a made up story of how it had happened while he was playing with a friend. I don’t know what’s more concerning, the fact that we dropped him off at 10am an it took them until 3pm to notice or the fact that they made up a whole story to justify the bruise on his face that they had no idea how it had happened.

Lastly, the afternoon teacher. She was completely disengaged, every day. The first day we picked our kid up he was crying when we got there. She was sitting in front of him, on her phone while my son was in front of her crying, I could tell he had been crying for a little while bc his face was red, as soon as she saw us she put her phone away and said he had just started crying. We had been standing in the doorway for a few seconds before she saw us and she was clearly on her phone ignoring our kid. Another day when showed up to pick him up, we were standing in the doorway again, just watching our son, there was only one other kid there, they were both playing with toys, the room was completely quiet, the teacher was sitting in the opposite side of the room, in the rocking chair by herself (no kid) looking very bored and again ignoring the kids, zero engagement on her part. We asked multiple times at pick up about what activities she normally did with the kids other than feeding and changing diapers, her responses were vague. This is sad, I don’t expect my kid to get the same love and attention he gets at home but he was getting the bare minimum at this place.

This place can definitely do better, we will not recommed this place to anyone.

Over the past 4 years our daughters have thrived in an environment filled with kindess, experienced educators, and enriching activities at Bridges Preschool. The teachers are truly remarkable, with many having over a decade of experience. Their focus on age-appropriate learning has prepared our oldest daughter for kindergarten, in which she is excelling. The team goes beyond academics, fostering a strong sense of community through holiday events, family yoga sessions, and chapel. Bridges Preschool has exceeded our expectations in every way. We are immensely grateful for the positive impact it has had on our family!