Montessori In Motion, University Place | Fees, Rankings, Address, Admission, Vacancies, Reviews & More

We had 2 kids in this preschool over the last 5 years. The first 4 were great, Mrs Bree and Mrs Angela especially will always hold a special place in our hearts for the amazing care they provided our kids. In the last year or so there was a pretty dramatic change in the behaviors we saw being allowed here and the games that were being played on the playground (like “zombies” where the kids “kill” each other). Our youngest, 3 year old, started coming home talking about violence and killing, he was saying other kids were biting him and hitting him (came home with bite marks multiple times, we witnessed a few of these incidents at the family barbecue and when picking our child up). We talked to the teacher, Ms Hunter about these concerns and were repeatedly ignored and brushed off. We continued to bring these concerns up over the next 6-8 months, but were told they wouldn’t do anything about it because some of the kids have “special needs”. Eventually we went to Ms May (who is in charge) about our concerns. Our son’s teacher then began to retaliate against us and our son for drawing attention to these things, she would say things like “yah, well all the kids play this way” and when we showed her the bite marks she said that it is “probably happening to him at home, not at school”. We asked for him to be kept separate from these other kids, and the teacher’s response was, maybe you should just move him out of my room, Montessori isn’t the right place for him. We again spoke to Ms May who said there is nothing she can do regarding this, she refused to move him out of ms hunter’s room, and told us that if we didn’t like it, we could unenroll him. I asked what she would do if it was her child or grandchild and she said she would unenroll them and take them somewhere else. If the person in charge wouldn’t even have her own children or grandchildren here, how should anyone else feel comfortable with bringing their child here? We immediately unenrolled our child who now goes to another daycare in the area, and instantly his behavior and demeanor improved, he actually looks forward to going, and hasn’t had any problems with being bullied by older kids. It’s just sad that after having our children there for 5 years, they wouldn’t work with us to keep our child safe, and their only response was “if you don’t like it, leave”. I did give 2 stars only because we did have such a good experience with our first child there, and with our youngest in the infant and toddler rooms. I would just caution anyone considering this school, to look at other options instead.

We later found out from one of the staff members, that several other kids have also recently unenrolled or moved out of for similar concerns.

I would not recommend this place for childcare. It is a waste of money. You could probably hire someone to come to your home and teach your kids Math, Reading and so on and get more out of your hard earned money than paying these people to basically babysit for you and charge you an arm and leg!!! It is truly an inflated form of babysitting.

We had 2 kids in the school for a period of 3 years and honestly my oldest learned more from virtual learning during COVID while attending Kindergarten than from going to this school 5 days a week for 8-10 hours a day.

At face value the administration acts very kind and forthcoming, which makes you feel part of the team, but in reality that is just a front.

There is no recourse for when your kid is mistreated by staff or another kid. They just brush it off when you speak up about the mistreatment or ignore you altogether.

Don’t waste your time or your money here!!!

This is our 3rd daycare/preschool for our son and it’s by far the best. As a parent you know the difference between people who genuinely care about your child’s well being and loves them vs. Staff and teachers just collecting a check. There’s no where else I would want my child.

Our only worry is having to find a kindergarten after this that has just as high of standards of education, creativity, and love.