The Goddard School of Lake Forest (Baker Ranch), Lake Forest | Fees, Rankings, Address, Admission, Vacancies, Reviews & More

We started my daughter at this wonderful preschool two years ago. She’s graduating soon and I’m honestly sad to be leaving this school. I’m writing this review to give other families the benefit of our opinion after two years of experience.

I’m a fairly picky and particular parent/customer, because my husband and I both work full-time and we really needed a school that would make our lives easier as well as providing excellent education. This has to be one of the best-run preschools in the country. I never had a single complaint and have been beyond impressed with the love and dedication constantly shown by the teachers and the administration.

I regularly compared notes with my friends who had their kids enrolled at other nearby preschools and frequently found myself saying, “I’m so glad our school doesn’t do that!” The way this school is managed impressed me in every way, from the calendar/holiday schedule (no random or excessively long closures at inconvenient times that would leave us without childcare when we had to work), to their handling of the pandemic (practical policies that made sense and showed adequate precautions without going too overboard), to the teachers’ handling of our child’s very brief slapping phase (a productive, non-judgmental, and helpful in-person conference with practical suggestions for working together to address the issue both at school and at home), to family engagement (occasional opportunities to work on school projects or attend events, but no excessive “homework” for busy parents to have to deal with over nights/weekends), everything was handled exactly how I would want it to be, with grace, care, and genuine kindness.

If this school offered continued education through elementary, I absolutely would have kept my daughter in it with no question. I would recommend this school a hundred times over. I will really miss them!

My husband and I can’t stress enough how wonderful this school and staff has been for our son. He started going there at 6 months and has thrived in learning, sign language, social skills and kindness. They truly treat your child like part of their own family and we always picked up a smiling face. We recently moved out of the area and switched schools and have been so unhappy decided to bring our little one back with a commute. Hands down the best experience all around for us as parents and the communication and for our little one. Not all Goddard’s are made equal (we tried another) – early communication speaks miles to how your child will be treated. Thank you to your entire staff for everything you do every day.