HeadsUp! Montessori Preschool, Palo Alto Campus - Palo Alto, California

Rootu Joshi

Just a bad vibe with the tour organizer who was not friendly, quite abrasive and generally refused to make eye contact with us in particular. Left the tour halfway as we felt so unwelcome and almost criminal since we had some care issues and had to take our well
Behaved almost 2 year old with us. Now we have been to many tours and by far this one was NOT kid friendly. Our child was looking at the books and playgrounds and toys and the tour organizer could have easily said- oh hi little kid- sure to explore the empty playground. But when I was reading a book with my child I was greater with a 'coming?' In the same tone as a husband mad at his wife for taking too long to be dressed. Why would you send your child somewhere where they are NOT welcome? It's baffling at best. Just to clarify - our child was NOT disruptive.

Darcy Koch

This is a fantastic daycare and school. The children have lots of outside time, about 1 hour, 2 times a day. They have two playgrounds, and they put up giant shade sails in the summer for extra shade. The school is adjacent to Greer Park, and the older kids also go there from time to time.

Each week, the kids have a music, chinese, spanish, and a movement class. The teachers use Montessori teaching methods with traditional Montessori jobs. They track each child’s progress individually and can introduce new topics when the child is ready and interested. They allow for children still learning to focus and incorporate activities that help teach focus. It really works - the children seem to be beyond their peers at other schools. I’ve seen 4 year olds blending letters into words, and I’m surprised at all the skills the children have. There is a low teacher to child ratio, compared to other schools.

The teachers are great at turning the inevitable children’s social issues into teaching moments. The kids are really well behaved in general. The teachers are very tolerant about potty training, and they just request plenty of clothing and bedding to keep up with accidents. The school vacation schedule matches most employers. There are no long vacations. There is extended care if it is needed, from 7:30-6.

One of their classrooms has a chinese immersion program.

Aditya Sethuraman

Our child joined Heads Up at the age of 3.5 - we are leaving after 2 wonderful years to go to public school because I guess that's what you do in Palo Alto :shrug:

This has been a great program for our son - we joined with the intention of exposing him to some basic structure (they have a daily circle time, weekly sharing day, regular art/spanish/mandarin/music lessons, plenty of outside play with basketball, sandpits, next door Greer park excursions, etc) before jumping off to a more academic program like Stratford/Challenger but we stuck around for the second year because the Montessori program really worked for our kid - the core concept of mixed age groups and your kid being able to learn leadership by modeling for the younger ones or teaching them and on the flip side always having something to look forward to from the older kids really really resonated with our son - he really took to it and has made a ton of friends of all ages

I love their birthday circle style, their person of the day (kids get so thrilled when they get their shot!) concept and other various special events like Soup Night, back to school night, Fathers Day, Mothers Day etc
Big events like Christmas performances, Lunar New Year performances, Pot luck etc are also a great forum for your child to get some confidence

And even the Montessori aspect of children focusing on jobs isn't too strict, they definitely try to adhere to it but its not militant and kids have plenty of freedom - so it really depends on your child

They have had some excellent teachers - and there's a very seamless tie up with the across-the-hall Emerson school if your child is more academically inclined

I think you'll be quite impressed by their annual academic evaluations too - especially considering the children are just preschool age when as a parent all you really care about is if they're happy and engaged and not so much about their "academic" progress but its quite cool to see their growth in those areas too

Another pleasant surprise is the diverse family population here - that combined with very affordable pricing in Palo Alto makes this such a great option

No school is perfect and Heads Up is far from it (a bit of undesirable teacher churn) but overall the program really works - and of course, what matters is whether the program is perfect for your child or not - which it was in our case. So yes, there is a little bit of "YMMV" but I would strongly consider this program if you want to expose your child to a diverse, dynamic and supportive learning environment

Huge kudos to how they have stepped up during the pandemic too - after a few initial hiccups they put together an excellent, predictable and functional schedule which really helped all the kids stay engaged in these terrible times!

Give it a shot - and if it doesn't work out, there's a ton of options in the nearby Palo Alto area anyway

I cannot thank Heads Up enough - our son really needed a balance and he found it here - the joy of seeing your child happily learning is something truly wonderful - I wish the place all the best in the coming years

Zhongxian Chen

Sujoy Gupta

Kenneth Lui

Phoebe

Christian Cadiz