Starfish Academy at The Florida Center - Sarasota, Florida

Darien C.

I can’t recommend the Florida Center and Star Fish Academy enough! As a parent of two adopted kids, finding the right support was crucial, and the Florida Center exceeded all our expectations.
The staff at Starfish Academy are nothing short of amazing. They are incredibly dedicated, patient, and understanding, creating a nurturing environment for children. Each staff member takes the time to connect with my kids, making them feel safe and valued. Their commitment to tailored learning and emotional support is evident in how they interact with every child.
The facility itself is clean, bright, and inviting, filled with resources that cater to diverse needs. I was particularly impressed by the engaging activities they provide, which keep my kids excited about learning and growing.
Overall, the Florida Center has been a transformative experience for our family. If you’re looking for a supportive, compassionate environment for your children, look no further! It’s truly a gem in Sarasota.

Melissa C.

The Starfish Academy has been such an incredible experience for my daughter. She has been enrolled since she was 7 weeks old and has received consistent care from each teacher through compassionate and intentional interactions. The inclusion model has given her opportunities to build social skills, empathy, and understanding that all children are unique. We are consistently impressed by the leadership team and their availability, communication, and engaging family activities. I highly recommend this school to anyone looking for a wonderful community program with a family feel to it!!

Bia P.

It’s my daughter’s first yr at Starfish Academy and she is loving it. As a parent I find the school offers great security for the kids, great engaging and educational activities. The teachers is attentive to their needs. Classroom is spacious and organized. Communication is easy. The outdoors is amazing for the kids. The only thing I would prefer is for the kids to spend more time outside.

Laura L.

I absolutely love Starfish Academy. It's a very welcoming and safe environment for both, parents and children. Having custody of my grandchild, this daycare acknowledges and respects court orders when it comes to custody and parental rights.

The highly qualified staff members are very warm and friendly towards parents/caregivers and children. They are very informative when it comes to child behaviors, concerns and progression. Updates and photos are provided throughout the day via Procare app. The director is friendly, professional, readily available and easy to communicate with.

I love the consistency of the staff and the teacher to child ratio. The children always appear happy. The classes and staff are very organized with the children involved in daily age appropriated activities.

My toddler grandchild has been attending the North Port location for almost two years and she is definitely thriving in all areas. She looks forward to going each morning.

I can't say enough positives about this place. I highly recommend.
Keep up the great work Starfish Academy!

Nikki I.

We feel so grateful to have found The Starfish Academy! We toured most of the preschools in the area from North Port to Sarasota. As first time parents, we had extremely high standards for our child’s first school experience. Most of the schools were very underwhelming, with crowded classrooms and not the cleanest of environments. After we toured Starfish, I couldn’t wait to ask for an application. The class sizes are perfect, small, tailored so you know your child is getting the one on one attention they need and deserve. The teachers are so, so warm and inviting. They made us feel like home.  The school is extremely clean, organized and we especially loved their montessori style learning centers. Our son receives speech and occupational therapy which they have on site. No longer did we have to pick him up early from school to run around trying to get to all of his appointments. His therapists are literal angels! The amount of progress he has made since starting at this school is something we could have only dreamed of. You can tell that every team member is truly invested in the children’s growth. They don’t bat an eye at helping with potty training, trouble with naps, picky eating etc. They have always been more than willing to help with anything we suggest and with open arms and a smile. We cannot recommend the Starfish Academy enough. It’s exceeded all of our expectations and more ♡

Ashley C.

My niece is attending Starfish Academy (placed by her father on his custody days) and I'm just not impressed with the education or care. My son's attended daycare when they were little so I am not anti-daycare. I toured the facility and understand the inclusion model they are proposing. My children attended an amazing program at the community college but it was executed a lot better than I've witnessed through the model. I don't believe that a 2 year old should be a guinea pig in a new model of learning. My niece has been bitten at this daycare by another child and returned with injuries with no phone call to her parents. She is still in diapers at their facility even though her parents are both potty training and it doesn't seem they are working with her enough as they spend 20 hours a week or more with her and she isn't improving as one would think when they spend that much time with a child. My niece has been at their program sick and they just message she's okay instead of requesting a parent come and pick her up. My children's daycare would have called me to pick up my kids so they could go home and rest and recover and not take it upon themselves to treat or diagnose whatever they had. That's the parent's job not the daycares. They are more focused on providing childcare for parents so they can work vs nurturing a stronger and better child/parent bond.

Starfish Academy refuses to honor a court ordered parenting plan which requires a mother's consent for any 3rd part facility. Starfish blatantly denies the mother's rights and allows her daughter to attend despite all efforts to remove her. It breaks my heart to know a facility would choose one parent vs following a court order. It's incredibly shocking the power they are exuding over a situation that they should step back away from.

Matthew C.

I'm saddened by the lack of compassion from this facility. My niece is taken from her mom's home at 8am on her dad's custody days and immediately dropped off at Starfish Academy by 830am despite efforts, requests and court orders. Her mother is home available and wants nothing more than to be with her daughter in her short young years and take her on outings to Selby, Mote Marine and other wonderful Sarasota gems. Starfish has made it impossible by allowing the father to continue to violate the order and even denied the mother's multiple requests to remove her. Any facility that stands between a mother and a child needs to be looked at. I'm sorry to say I cannot recommend this facility - especially the Sarasota location until they do the right thing and protect an innocent 2 year old who means the world to our entire family. She should be with her family and not strangers in a daycare.

Bren W.

My daughter has been attending school for the past year and a half and has had the most wonderful time. The teachers are incredibly caring and understanding the school has a 5+ rating with the Reach for the Stars program and has a Gold Star rating from Florida Department of Education, so it excels on every level.