The Waldo School — Local services in Jersey City

This is our second year that our son has attended World of ABC. He started when he was 2 and is now 3.

World of ABC is an entirely international school. This is very important to us, as we believe being in a diverse environment teaches children respect and tolerance of other cultures – this is invaluable in the international world we live in today. We love that World of ABC aims to create students that are internationally-minded.

We love the curriculum. It is different from all the schools we looked at when first beginning our search. Instead of having just one classroom, students change classrooms depending on the subject or activity – this works great for little minds with short attention spans as it allows them to reboot before changing topics.

The teachers are wonderful, caring and all have excellent credentials – with degrees in education and most of them can speak multiple languages. The staff is wonderful. You can see the directors of the school there every single day. They are very approachable and always encourage parent involvement.

We receive a weekly report every Friday discussing the activities done during the week, the highlights of our son’s development and a newsletter with pictures of the children. This type of frequent feedback is invaluable for parents, and seldom seen in other schools were reports are sent much less frequently, if at all. Also, there are meetings with the teachers every four to six months to discuss progress, goals for the year, special concerns, etc.

The school’s location could not be any better. Just a couple of blocks from the Newport and Grove street PATH stations and half a block from the lightrail station. They have a fingerprint system in place that allows you to pick-up a child ONLY if your fingerprint is registered in the system. They are also provided with a healthy snack everyday.

We are also very happy and impressed with a recent development: World of ABC has been accepted as a candidate for the International Baccalaureate Program, which is an internationally recognized, rigorous and research-based curriculum. When first considering our options for the education of our son, we had been searching for an IB school (as I myself attended an IB school in Mexic) and could not find one close to our home, so this news has been very happily welcomed.

The most important thing for us, though, is that our son LOVES his school. He particularly loves his teacher and walks to school happy every single morning. We couldn’t be happier...

Our son has been with the Waldo/ World of ABC school since 2013 and we are genuinely happy it has worked out so well. Our younger son is also now attending and is in Pre-K3 at the World of ABC.

Living in Jersey City with very limited options, we were literally afraid our sons would not get the best fundamental understanding, however, this school has proved to push academic standards and year over year grow in extra curricular activities. Both principals have their own children in the school and they have carefully handpicked syllabus which actor to International Baccalaureate.

The school has scored above 90% in the Tera Nova testing and my sons entire class as of last year in kindergarten scored at 96.82 percentile with a grade evuivalent score at the Second Grade level. The First grade from last year also scored at 94.25 percentile with a GE (grade equivalent score) of 5th grade. This means that as per the Terra Nova testing the kids are 90+ percentile stronger than the others in their grade nationally and are learned at a grade equivalent more than others.

While the school does give homework, spelling bees and other academic rigerous attributes it also offers soccer, chess, fencing, robotics, swimming, fencing etc. While these extra curricular activities are offered after school, they are all also part of the day by day curriculum unlike most schools we visited including charter/ private school in NYC and North Jersey. The school also teaches about community and the kids go on field trips at least once a month.

In 2016, they renovated 10,000 sq ft with upscale amenities like pool, gym, classrooms with floor to wall windows and most recently a beautiful outdoor area which is extremely difficult to find in any city in the US. Hats off to the owners for always listening to parents to make the school better and better over the years. My husband and I truly appreciate how well rounded the school has become and are excited to the...

My son started in PreK-2 and continued to PreK-3 at World of ABC. This is a learning center and not a traditional day care. Some Points: The teachers are genuinely very loving They have a structured course starting PreK2 and they do follow it pretty well. My son definitely learnt a lot here. It is not just learn but there is a lott of play and artsy things that the kids do here. We have no space for the stuff that comes home lol They have 2 performances through the year and it is so cute to see your little one perform on stage, I just loved it(not that every kid does much, I am referring to the opportunity here) Do not expect 100% perfection, every parent will have concerns. However, the management does listen to your concerns and try to address it in the best possible way They have homework starting PreK-3 which according to me is a plus and we love doing the fun stuff together. Of course its not very strict in Prek-3 so you can choose if you don't want to. If you are sending them for extended day, they do have a lot of fun activities post nap which the kids love. They also have chess, karate etc as a part of their program for no extra cost. I don't believe there is a better school in the area, having talked to many parents from various day cares. My husband was very particular that we send my son here because of the IB curriculum and although I did not like the idea merely due to having to travel a mile or so to drop him, I am so glad we kept my son's development as priority. Most importantly for me, he runs to hug his teachers every morning during drop off that keeps me at peace while am at work. World Of ABC is definitely the...