Ridgewood YMCA — Local services in Ridgewood

Both of my children (two grades apart) enrolled in the preschool program in January 2021 when it was in its infancy. Everything met our needs perfectly, and the setup was so comfortable, that they fit right in. They continued into the Summer Camp program with ease. However, when both kids moved to our local schools in the Fall of 2022, my 3.5 year old son was unhappy and missed the Ridgewood YMCA so much that we moved him back the following semester. Reasons included: the clean facilities like the classrooms, gym, and pool, incredible schedule including Music (Ms. Pillow is the best), Spanish, Yoga, Dance, a real learning curriculum, and most of all, the incredible teachers!! They’re not only extremely kind, smart and fun for the kids, but as a parent, I enjoy communicating with them and really feel their devotion to the kids. We did scope out and visit other highly recommended preschools, but nothing compared to the enthusiasm my son has for going to school at the Ridgewood YMCA. Cara Apsley, who runs the program, is an absolute pleasure, and is notably dedicated to the kids and parents. There’s no doubt in my mind that my son will not only be prepared for kindergarten next year, but excel to great heights. We will miss Ms. Claudia, Ms. Cristina next year but they will always be...

I have to say how pleased I am with the Ridgewood YMCA. I have a 10 year old and his first day at Vacation Camp was one where he ask if he can attend the next day. We had only sign up for one day. But according to my 10 year old. The people are very nice , they speak to you not yell at you. He had fun in the gym and making new friends and learning how to make pizza. They went swimming and that was really nice. At the front desk the way they are following protocol as far as temperature check and still being welcoming is great. I did an early drop off and Ben was very nice and Michael was a life saver in making sure my son transition from camp session to swimming classes was ok. I felt relieve and comfortable knowing that my son was being taken care off properly. I also wanted to thank Lindsey and Katie for helping out with the signing up for swimming lessons with, take me to the water for being so informative and patient . Thank You for such a warm welcome we truly appreciate each and everyone. Deyanara Gonzalez you are doing a really great job....

My daughter is currently taking lessons since and I will be taking her out shortly if things don’t change. There is no organization. She has been taking lessons since September and has had 5 different instructors not including substitutes for when the instructor is on vacation. The past two sessions she has spent half the class holding a bar floating around not learning anything. She gets comfortable with an instructor and opens up and than they switch the person. $50 a week and this is what is happening. INSANE. When we ask what level she is on they say oh we don’t know we will have to evaluate her. They evaluate her and say well I guess she’s on a low two when thats where she started. I have watched her and seen her improvement when she gets comfortable with an instructor that is there for a few sessions. Than they change it and she has open up to a whole new person. The only times they will evaluate her is when we ask her. When they went to evaluate her today they tried having her float on her stomach when she was never...