L'Academy Language Immersion Preschool & Infant Daycare Potrero Hill San Francisco — Local services in San Francisco

Our son has been with L'Academy for over 6 months now, in the infant and then the preschool classes, so I feel well equipped to provide a review. It might be a bit long, but if you're a parent looking for preschools - you want to get all the information you need.

Overall, we're very happy with our experience. I'll go into why.

Management and teachers. Danni, the director, runs a tight ship. She's responsive, communicative and accommodating. This is also true for the other lead teachers such as Emily who we love. Emily leads the infant class and she's caring and warm to the children. Especially early on, it helped me feel comfortable leaving my son there.

Flexibility and reasonable approach. I find the flexibility vs rigidity of this preschool a big reason. If we ask to modify food, change diapers more often, modify schedule a bit - it's rarely a "no". They work hard to make sure we're happy with how our son is treated. This isn't a given - other preschools we talked to declined various requests or questions off the bat even when we did the tour.

One tiny example that shows how much they care: when we had to pick him up one day earlier for a long drive to Tahoe, we agreed on a pickup time. When we came by, Emily made sure to change his diaper into a fresh one since she knew we'd be in a car for a long time. This is the kind of tiny detail in care that really stands out.

Opening hours. This preschool isn't cheap, but if you consider how few days it's closed in a year compared to other preschools, it suddenly doesn't seem so expensive. Other schools close for over a month and a half - almost all we spoke to in the city.

Warm meals and snacks. No only it saves us time, but it's not a given at each place. Other preschools not only don't provide lunch, but won't warm up the food for the kids and don't have a fridge. I'm not sending my child with a heat keeping lunchbox - he's not going to work at a construction site. I expect, especially for this price range, for the child to get a warm meal. Perhaps surprisingly, L'Academy seems to be an exception in providing this.

Communication. The school uses the 1Core app, which is kinda clunky... but it's not their fault. They provide a ton of updates though it. We know when he ate, what he ate, when he slept, when diapers were changed... we have a timeline of activites, videos, tons of photos - it's a way to know what's happening and the transparency makes us feel more relaxed about his spending time there.

Activities. Speaking of the media updates - each time we see some activity it's yet another new thing. Playing with water, magnets, circle time activities, new toys, ball pit... He loves it there and we love that he's getting new experiences. We also get various artifacts and art he helped make once in a while, which are nice mementos.

Language immersion. We had only one major concern when sending him into a Mandarin immersion school. We don't speak Mandarin or English at home - won't it make it difficult for him to pick up language and be confused? After over 6 months' time, it looks like this isn't a concern. He's been picking up English from the other kids and learns new words every day. In addition, we also pick up some words in Mandarin and learn about Chinese culture and holidays.

Go ahead and tour the place, make up...

L’Academy SF Potrero Hill has my heart ❤️. I wish I could give more than 5-stars! ⭐️ If you’re looking for excellent child care for your busy schedule or a safe place for your child, L’Academy-SF Potrero Hill is the one and only stop in SF!

We transferred our 2 year old from a different campus and we are so happy that we did. At Hayes Valley, our daughter has received a great support for her needs, high level care and love. In addition to supporting her mandarin vocabulary and high energy, she looks forward to going to daycare everyday. All thanks to the wonderful environment and its staff offers. When she has a day off, she is constantly asking to return to “school” to be with her teachers and friends. She is learning much more mandarin than at the previous campus and in just one month she can count to 10 in mandarin amongst other things.

Danni is one amazing director. All of the children in her care , know and love her. We can count on Danni to be present, smiling and checking on everyone. She is always available to answer our questions and makes it her duty to know all of the families and consistently provides updates on our daughter. She sends out monthly newsletters about things happening in the center and encourages family time and parent networking. She has created such a family-oriented child care with a home-like feeling and welcoming environment.

The teachers are like a dream come true. We are in the sunflower class and I don’t ever worry about my daughter. In fact my newborn has enrolled because I feel so safe with all the staff. Teacher Carrie and Teacher Huiling are well versed in child development and do a great job at meeting the individual needs of each child in their classroom.

It is obvious that Danni treats her staff well, they are genuinely happy everyday and look well pleased with their employment. As parents, we believe it is important for staff to feel appreciated at work, to be able to focus on the children they spend so much time with.

Thank you Danni and all teachers!

Signed, parents who have tried a few other child...

This has got to be one of the best daycares in SF. My child ADORES being there and has grown a lot here since starting at 6 months old. It's clear her teachers love her and she loves them back. Each day at drop-off, I feel confident that my child will be having fun and learning new things in a safe environment. Reasons why this school is awesome?

The teachers are caring and engaging: it's clear that the teachers are wonderful people. During drop off, my daughter is squirming out of my arms to hug her teachers and I see other kiddos doing the same. School teaches critical skills: The school has done an amazing job training my daughter to nap and eat on a regular schedule. They have individualized milestones for each child: next up they are working on sharing and reading and potty training. The school director Danni is smart, communicative, and responsive. She's impressively organized and responds to parents like she works in big law (very fast). And the kids love her. School is impeccably clean. Utensils and cups are not shared and the babies wash their hands regularly. They are good about cleanliness, which leads to less sickness. Rules for sickness and parent-pick up are clear and fair: Every child has their temperature taken at drop-off, 24-hour stay home period for sickness/fever is consistently administered and keeps the classroom as healthy as can be. Door entry code is required to enter and is changed frequently, which is reassuring. School App provides the perfect amount of updates and photos and videos of your child's daily activities. Other parents at school are lovely. Overall a great community. I love this place for my daughter and am so glad...