Winterset Montessori

We had our daughter enrolled at Winterset for about 4 months and the reason for our removal was due to the inconsistency in teachers. In those 4 months she probably went through 7-8 different teachers, each coming and going, never knowing who was staying permanently. It was very unfortunate as the 2-3 age is a very critical time for toddler growth which requires substantial consistency, that this institution was not able to offer us. She never knew who her teacher was going to be and it made the potty training process extraordinarily difficult. In addition, because the teachers were thrown in the classroom they did not receive proper training a lot of the time. They definitely were not Montessori trained (which is what we were paying for) much less trained to take care of toddlers. The false claim of montessori style teaching was also frustrating as there were multiple times we would drop her off or pick her up from school and her classroom was simply watching tv as her teachers looked at their phones. If I had wanted my child to watch tv, I would have just kept her home. These are just some of the reasons that I would recommend looking elsewhere for a daycare you can be confident in.

My children have been going here for nearly 2 years. They have attended their infant classroom all the way to their preschool class. I can see my children’s growth from the Montessori curriculum. I love this school and so do my kids! The staff is warm, caring and patient. It’s clean and tuition is extremely competitive and affordable. Most importantly I feel safe leaving my children in their care. I highly recommend!

My husband and I enrolled our child at Winterset Montessori thinking that was going to be the best fit for our family. When we first learned of physical abuse allegations in fall of 2020 against a teacher involving our child, we were sad and frustrated. Sad because that's been our single greatest fear — our child  being mistreated by someone, especially at this young age. We were frustrated because the school never contacted us about the allegations. That shows their integrity. They didn’t care to reach out to us to apologize and explain what they’re doing to prevent that from happening in the future. Two other families were involved in the investigation for 1) when the same teacher allegedly covered a child’s mouth with her hand to keep the kid from crying. 2) The teacher shoved a spoon in a kid’s mouth hard during lunchtime. Our child’s hair was allegedly pulled by this teacher until he fell to the ground. She was teaching our kid a “lesson”.

Besides those allegations, there were several incidents that happened to our kid and they didn’t sit well with us. 1) Our child supposedly fell into a bookcase one day and got a black eye. We never received an incident report for that. 2) Our kiddo had shirts swapped with another classmate. When asked how that could have happened, I was told their shirts were taken off during lunchtime because they would take their bibs off and would get dirty. That’s not OK.

While we did temporarily remove our child from Winterset Montessori's program in late October due to medical reasons, we did plan on returning at the start of this year. After learning of these allegations, we decided we will no longer take our child there. We had to restart that process of finding a new daycare facility and that fear and those anxious thoughts of physical abuse happening to our child again, will stay with us forever.

I read negative reviews about Winterset Montessori but I still decided to enroll my kiddo. Don’t make the same mistake as me. They have a high turnover rate for teachers. Teachers are there for a paycheck. Look elsewhere. Your child’s safety should be the top priority. There is a new director at the school and hopefully she will turn things around.

My three year old has been going to Winterset Montessori for almost 6 months and we love the school, the teachers, and our daughter's classmates. There is so much variety, the kids are always having a good time, and most importantly, we're confident our daughter is well taken care of! She always comes home ready to share the new things she's learning and we're just so pleased with the level of care and education she's receiving at the preschool.

We have had both of our children here, our son for 3 years (age 2 to 5), and our daughter is going on her 3rd year here (she is 4). I have nothing but wonderful things to say about this school. They provide great care, the teachers are adults (not just teenagers "babysitting" your child). They seem to genuinely care about their kiddos, and have a passion for teaching. My son was ABOVE AND BEYOND prepared for kindergarten. They did a great job of teaching using the Montessori philosophy, but also prepping kids for traditional classroom/kindergarten environment. I've had excellent communication with every teacher my kids have had, and from Cinda, the director. I would recommend them to anyone looking for a great preschool.

My daughter attended Winterset Montessori for just under 4 years and my infant son also attended for a few months. We left due to a relocation out of state but it was so hard to leave this school. The lead teachers are great - most have a long tenure at the school (a rare find in daycare world). I never once had to worry if my children were being well cared for and I was extremely pleased with the progress my daughter made academically and socially while attending.

Love this place. I am so thankful my children attend a facility with such dedicated staff. I feel that my children are safe here and well cared for. They have both been attending since they were 12 weeks old and I plan to keep them there, full time, until they are able to go to kindergarten. My oldest is learning so much there and I truly feel that he has surpassed his intellectual milestones due to the teaching at this facility. I cannot say enough good things about Winterset Montessori

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