Shu Academy Preschool

Choosing Shu Academy for our child was an excellent decision for their early education. After two wonderful years, we can confidently say that Shu Academy provides an exceptional foundation for young learners, characterized by genuine care, a nurturing environment, and a truly engaging curriculum. From the moment our child started, the teachers and staff created a warm and welcoming atmosphere. It was evident that the educators are highly skilled and deeply passionate about nurturing each child's individual growth, fostering curiosity, kindness, and confidence. The curriculum is thoughtfully designed, balancing structured learning with plenty of opportunities for play and exploration. Beyond academics, Shu Academy truly focuses on holistic development. Our child developed strong social skills, learned cooperation, and built genuine friendships. They loved going to school every day, which speaks volumes about the positive environment. As our child transitions to Kindergarten, we are incredibly grateful for the solid foundation Shu Academy has provided. They are well-prepared academically, socially, and emotionally, and will carry wonderful memories from Shu. We wholeheartedly recommend Shu Academy to any family seeking a supportive, enriching, and joyful preschool experience. Thank you, Shu Academy, for two unforgettable years!

We love Shu Academy! Before moving to the area, I toured three preschools and ultimately chose Shu Academy based on several key factors: a strong bilingual curriculum with native speakers of both languages, a great teacher-to-student ratio, cleanliness and organization, and engaging extra activities—like visits from police officers and garbage collection workers who give fun and educational talks. Over the past seven months, we've seen many upgrades that have made the school even better. The teachers are amazing, and my son transitioned smoothly, falling in love with the school right away. If these qualities are important to you, you won’t regret sending your kids here!

This review is long over due. Both my kids went to Shu Academy from 2018-2022. How lucky we were to find the perfect bilingual school for our kids! They nurtured our kids emotionally, intellectually, even potty trained both. The teachers and director Katie are amazing- attentive to the child and parent's needs. My kids still have fond memories of the art, playtime, weekly music teachers, animal shows, and holiday celebrations. I loved that they were exposed to the alphabet, letter tracing, reading early on at Shu Academy. They came home singing Chinese, English and Spanish songs at age 2. The director Katie really puts a lot of thought into the preschool experience. I highly recommend Shu Academy to anyone looking for an amazing preschool.

This school is brand new, clean, and very well run. I’m a first time mom and was fully prepared to hate every daycare but loved Shu Academy. The location may not be ideal (for us or in general - it's located close to downtown San Mateo), but the facilities are excellent—safe and spacious which is important during pandemic, and the people are just WONDERFUL! They have excellent curriculum and apply Montessori methods which is a huge plus. Frequent activities like yoga dance, saran wrap painting, balloon tennis and many other creative and fun activities. Best of all, they have Chinese one on one time everyday which is a huge plus for non-Chinese speaking families but hoping to have their kids speak Chinese. We're only a couple of weeks in at this point, but so far I have to say that the staff is just amazing. They upload tons of photos to an app everyday to keep us updated on our child throughout the day. Yesterday I got over a dozen photos of my kid, plus updates on the naps, feedings, diaper changes, and more from the teachers. My kid still cries some time I drop her off, but it's really gratifying to see her smiling in the photos uploaded little bit later so I know she is happy all day. A huge thank you to Katie the Director, Ms. Claire, Ms. Abby, and all the other wonderful people that work there. I'm constantly surprised that my daughter seems to be comfortable with all the teachers on sight when we walk in the door; it makes the place feel a lot more like a family. Thank you all for taking care of my daughter at Shu Academy. I know it isn't easy, and we really appreciate how much you care.

My son (now 3) has been going to this school since October 2020, back when it was called Curious Beans and in a different space. I've seen a huge change in his overall pace of development. At his previous daycare, he wasn't challenged at all, and we were worried he had some sort of cognitive delay. Now he's very lively and has strong communication. I attribute a lot of that success to his new preschool. Katie and the teachers are very warm, attentive, and strike a good balance between providing a safe experience and a convenient / fulfilling experience, given COVID. Every day they do fun activities like singing, reading, and crafting. They also do tons of awesome one off stuff like science experiments with mushrooms and having an animal show onsite. I get lots of info on how he's doing via tons of high quality photos. By looking at the photos, I get a much better sense of how well he interacts with the teachers and other kids. Katie is super communicative and responsive. I'm very very glad we switched.