Vidyarambh Preschool & Childcare center Santa Clara

This review was long overdue! Both my children went to Vidyarambh! The school has great academic curriculum, offers healthy nutritious organic vegetarian food for the kids. Teachers are loving, kind and invested in children's growth. I could see a spike in my kids' growth (academic/social) in a short time. They have introduced performing arts as part of the curriculum, giving kids opportunities to perform at various venues across Bay Area! This is a great initiative that enhances their confidence! They also partner with various local organizations (academic/cultural/social) to provide an enriched experience for the kids. Highly recommend!

We found this daycare to be extremely transactional and financially motivated. We would recommend thinking hard before deciding to enroll your child in such an environment. They “encourage” you to sign up way in advance by saying they may not have a seat for your child if you don’t. The enrollment involves registration fees plus first month fees plus last month fees (also called deposit). Please note that they do not refund the registration fees and the first month fees which is several thousand dollars if for some reason you aren’t able to enroll your child in the future. They have no exceptions for emergencies like relocation, health etc. Also, this is not on the actual contract you sign but as a fine print elsewhere. So, it’s easy to miss. They justify this by saying they need to plan operations. No other daycare or preschool system we are aware of have such a huge penalty for such situations. I have also confirmed this with other parents. The staff seems very stringent and non accommodative to any situations. This, I believe is critical for a day care setting. With several better options in the San Francisco Bay Area, please look elsewhere and we definitely don’t recommend Vidyarambh.

BEWARE this daycare doesn’t consider child safety at all and proven to physically assault kids, recently at least 3 kids have been physically assaulted by teacher Ankita Srivastava(proven with video evidence) and CPS(Child Protective Services) gave type A citation on this, most probably other kids would have been assaulted too by miss Ankita, management hid video evidence from parents with lot of excuses. While saying they are transparent, management were extremely unapologetic and even made fun of the incident saying, don’t we do this at home kind of comments while addressing the situation.

Vidyarambh is a great school if you are looking for some place that takes good care of kids. Pros: 1. Food - As a first time parent who never had to pack lunch for school, Vidyarambh was great. They serve organic food, almost no sugars and decent tasting food. Most other preschools either ask parents to pack lunch or serve fast food(Pizza, nuggets etc) which is a big no for us. 2. Cultural: Vidyarambh celebrates all Indian and Americamn festivals so kids get to know and celebrate all festivals. 3. Learning: Preschool is too early for kids to learn anything meaningful but Vidyarambh did great. My kid learned Slokas, did some worksheets. 4. Hours - Vidyarambh starts at 8:45 and ends at 6:00PM, Parents have flexibility to drop off and kids anytime during this window, which is great. Cons: My kid started at Ganga class but was changed to Yamuna class within 3Months. It takes time for kids to get adjusted in one class, so frequent changing of classes took some time for little one to get adjusted. Ganga class has Ms Jaya and Ms Myra who is great, but in yamuna and next class teachers was not so great. But again Nila teachers Ms Premala, Ms Sree were fantastic. Only advice I have for management is please make sure kids do not have to change classes frequently.

Overall review for Vidyarambh is, if you are looking at a childcare facility that is centered around cultural immersion, healthy nutritious food, art focused, and of course academics then this is the right place to be. Would 100% recommend Vidyarambh. Now, if you want to read further, it's a long, detailed review. My son graduated from pre kindergarten at Vidyarambh Santa Clara this year (2023). It's just been a week, and my son already misses Vidyarambh. Not one day did we listen to such things throughout the course of 3 years at Vidyarambh. Now I know how much effort everyone put in to make Vidyarambh feel home. Me being a mother, I am missing Vidyarambh too, as I have to pack so many meals and snacks to kindergarten. Of course, all credits to the chefs Ms Dhanam (during the pandemic), Ms Vineetha, Ms Shilpa, and Ms Niharika, who were making food feel like home. One more thing to add is that Vidyarambh's menu is packed with nutrition, which was not only healthy but also blended with lots of variety and love, which made me stressfree. Introducing nutrition conscious food at an early age makes the kids know the value of healthy food, which, for me, is the most important thing. Cultural emersion is another aspect that is worth mentioning. My son knows and celebrates all the Indian and American festivals. With this, I am also worried as to how to keep up with all the shlokas that were being taught at Vidyarambh. There are so many shlokas that I have learned from my son. Appreciate all the teachers from Ganga room to Kaveri room in shaping him from a toddler to a kindergartener. My son has had the privilege to be a part of every room at Vidyarambh. Starting off with Ms Kelly, Ms Brija, Ms Premala, Ms Sree, Ms Sumati, and Ms Jasmine. How can we forget our very own Ms Debora who made sure every inch of the campus was tidy, clean, and hygienic, especially during covid. It's just not about food and cultural immersion, Vidyarambh focuses equally on art and academics. Many kids who graduated from Vidyarambh have easily cleared entrance tests in private schools and aced all the accessments in public schools. Heartfelt, thank you and gratitude to everyone at Vidyarambh. They took care of my baby like their own child during the thick and thin of the covid pandemic, especially Ms Sujatha, Ms Ajantha, and Ms Latha. More strength to Vidyarambh's family to progress even further and reach greater heights. I can't wait for December to put one more baby of mine to Vidyarambh's arms. A big namaste and salute to everything Vidyarambh has done so far.