Primrose School of Cedar Park West

We absolutely love Primrose School of Cedar Park West. We’ve been here for almost a year now and we only have good things to say about this place. My son is 2 years old and literally runs to his classroom every morning because he can’t wait to see all his friends and amazing teachers. If you are looking for a preschool your search is over.
Update ⁶⁄₂₀₁₅: Vacation Credit — Is only available to parents of children who have been full time for a full year! No exceptions will be made. Even if you have been part time (MWF), then switched to full time, and almost been there a full year. We were misinformed when it came to this and led to believe that exceptions would be made. Word of the wise go by the parents manual NOT by what is said when signing up for this school. Other than this hiccup we love the school! Happy preschool hunting!

My children have been here since they were infants (6 years). In the beginning it was wonderful. The teachers were experienced and the lady that ran the school handled the job with ease. She spoke French to the kids as they walked in and really made you feel like you made the right choice in selecting the school.
When my first child was getting ready for Kindergarten, he was tested for placement and was so far advanced that he skipped a grade. Then, there was a dramatic change at Primrose. The lady that ran the school was suddenly dismissed and most of the teachers left in protest. There are only two of the original, more experienced teachers left. They were all replaced with young girls fresh out of high school. It went from an outstanding SCHOOL to a glorified babysitting facility. All the girls are nice, but they just don’t have the experience we were looking for in a SCHOOL. Before we were happy to pay a premium knowing that our children were getting a superior education.
Now, my second child is getting ready to move on to Kindergarten and we were shocked when we went for placement tests at her new school. While she is just as smart as my son, she does not know her numbers, colors, shapes, or letters (let alone their sounds). Very disappointing!
We are having to play catch-​up at home. She is quickly and easily learning them when we work on them at home, but I hate that we are now put in a place of cramming. There was a mass exodus of students shortly after all these changes occurred… we should have followed!

My daughter has been attending Primrose for almost two years! She started in the early preschool class room and is now in their private kindergarten program. From the time she started at Primrose to today, she has advanced exceptionally. Not only do they take their learning curriculum very seriously, they provide excellent safety measures to ensure the best possible environment for its students. I have never had a single complaint. Their overall academic learning program is outstanding. This is the third preschool my child has attended and I’ve also worked at one in the past. I can’t express my satisfaction enough. They take every parent concern seriously and address each issue immediately. They are very gracious in terms of customer service and child care. It is very evident that Primrose takes great pride in their curriculum and child safety. They enforce manners and sharing and appropriate measures of redirection in terms of discipline. The atmosphere is unbeatable. The playground structures and splash pad provide fun entertainment for the children during outside time. The school also offers parent-​night-​out and several out of school activities, such as the fall festival, where they have face painting and fun snacks. They also have memorable field trips that my child loves and they host in house events throughout the school year. They have fun themes and their calendar is full of planned activities, accessible to the parent at any time. Their summer camp program is phenomenal! I could not ask for a better environment for my child. Primrose provides excellent care and promotes learning and sharing and early preparation for elementary school. We are very blessed!

My daughter has been attending Primrose School of Cedar Park West since she was a year and a half old (for about fifteen month now).
In that time, her language, confidence and general knowledge have grown an amazing amount. Certainly, some of that is to be expected simply due to her growing older, but it’s amazing how often she’ll bring up a topic that I know I’ve never discussed with her.
She’s always loved books, but they’re just about her favorite thing now. And, we have to play with the flash cards I got her at least once a day.
My daughter comes home very tired, but that’s because she’s had a full day. She definitely sleeps well after a day at school.
And, they’re doing most of the hard work with potty training! While we’re not done with this, progress is being made quickly and easily.
When I was exploring day care/​preschool options, my first priority was that the school have a working Give-​A-​Damn. At some places, it’s clear that everyone is just going through the motions to get through the day. At Primrose, they really care.
Next priority was a balance between free time and structured learning. I didn’t want her preschooling to simply be a glorified daycare, but neither did I want it to be a tiger mom style prison, where every minute is planned out completely.
Primrose seems to have found the sweet spot between these two. There is considerable structured learning (and more and more as she gets older), but there is still plenty of free play time.
I gave four instead of five stars, because it seems like there’s a lot of turnover among the teaching staff. It’s very possible that this is standard for preschools, as I’ve not experienced one since I attended one a few years back.

Not happy at all. Wouldn’t work with kids to help them adjust to new environment.
Every evening when I used to go to pick up the kid, kid would be so sad and hungry. They are just after your money.

This school is amazing at shaping my children. Not only is the curriculum wonderful, but the staff is loving and caring. If you want a school that will teach your children how to be a responsible citizen with great core values, all while loving them, this is the place!

My child attended Early Preschool then Preschool from ⁹⁄₂₀₁₁ to ⁴⁄₂₀₁₂.
1. My preschooler sat in one classroom all day. He rotated tables for activities and went outside for recess. He ate lunch at the same table he was expected to work at. This structure did not work for him because at the age of 3.5 his attention span (which he was punished for, see #2) was still developing. Perhaps your child will not have an issue with that, but if your child likes to explore and engage in his environment then this is something you should consider. The children at Primrose are treated like mini-​college students with expectations that contradict their level of development.
2. My son was placed on the «sad carpet» when he lost interest in tracing letters. His teacher told me that he was «goofing off». He had difficulty sitting and tracing letters for more than about 10 minutes because he was given a busy task. I disagree with there being a punishment for this issue. I would prefer that they’d worked with him to slowly increase the time he spent on that activity through gentle encouragement. Instead, the teacher kept reporting that he’d had «bad days». When my son started begging me not to take him to school, I caught on pretty quick.
Now that my son is in kindergarten and is able to write all of his letters, he often talks about going back to his 2^nd teacher there to tell her that he CAN do it. That statement alone shows that Primrose degraded his self-​confidence.
3. My son still talks about the sad carpet. Just the name of it set him up to believe that he was supposed to be sad when he was sent there. I would have preferred something that encouraged him to identify the problem and figure out how he should handle it the next time. I like the «thinking carpet» a lot better. I understand that they no longer have the sad carpet. That’s great. But, it took a lot of complaining and criticism for them to make that change. Actually, I have been told that it was this review that promoted them. Regardless, the original use of that tactic shows their lack of education and empathy.
4. I paid their $ 100 summer supply fee in advance. When we withdrew from the school early the $ 100 showed as a credit on my account but the owner refused to return it citing their «no refund» policy. Really? This was a CREDIT on my account. It was money that had not been used but they still kept it. Also, I picked up my son at noon and they only took $ 10 off of the tuition; meaning I paid $ 10 less than the all-​day tuition fee even though he was only there for 4 hours.
My son is now at another local school and has thrived in every way. I am so glad we found Bight Star when we did. We put our son in preschool so that he could have a head start and develop a positive outlook on education. His experience at Primrose left him unmotivated and afraid of school. Bright Star turned that around completely.
Ms. Joyce is the exception to this review. My son was in her class for several months and remembers his time with her fondly.
A side note, my child was occasionally sick from the foods they served at lunch. All of the food they serve comes straight from the freezer or can. Moving him to his new school, which serves an entirely organic menu, was not the deciding factor but was a plus!
Also, they do not accept credit cards. It’s either cash or checks. Seriously, get with the program.

Amen to everything Montana said! I have to pinch myself daily, you can’t get any better. I have two daughter 3 and 4 who are thriving under the loving care and superior education they receive at Primrose.