IvyCrest Montessori Private School

My two-​year-​old has been in this school for 8 months and I’ve seen a tremendous increase in his vocabulary, knowledge, etiquette, and independence. His teachers and the classroom assistants are always very joyful and appear to have a wonderful time with the students. I’ve watched my son from the observatory room constantly and have never witnessed anything unpleasant. My son has very bad eczema and the director, Ms. Aida, has taken the time to make sure he doesn’t spend too much time outdoors because the heat causes his little face to break out and turn bright red. She’s also ensured every teacher knows about his condition and the correct measurements are being taken to help his skin when it’s in distress.
My husband has visited during lunchtime and he’s been very impressed with the distribution of lunch — the day he visited we had packed him a banana and they actually cut the banana up and put the slices in a little bowl for him to eat out of, even though he can eat a banana in its whole form.
Children 3 and over wear uniforms and can go on summer field trips.
Water play takes place for children 18+ months during the summer.
Occasional performances & school events.
The campus is beautiful and clean!
Yes, it’s a little pricey, but not as pricey as the Montessori schools in Irvine, where I work.
Overall, this place deserves an A!

When I pickup my baby daily, I can see how much these ladies in room 1 care for her. They care for each child as they were their own. When my husband drops our baby off in the morning, she looks forward to going there and the ladies are always welcoming her with a smile and caring comments. We are truly at peace knowing that our baby is well taken care off as we go to work daily.

I cannot believe there are bad reviews here about this school. Yes, it is pricey, but you definitely get what you pay for. I shopped around A LOT before putting my one-​year-​old into this program, and, trust me, this is the best program in Fullerton. I had stayed at home with baby, and it was so difficult for me to find somewhere I felt was good enough. And even then… It took me a long time feeling comfortable — not because of the program, but because of how difficult it is to leave the baby to go to work. Mrs. Starr, the Montessori teacher in Room 1, is an angel. She is highly professional and kind with parents and fun and sweet with kids. She is evidently well educated and has a nursing degree. Mrs. Anushka, Mrs. Leesha, and Mrs. Brianna are other teachers that have been there for a while and took care of my baby girl with so much love and respect. I am so thankful for the attentiveness they’ve given. My daughter loved them so much, and it was so hard for her to move on to the next classroom because she had so much fun. I will confess that one thing bothered me about Room 1 — they have a high turn over ratio, meaning that within the year that my daughter stayed in that room, they renewed almost all of their staff (about 11 teachers, I think). This was hard on my daughter, since it takes her a long time to get used to new faces.
In any case, when she was two, she transferred over to Room 2. The transition is always hard on the little ones, but the fact that they send familiar faces (teachers and other friends) together does help quite a lot. Now that she is comfortable in that classroom, she loves it so much. She looks forward to all the activities they have planned for her on a daily basis. Oh, speaking of which: THEY HAVE LIVE MUSIC EVERYDAY! And art! And books! And more music! Montessori toys! And it is a super clean classroom, with fun changing themes and activities for the kids. They have birthday parties, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Thanksgiving… You name it. The little ones even perform twice a year. It’s just amazing how much they do with them. Personally, the whole academics of it did not really matter to me. She is TWO, all I care is that she is having fun and feels confident and comfortable in her environment while I am gone, and that she certainly does. As a bonus, however, I am always IMPRESSED with how much she is talking, and she constantly surprises me with the things she learns. She has known her colors and numbers and ABCs for so long now. She cleans up after herself, takes her dishes to the sink, and is now asking to go potty. We have been there for two years now, and all I can say is that I am so thankful to have the privilege of putting my daughter into such an amazing program.
I love the facility, of course. Aside from parking, which can be a pain but is manageable, it is a great space. It is beautiful, clean, and they have a theater, a splash pad, and many playgrounds/​spaces. And they have an observation room for the classes — meaning you can sit there and secretly watch the teachers and your child and make observations. I’ve done this quite a lot, and was mostly pleased with what I saw.
Now, to be fair, there are a few downsides, for me anyway. I feel that nature should be a bigger part of their program. All of the grounds are rubber surfaced. No dirt, no plants, no nature activities. Nothing. This made me go looking for other programs around, and I found that schools that follow Emilio Reggio have more nature incorporated in their activities. There are so many studies pointing out that nature is so important in child development that I find it difficult to understand why this school completely removed it from their program. Well, liability comes to mind… Another down side is that I wish Room 2 would warm up their lunches. They do provide school lunch, but since I’d prefer my daughter to eat mostly vegetarian/​organic, it was hard for me to let that go. Eventually, the convenience won over the ideal, but I’d prefer if they would provide a warm-​up for parents that sent lunch. Lastly, his is the most expensive school around — which does hurt the pocket. But, honestly, our family learned to budget around it and put my daughter’s wellbeing first.
Other than these downsides, everything else makes up it. That is why I give it 5 stars. This is really as good as it gets with all the other schools I looked into. The school and staff excel in so many areas that it is difficult to downgrade them for a few downs, which are based on personal preference anyway.

I couldn’t allow the single star review to skew anyone’s thoughts on this school. My son loves going to school here and that makes this mommy super happy. We have had a great experience here. I was reluctant at first because we had always had him in a Christian private school BUT we have found more love and kindness here than in other schools. We teach him Jesus’ love at home, His life at church, and at school he learns how to love learning and others. I haven’t met one person who works here who isn’t kind and loving. y son will often ask to stay at school rather than come home when he previously would call me asking me to pick him up. The after school program is FANTASTIC! Teachers offer homework assistance and the school of the arts has a great selection of courses to enrich the kids extracurricular education (dance, art, guitar, piano, acting, sports, etc…) no need for me to run around everyday to get my son into other things he’s interested in and again best of all is homework help! We come home, only review homework, and then it’s snuggle time. They’re only young once and I want to spend my time with my son with happy memories rather than frustration from doing homework until late with a hungry and tired child. In closing… we love it and recommend it. Ms. Aida was great making our mid year school transition smooth and stress free, Ms. Lori and Miss Ashley — ROCK!, Ms. Claire and Ms. Virginia are wonderful… It’s all quality!!! If you’re looking for a small private school with a beautiful campus and wonderful values… make sure you at least visit, tour, and give it a chance!

Worst school…
They only think about money not kids’ education nor health…
Don’t recommend here. They only think about $MONEY $MONEY $MONEY…