Prime Time Montessori School

Miss Anna is the life of the toddler class. we loved our time there. The only reason we left was because we moved.
Feb 26th, 2023

I don't know why it's taken so long (about four years) for me to review this place, but it deserves about five-star "as good  as it gets" review. My boy was there from about 18 months until almost three years old, and really appreciated the place, particularly after mixed experiences with a subsequent Montessori school. It is open to children from 15 months to 6 years old. The facility is the basement of a large residential home. The owner-headmaster of the school (and a much school in Issaquah) lives upstairs. The entrance is around the back, shielded by the house from the street noise of Bel-Red Road. Access from the parking lot is by a nicely landscaped boardwalk. The schoolyard is securely fenced, with lots of forested natural scenery outside the fence. The highlight is a stream called Country Creek, through the corner of the school's property. (It starts near Cascade View Park and flows into the Sammamish River.) The city has it marked as salmon spawning habitat, but I haven't seen its salmon run.Indoors, there's a toddler school room, and preschool room, and some office and other private space. Both classrooms were brightly lit and cheerful even in the gloom of winter. They were spotlessly clean -- and our boy was there before pandemic. It was well equipped, with learning materials organized Montessori-style. The teachers were dedicated and caring, and because of the small classes they always had abundant time for the children. And because the owner is a Montessori teacher who lives upstairs, a familiar substitute was always available when teachers needed days off. Communications were excellent: a simple form with a few little status updates, written notes about anything unusual during the day and scheduled events ahead, plus availability to talk about any concerns at pick-up time. (They weren't champions with e-mail, but better at it than a subsequent school.) A highlight event (scheduled well in advance so parents could see their kids' delight) while our boy was there was a visit from a mobile petting zoo. A truck (maybe more than one) arrived one day with rabbits, goats, sheep, assorted other animals -- and a pony. Their staff set up cages and hand-wash stations, and let the kids interact with the animals. In the parking lot, kids took turns riding the pony. Now I want to look at my photos and videos and share them with our boy. The tuition was very affordable. In part, that's probably because it shares overhead with the owner's house. But it's also due to the place's one inconvenience, that parents had to send lunches when dropping off the children. A note about Montessori schools in general: the learning style is exploratory and largely self-directed. Budget permitting, I think it's ideal for most toddlers and preschoolers, except for some with special needs. But it's not such a clear choice for elementary school and up; if a child absorbs a strong sense of self-motivation to work at school, it's superior. If not, a conventional classroom with stronger guidance may be a better fit. But Prime Time enrolls kids during the early years when Montessori is best for most children. In retrospect I wish we had kept him there until he was too old, but we had previously wait-listed him at another Montessori school (which provided excellent lunches). Our reasoning had been to transfer him while he was little, to get the disruption of changing schools over with earlier. But as it turned out, the pandemic was a vastly greater disruption to children (and adults) of all ages. After all that praise -- and the observation that the inconvenience of sending lunches was balanced by the very reasonable price -- I feel comfortable giving Prime Time a five-star "as good as it gets" without any concerns about grade inflation.
Sep 15th, 2022

I have my son in pre school class .If you want your kid to feel safe and happy .It's the place.Your child doesn't get lost in huge crowd.Its a decent size Montessori with the perfect blend of warm and compassionate teachers who not only focus on learning but take good care of them.My son really enjoy going to the school.
May 17th, 2018

My first impression of this school is, "Wow, all of the children are smiling!" It is a happy place. The teacher to student ratio is great, and the price is impressively reasonable. It accepts children from about 18 months to 5 years; there's a toddler class for kids in diapers, and a pre-school class for those who have graduated from diapers. It's a fully equipped Montessori school in what looks like a regular residential house, and upstairs is a residence -- home of the headmistress, who also owns a much larger Montessori school in Issaquah.
Mar 12th, 2018

This school is excellent ! We recently enrolled our son (almost 2) and he is doing great. The teachers are all kind and caring and they are very focused on learning and teaching the children. This is not just a "day care" it is a school for toddlers and young children, you can see the progress our son has made in a short period of time and he is very happy with outdoor playtime and all the good structured activities they participate in. The hygiene is excellent, the children wash their hands often and learn how to use the sink. Our son has also learned to use a big boy cup rather than a sippy cup, he still spills a little but he's not even 2 yet and school helped him learn so quickly. His vocabulary is expanding with all the activities and it has been an overall very healthy change from our previous care situation (previously full time Nanny prior to our relocation). I would personally recommend this school to anyone in the area and we are so happy to have our sons first school experience so positive, we can not thank the teachers and owner enough, they are all wonderful and very dedicated !!
Aug 9th, 2021