Kiddy Junction Academy - Division II — Daycare & Preschool in Vancouver, British Columbia

What parents say

• Nicky Khan

  My son graduated from Kiddy Junction Academy, Montessori Daycare Div II in June of this year. He attended Kiddy Junction from March of 2013 to August 2015. When my son entered the program he was significantly speech delayed. Over the duration we had a few hiccups and for the most part staff were eager to listen and handled the situations most effectively. With both the consistency of routine and the staffs stern, yet playful guidance, my child flourished both in his speech and ability to make friends. The staff at Kiddy Junction consistently include parent volunteers on field trips etc. I specifically enjoyed the annual Children's Christmas concert which came into effect during our time! I give Kiddy Junction 5 stars, as I feel that they sincerely strive for excellence.

• Rita L

  Definitely an awesome decision for childcare! Kiddy Junction provided a safe, encouraging, and versatile environment for my son to play, learn and explore. After only a few months of enrollment at KJA, he has become more independent, neat, patient, and learned how to eat neatly by himself, play independently for half hour at a time, and walk by himself without fussing when we go out. All the learning and independence we tried hard to reinforce at home seems to be learned effortlessly at KJA by following examples in the calm environment. There are always lots of educational toys, arts and crafts activities to keep him interested and engaged. All the teachers are very patient and loving, they respect the children's differences. Kids there are calm and playful. It is very nice to see my son has made lots of friends, and often are having too much fun to go home when we pick him up at end of the day. With almost a decade of experience, Shaun and Melissa are very hands on. The daycare is run very smoothly. They continue to choose good programs and activities such as yoga, various field trips during the summer camp, visits from the lizards guy etc. to broaden the kids' exposure to new experiences. We feel very fortunate and could not be happier!

• Maggie Zhang

  Choosing Kiddy Junction Academy was the right decision for my child. Although my daughter has only been here for less than a month, both my daughter and I feel a warm welcome from all the staffs of the academy. During the first month of school, my daughter has learned a lot. She now becomes more independent and takes more responsibility at home than before. Every day when my daughter comes home, she has some exciting and fun stories to tell me about things than happened at school. My daughter has met many new friends at the academy already and she likes the staffs as well.

• Sandy Wong

  My son attended KJA for one year. We were specifically looking for a Montessori preschool for him. KJA claims to offer a mix of Montessori and Reggio teaching so we jumped at the opportunity when a spot opened up for him after 2 years of being on the waitlist (which we paid $100+ to be on). The teachers are really caring and warm, and my son made a lot of friends and became more social and vocal during his year there. However, he is 4 years old now and can barely draw a straight line, doesn’t know how to draw a square or rectangle, cannot count beyond 10 and does not know how to write his own name. I understand every child’s skill development level is different but these are very basic skills that I would expect him to learn in one year of being at a highly rated “Montessori” school. We had raised our concerns during midterm review and the principal and teacher agreed that he could use more “workbook” time and they said they would address that in the 2nd half of the year. From what we observed, nothing improved and it really makes me question what he learned the entire year. KJA is a fantastic DAYCARE but that’s it…it’s a daycare. If you want your child to learn something, then this is not the school. For kids under 5, they mostly play. We are removing my son from KJA and moving him back to Montessori World (even though it is just a half day school, we feel he will get more out of it then full day “daycare”). Also, we didn’t appreciate that the school kept asking parents to donate new toys and books every month in addition to providing a “supplies kit” at the beginning of the year that costed us $100+. There was an “award ceremony” at the end of the year where parents (and the child’s siblings) had to buy tickets to attend and it felt like we were just subsidising the graduation ceremony for the graduating kids. My overall experience with KJA is that they run it like a business, to which I give them credit for because they were very creative in their money making schemes.

• Nan Zhang

  This is a dream school. My elder son started at KJA Division 1 since he was 3 years old in 2019 and my younger one started in Division 2 when he was 2.5 in 2020. They both love the school and the teachers so much. They both said KJA was the best school ever (They both started going to daycare since 1.5 Y ). The elder one misses here so much even though he is already in Grade 1 now. Our family really appreciated the sincere love, patience and care from all the educators at KJA. We like the way they respect the different natures of children and nurturing them in a respectful and caring way. I will say the summer camp here is the best in town. They have a field trip every week, from the aquarium to Lynn Canyon park, from the mountain to the beach. Anyway, I will definitely send my kid here if I have another. Oh yes, my younger son said KJA always had the best snack.