The Goddard School of Jacksonville

Our son was one of the first children at this location when it opened. In those first few years we absolutely loved the tight knit community and attention to detail the staff and directors offered. However as we now enter our child's third year at the school with numerous staff and leadership turnover we utilize this school more out of convenience than personal choice. There have been several instances of miscommunication from leadership with our family. Even more concerning, is the notable leadership turnover in such a short period of time. Unfortunately there is not a standard practice in place for routine class transitions which allow children of the same age an equal opportunity to access all learning tools which the school prides itself on. It's extremely disappointing to see such obvious stagnation and regression in our child's classroom engagement and learning for what appears to be the sake of appeasing incoming families on waitlists or special circumstances. I do hope moving forward the school is able to put in place more concrete class groupings so that all children are afforded an equal opportunity to engage and excel in their pivotal early learning years with the developmentally appropriate materials and tools the school has to offer.

This school is the worst place to put a child that is autistic. My son is on the spectrum which comes with ADHD and meltdowns and aggression. That is normal for kids on the spectrum. The aggression stems from them not knowing how to use their words. He had behavioral therapists there with him everyday and he was only at this school for four days before they kicked out a special needs child! A normal non special needs child takes a week to transition to a new place....a child on the spectrum takes at least two weeks maybe three. The owner did not allow that. The teachers have no training on how to handle and teach a child on the spectrum at all. The owner also LIED and said the behavioral therapists sat and let my son hit and kick the teacher and they ignored it. TOTAL LIES!! I have the proof from the notes that they have to put in every week from the sessions. So the owner lied to me, the teacher lied also. I called the ADA and was told what they did violated the ADA act and to file a complaint. I have filed a complaint with the ADA. This place needs to be shut down for good. They are horrible. They also wanna charge almost $1200 a month you have to pay on the 1st of every month and they don't provide lunch, you have to provide lunch for your child and they wanna charge that much. Basically a daycare for rich snobby people!

I absolutely love The Goddard School! Our situation is a bit different and they were very accommodating. We ended up taking a temporary spot for the month of November, and I hope that a full spot opens soon for my child. The teachers are so caring and they make sure that they treat your baby with care! We were in the "lovable lobster" room, and each one of his teachers were awesome. I enjoy the tadpoles app that they use also - which is where they upload your child's daily report... how much he ate, diapers, and pictures of your child following the curriculum. Whenever my baby comes home he is tired but happy! I also have never questioned the cleanliness of the school. This school has def set a high standard for me when looking for daycares in the future!

After 5 years at Goddard, having two children attend(ed) this school, we have seen all the good that Goddard has to offer. From 3 months through the VPK, we stuck with them, because they are the best.Cleanliness was initially my main concern finding a daycare, and I have visited many daycare facilities before I decided on Goddard. Throughout the day the teachers and staff pick up after the kids, the areas were food is handled are impeccable, and they have a special sanitizing system in place, called ZONO Sanitizing. The ZONO machine cleans mats, tables, toys and even soft toys. After having my infant daughter grown up and graduate from their VPK program, and going on to Kindergarten I know that there is more to child care, than just a clean class room. Goddard has an awesome curriculum, my first child has learned things that peers of her age do not even come close to. Of course all parents think their child is the brightest, but Goddard actually was a huge contributor to the knowledge and skills she took away to Kindergarten. Very happy with the way they teach, and the enrichment programs they have in place. All these five years the school has been improving and building on what they already offer. The staff at Goddard is amazing. The whole crew makes sure the experience has been as easy as it can be. As a mother (or father) it is not "easy" to leave your child behind in care of others, but knowing my children were always in a loving environment with people who care about them is huge. Not only does the staff make sure your child feels loved, they really care about us as a family. They all take the time to know you, be there with advice if you ask for it, a kind word of encouragement when you are tired after a sleepless night with the baby. I cannot stress enough how excellent our experience at Goddard has been, go and take a look, and find out for yourself.

I had 2 sons attend VPK here. We were thrilled with the staff, the facility and the learning environment they were able to provide. My younger son was very anxious and shy, but with the care and attention he received there, he has flourished. Graduation ceremonies were extremely memorable so be prepared to take lots of videos and pics.

My son has been going to this Goddard for over 3 years now, and I just started my infant daughter there too. Although everyone has a different experience when it comes to daycare, from the beginning we've had the best teachers who truly seem to care about our kids and family. Many of the teachers have become family friends outside of the classroom. My son has blossomed with the nurturing of his teachers and the strong curriculum they provide-- I'm confident he'll have an advantage when he starts kindergarten because of the things he's learning at Goddard, both intellectually and socially. The staff are always looking for ways to continuously improve, and although they face the typical challenges of higher turnover associated with daycare, in our experience, they've always worked to ensure we had seamless transitions with our son and changing teachers/classes.

We didn't have good experience with this place. They service doesn't match the price they charge. We had our infant daughter there and we found the place to be unclean and people walking with shoes all over and too many substitute teachers. The teachers don't look happy. We changed our daughter to primrose and we are happy with the daycare