Pinecrest Schools- Woodland Hills

Such an amazing school… hidden in the middle of a sweet residential neighborhood. The teacher’s are creative and right on point!
Stop by for a tour.

I have an 8 year old who happens to be extremely picky, so when I took him to look at a few summer camps he chose Pinecrest.
The campus is kept clean, the staff is friendly, and the kids go swimming every day except on Fridays.
Here are the pro’s, nice neighborhood, they keep your kids busy, and I do mean busy. Kids are on a schedule, they have sports, video game time, movie time, and arts and crafts. Every friday they have a BBQ. Campus is open from 6:30am to 6:30pm, and there is no additional fee for these extended hours.
The con’s, it isnt cheap, it will dig a hole in your pocket, you have to pay for every single field trip, and meals are not included, with the exception of Friday only.
On the bright side my son loved it so much that he asked to go back next year.

Preschool parents are fickle, and I’m sure that I’m no different. With that disclaimer, there are things that I love about Pinecrest, and things that I don’t. The primary reason I love this school are the teachers. The teachers are fantastic. The kids are happy, they are learning, and the campus is full of fun active-​play toys and is kept very clean. I don’t like many of the recent administrative changes, but it’s not realistic to be 100% happy with any business or school 100% of the time. Some of the recent changes were particularly aggravating, such as the discontinuation of including lunch as part of the regular tuition, which came at the same time as a tuition increase. Even with the tuition and lunch changes, they are still less expensive than many surrounding preschools. For my family the pros outweigh the cons, so I would recommend Pinecrest without hesitation.

This review is for the Preschool side; I wish I could review the teachers separate from the owners.
The teachers and local administration are great they would have received 5 stars. My daughter attended Pinecrest from 12 months up until the end of this year at 4 years old. All her teachers were great. They are caring, knowledgeable and very patient with the kids. She had the following teachers and i would personally recommend all of them: Ms. Donna, Ms. Kelly, Ms. Anna, Rose, Ms. Valerie and Ms. Uche.
On the other hand the business is run inconsistently. Each year there is an increase (which is to be expected) along with a decrease in services. For example this year tuition was increased as was registration 1 week before announcing lunches were no longer going to be included. They also attempted to stop serving snacks (AM & PM) however legally they are required to so the parents revolted and snacks remained. The owners could us some common sense when dealing with the parents and truly treating them as customers.

They make changes with no comment or regard for the parents. The rolled out what equates to a $ 120 a month change in tuition mid year and then raised it another $ 30 in another two months. They made a contract change to remove providing lunches and snacks and then tell us what our kids are capable of eating. After weeks of explaining that by law they have to provide snack, they send a letter saying «we have heard your concerns and will provide snacks to help alleviate the changes» how about you were breaking the LAW? I have a 4 ½ year old that they are telling me I have to cut his grapes, cut his baby carrots and can’t send a hot dog. I get the no nuts because more and more kids are allergic, but you tell me I have to pay 5.70 a day for your lunch service or pack a lunch but then limit my ability to pack a healthy lunch unless I spend 30 minutes in the morning preparing it. A lot of families have their kids in preschool because they work. If I had a hour a day to prepare just lunches maybe I am in the wrong profession. When you bring concerns to their attention they just quote a bunch of policies. The teachers my son has are great and there only reason I will not move him, but HORRIBLE administration. Two stars only for the teachers.

Between my 2 children this is year number 15 for us and I used to really love it. Aggressive academics, good teachers, great director, Mrs. Monello who had a very common sense way of going about everything. Now things have changed. In the last 2 years, since Mrs. Monello has retired, certain teachers «leaving», the academic rigor has declined. The communication with parents has decreased significantly, and the common sense approach is out the window. An infraction that might warrant a phone call home, now gets drawn out to the point of the child being shamed by a teacher, excluded from fun activities such as St. Patricks Day party, and the phone call home to meet with the teacher and director, 5 days post small incident. In the beginning of the school year the school newspaper said they were updating the curriculum, the contract parents signed did not state they were drastically changing their academic program to «common core» which by the way, the current director has told me she «hates.» Not only do I feel ripped off, since I have to pay the high tuition and am not getting even close to what I have received in the past, I feel the administration and teachers are seriously letting my daughter down. Only 2 ½ months to go and she never has to go back. I would NEVER consider their middle school based on how their elementary school has declined.

My daughter has been going to this school for 4 years now and we couldn’t be happier. Excellent school with great academics and a caring and wonderful staff! You will not be disappointed!