St. David's Day School

"Our 2 year old son has spent the last year in Ms. Lauren and Ms. Julie's toddler class at St. David's, and we have been thrilled with our experience there. As a first time mom with a premature baby born during the COVID pandemic, I was very nervous to send him to school for the first time, and visited many daycares before choosing St. David's. It was very clear to me from the first visit to their welcoming classrooms that they are completely committed to the well-being of their students. For instance, despite the inconvenience, they all masked during the pandemic (many daycares did not) before vaccines were available to young children to protect the students, and they offer a remarkably low student-teacher ratio (a huge, huge plus that means that our son gets more individualized attention). When choosing a school, I wanted to make sure the St. David's facility was safe since it is in downtown Austin, and Head of School Ms. Kate talked to me extensively about my concerns and comprehensively answered every single one of my questions. I truly appreciated the time and effort she spent talking with me about this issue, and it was also clear to me that St. David's has gone above and beyond to create a completely safe and secure environment for their students, which laid my fears fully to rest. Throughout the year, Ms. Kate has been completely accessible to us whenever we had any questions, and she and our son's teachers have truly cared for us as a family. When our daughter was born in the middle of the school year, we asked if we could pay for our son (who was attending half day at the time) to attend one day full day to bridge a childcare gap when I had to stay in the hospital an extra day, and Ms. Kate and our son's teachers instead invited our son to attend full day for the whole week at no charge to us (!!!) which helped us SO much as we adjusted to our new arrival, and Ms. Lauren and Ms. Julie helped my son create a welcome home gift for our daughter! My husband and I were incredibly touched by their kindness and generosity for our growing family! The entire staff at St. David's, from the front desk staff to the building and maintenance workers, all know our son's name and say hi to him. They have all been incredibly helpful and kind to us as I was doing drop off and pick ups while increasingly pregnant throughout the year and then with a new baby in tow. We have also been so thankful for and impressed by his teachers Ms. Lauren and Ms. Julie! Our son loves them and they are in constant communication with us to let us know how he is doing--I feel confident that he is truly loved and nurtured while in their care. Both teachers gave him sweet individualized presents on his birthday, which touched our hearts so much--he loved them as they knew exactly what he would like!! Ms. Lauren always takes the time to talk to me during drop-off and lets me know about new things our son has been doing--new words he has been working on, fun or funny things that happened during the day, etc, things we can work on at home, etc. She even took the time to personally text me a sweet video of our son hugging another child, which meant so much to me! They also made lunch for him when I forgot his lunch at home one day so that I wouldn't have to drive all the way back with a new baby in tow. Our son's language development, which was a concern for us when he started school, has really taken off while in their class, and his socialization has greatly improved. Ms. Kate, Ms. Lauren, Ms. Julie, and the rest of the staff at St. David's truly feel like family to us, and we couldn't recommend them more highly."

"We enrolled my 18 month old at St. David's after 16 months of daycare at another Austin chain daycare and the difference has been amazing! The communication from the director and staff has been excellent and the room and center itself is bright, cheery and filled with a variety of learning toys and books. My daughter has already warmed to several of the staff, is speaking more, and is taking pride in new skills like washing hands. It is common to see all of the staff engaged with projects with the kids and enjoying their work as I pick her up and instead of coming home frustrated on a daily basis after not getting basic needs met, she is smiley and full of thing she wants to do and say. They have also done a great job of listening to concerns (she has severe food allergies) and making me feel she is cared for, comfortable, and safe. Many of the staff have been there for years and I feel like we have finally found a community that works for my family! Thank you so much to St. David's and all of their kind and caring folks! Their compassion and love for all certainly show!"