Creekside Montessori School

"Have a back up plan for this Montessori school. I was so shocked by our experience that I had to wait a week to calm down and write this review. When I was pregnant a year and a half ago, we toured all the Montessori schools near our home and work. We decided to enroll our son in the fall of 2015, once he was over his stranger danger/sensitive period. We hired a wonderful nanny in the meantime. She and her husband planned the birth of their own firstborn around our son's 2015 fall enrollment. Mayflower was our top pick and their toddler teacher came highly recommended by an old friend, another Montessori teacher and Children's House owner in the community. We signed up when our son was a newborn, 14 months ago, and waited. We were excited for visiting day this past month, but shocked to learn we were not actually enrolled. I'm a first time mom, but based on my own research and tours of other toddler programs, this was highly irregular, so I reached out for confirmation. The response from their director Nanci was very canned and left me stunned, "Thanks for coming to Visiting Day. Our application process is continuing and we will be making final decisions for enrollment in the next few weeks. There are many factors we take into account to make our decisions and we balance the classrooms by age and gender. You will hear from us by Friday, March 27. Thanks, Nanci Olesen Director Mayflower Early Childhood Center" Rumor has it there were only 4-7 openings for fall 2015. The visiting day we attended last week was an absolute carnival with 40 families and toddlers! I feel the number of attendees was very misleading for so few openings. I hope that this was an isolated incident. We may have fallen through the cracks since we signed up on recommendation from a Montessori teacher before the toddler program even began at Mayflower. We are still really disappointed and terribly inconvenienced by our experience. We are now scrambling to find an acceptable daycare for our happy, healthy 15 month-old boy. Every place has a year wait. Any insights or advice are most welcome! Our amazing nanny will be on maternity leave and we are really stuck!"

"Mayflower Early Childhood Center only hires really highly qualified, AMI accredited Montessori teaching staff - and it shows. The teachers are all highly versed in human development and meeting the needs of the children in their class within the Montessori framework and the classrooms are beautifully prepared and maintained. A must for people interested in experiencing the full scope of what Montessori has to offer."

"Mayflower Early Childhood Center is a wonderful resource and child care center in Southwest Minneapolis. The teachers and staff are dedicated to creating a authentic Montessori environment that is enriching, calm and nurturing."