Beginnings Learning Center

Most Recent Comments

• August 2024 by Inna Bergal
  Our daughter was here for 3 years and we are so grateful we found this place! The staff and teachers are wonderful and create a safe and fun environment for the kids to grown and learn in.
• August 2024 by Bill Savage
  Our son joined the school mid-year after we moved from a different neighborhood. We were concerned about his transition, but the staff and teachers (and students!) made it seamless and overwhelmingly positive. Within days, he had fit right in and made friends. While the school leans into a play-based model (which which we love), it also puts a real emphasis on learning, practicing and positively reinforcing the fundamentals in an engaging way. Prior to joining the school, our son was potentially at risk of falling behind schedule in terms of learning to recognize and write letters, and the diligence with which the teachers continually reinforced these essentials was a very welcomed addition for us. He's now headed to TK this fall, and is in a really great position to do so, thanks in no small part to the teachers and staff at Beginnings. We appreciate all their help, and will certainly miss them!
• July 2024 by Dominique Olowolafe
  Both of my daughters attended BLC NoHo from diapers through 4 years old. Without a doubt, an incredible and safe environment for tiny humans. I will miss this school and are so thankful for all the work they did to prepare girls for elementary.
• April 2022 by Sonn G.
  As a parent I would advise to look elsewhere for pre-school. My son attended here and I put all my trust in the care of staff/teachers. Due to negligence and being understaffed, my son got badly injured with a laceration across his face. It's been well over 4 months this happened and he still has an awful scar. I picked him up from school and he was dismissed by the school principal Ms.Talar who was also in charge that day. She saw and spoke with me but failed to mention his injury. My son wore a beanie that day so I didn't notice the injury until I got home. He was also wearing a mask due to Covid protocols which made it harder for me to see. Due to Covid parents weren't allowed to walk in unless an emergency situation arises, so I couldn't actually walk inside to pick him up. She dismissed him and forgot to mention this horrible incident that occurred with another child. As a mother it's very alarming for something like this to happen. Not because of the injury, because of the incompetence and lack of trust on behalf of BLC. We spoke with the owner as well as the director and they're answer was "we forgot". This is inexcusable and unacceptable. The principal and owner showed little to no care, this is unacceptable. when children are sent to preschool, the staff ratio should always be correct for children's safety. Had I known they were understaffed I'd pull my son out before he got injured. Needless to say, we pulled him out school the next day. It's very unfortunate because we were genuinely happy with BLC, but none of that matters when your child's well being is at stake. I was biting my tongue for months before writing this review for months, but seeing that scar on my sons face is a constant reminder for me of the mistrust and incompetence of this school. Parents beware.....
• November 2021 by Heather Q.
  I wish I could give BLC more than 5 stars! The teacher's at this school are amazing and inspiring. I am impressed by the variety of activities that my child is engaging in. My son comes home HAPPY every day with his school projects in hand. It is a great mix of fun, education and nurturing. I cannot believe the quality of the work that they encourage from the children! This school is immaculately clean and they have kept all the kids healthy during these challenging times. I look forward to sending my younger child here too. Highly recommended!!!
• July 2021 by Justin B.
  It looks like our time at BLC is coming to an end as my son will be starting Kindergarten in a couple months. My son has been attending BLC NOHO since he was 2 years old. In that time, his communication, confidence, and general knowledge have grown tremendously. Certainly, some of this has to be expected with growing older, but it's amazing how often he'll bring up a topic that he learned at school from his teachers. When I was exploring daycare/preschool options, my first priority was simple - does the staff genuinely care about their kids? At some places, it's clear that people might be going through the motions to get through the day. At BLC, that is not the case. They truly, truly, care about their children and have treated my son as their own since we first walked in. The next priority was a balance between free time and structured learning. I didn't want his preschool to simply be a glorified day care, but neither did I want it to be stringent with schoolwork. BLC has seemed to have found the sweet spot between these two. There is considerable structured learning (which I love) but there is also lots of opportunities for him to socialize with play with his peers. There is a calmness and level of respect being cultivated in this school that is just phenomenal. I'm impressed constantly with the respectful nature of the kids that attend with my son. And it's clear that they have wonderful parents. And that's really what this is all about - concerned, involved, and loving parents partnering with knowledgeable, attentive, and structured teachers/staff. I cannot say enough about the quality of this school. The entire staff has loved our kids as if they were their own, and my son is thriving because of their care and curriculum. We drive 20 minutes from our house to attend Beginnings NOHO. They have played such a huge role in our lives and truly feel like family to us after all these years. Shoutout to Ms. Azo, Ms. Nancy, Ms. Talar, Ms. Jenat, and Ms. Michelle. You are our MVPs!
• December 2020 by Olga V.
  This review is long overdue! Our daughter attended Beginings Learning Center for almost 2.5 years. We truly loved our time there! She made close friends with her fellow students, and very close connections with her teachers! We as parents have made friends with the other parents, had many play dates, and felt a part of a community. - it's a very clean, organized and bright space - large outdoor play area with clean and new equipment - they serve warm lunch & snacks - organized activities for the kids, circle time, learning opportunities, and of course free play - teachers have been amazing, easy to communicate with and get updates on your child - owner Ms Michelle and director Ms Talar are very easy to get in touch with, they always respond promptly, and take responsibility - the school has been gracious, open, and accommodating during our entire time there - many activities in the class, our daughter always came home with tons of art projects and drawings - there are always extra projects and activities based on the season - weekly music class - pre covid there were several additional activities such as dance, soccer, yoga, karate... we loved that out daughter could participate without having to go somewhere else for a lesson - there is a party for every child on their birthday, they bake cupcakes as a class - pre covid there were plenty of kid parties where parents were invited to attend, it was a nice touch to catch up with the teachers and other parents. Parties still exist now, minus the parents for the time being. - we loved seeing photos of our daughter in class participating in activities and playing with her friends. Every month the school shares a private photo album with the parents. - in the summer they have additional activities for the kids, water day with an actual water slide and kiddy pools - bouncy castle day - reptiles day - firefighters & police come in - snow cone day - & many more - the school has been gracious in handling covid, all their procedures have made us feel safe and confident. - most important our daughter made amazing connections with her teachers and friends, she was always excited about school. Some days I had a hard time getting her to go home :) - I am sure I am forgetting a few things, but I can confidently recommend Beginings Learning Center
• September 2020 by Mariam ..
  This 1 star rating is for the application process and not the daycare center or employees. I'm sure the daycare is great, but I wouldn't know that for sure since I didn't get a chance to enroll my daughter after being on a 6 months waitlist. I think it's so ridiculous for a daycare center to say that they accept families through Pathways or Crystalstairs, but then require the same families to pay $710 for a 2 weeks deposit from their own pocket. On top of that, being told this only after getting an available spot after 6 months is just not fair. Other daycares I've been in contact with have the understanding that families through Pathways don't get charged deposit since Pathways guarantees payments and they notify about withdrawal in advance. I got in touch with Pathways and they notified me that no other families have been enrolled in this daycare through Pathways, so that says a lot too.
• July 2020 by Neanz B.
  One year later and we still love BLC NOHO!!! We love it so much our youngest daughter will be attending in September. As a parent, I entrust my greatest treasureto the staff at BLC NOHO every day, and I am grateful for the loving care and guidance she receives. The teachers and director look at each child as an individual, with their own strengths and needs. My daughter has been blessed with awesome teachers who understands my rambunctious daughter and handles her with grace. My child has learned so much and continues to share with me the great activities that go on each day at BLC. I recommend BLC whole heartedly .
• July 2020 by M B.
  Our son has been at Beginnings for just over a year now and we've been impressed since day one. The location is well kept, modern and clean with a great group of teachers. They really rallied once the pandemic hit. Swiftly enacting new policies to make sure that these little rascals (and their families) stayed safe and entertained. It's been one of the few pieces of normalcy in this "new normal." Our son loves his Beginnings family, the fun learning and even wants us to drive by on weekends.
• March 2020 by Kristopher B
  Beginnings Learning Center in NoHo has been a great facility. The faculty are like extended family, which makes me feel safe everyday I drop my daughter off. Talar has been so responsive and takes accountability for any questions and/or concerns.
• March 2020 by sarah h.
  I would not recommend BLC to any parent- in fact I'd encourage them to continue on and look at other schools. There's so many darling schools in the area with great staff and in a wonderful and safe location. Take note that there is no safe place to load and unload your child(ren) the so called school is squeezed between two mechanic shops and what looks to be a junk yard and a 7-eleven that there was a shooting at in the parking lot. That alone confirmed for us this is NOT where we want to leave our precious little one all day. They're under staffed and can't seem to keep staff onboard, which creates anxiety for little ones not knowing who will be their teacher today. The staff are not friendly and welcoming but rather seem annoyed to be there. The classroom always seems to be in chaos- there's no order. Kids screaming and crying, hitting and biting each other (our child was bit on the cheek) she also fell and hit her head on the corner of a bookshelf and the staff didn't bother to call me or her dad to let us know what had happened. They had multiple issues with their main front door/gate closing properly and they'd just send emails telling the parents to remember to close it-I had to write them an email saying do something serious about this gate issue and get it fixed! The school is on a very busy street. They blast very loud music in the classrooms most of which is not appropriate for a toddler classroom setting at all. They use iPads and sit the kids down to watch something... I'm not paying a bunch of money for my daughter to watch iPad shows. Bottom line, I sadly don't have anything positive to say from our experience at BLC.
• January 2020 by Betsy M.
  We had our son at Beginnings from early July through early September 2019, when he was 22 months to 2 years old. There are a lot of great things about Beginnings. The campus is new, modern, and very clean. The teachers and staff are all very friendly. Lunch is included from an on-site kitchen. There is a weekly music class and we were impressed by the roster of extracurricular activities. Although he wasn't always happy to be dropped off, our son was always happy and energetic when we picked him up. Unfortunately, we ran into several issues with the center so when a spot opened up at a center near my husband's office, we decided to pull our son from Beginnings. The center's director went on maternity leave shortly after our son started so maybe we had an unusual experience because things were chaotic without her (the assistant director told us the director ran things one way but she was trying to run them a different way). To start, the center seemed understaffed. We were told they were trying to hire additional teachers but during our time there it seemed to be a constant shuffle of existing staff (administrators, teachers from other rooms) covering the 18-24 month class. Shortly before we took our son out a new teacher did start. The staff at Beginnings also needs to work quite a bit on communication, both with parents and with each other. We would tell our son's teacher something at drop off and a different teacher at pickup would be unaware of what we had communicated. Most of his daily sheets were barely filled out and often times we didn't get one at all. We never once got a center-wide email. I am unsure if they just never sent any or if we were never added to their list. A few times we picked our son up and he was wearing a different brand of diapers than we had supplied. In addition, the staff's response to several issues was not acceptable to us. For instance, our son was pushed on the playground one morning at drop off and we were told by a teacher that "the kids can be aggressive here." For the record, we didn't really have a problem with him being pushed as it's normal playground behavior, and we didn't request any action to be taken, but this response seemed shortsighted. My son was usually the last child in his class when I picked him up. More often than not I would enter the classroom to find him sitting alone while the teacher was cleaning and obviously eager to leave as soon as he did. Several days in a row I picked him up to find him watching YouTube videos on an iPad. We asked that they not use screens with him and they did stop. Lastly, there was a transient who was often seen in the alleyway next to/behind the center (where we often had to park because the center has no dedicated parking). He obviously wasn't associated with Beginnings and we were reassured by administration that he was harmless, just frequently would ask people for the time (a teacher later told us that he would also yell obscenities and awful names at the teachers when they walked to their cars). One day he started approaching me in an uncomfortable manner. When we emailed the assistant director to let her know about the encounter we were simply reminded that we had already been told that he was harmless. In addition, she said "thanks for understanding. Let's cross our fingers he doesn't cross the line." Mysteriously, a couple of weeks later, our son's teacher told us the center had filed a restraining order against him and the LAPD had "an open investigation." I do believe the man is no longer there. Again, there are a lot of good things about Beginnings and it has a lot of potential. And I should reiterate that our son seemed to really enjoy being there. Unfortunately, the administrative and communication issues were just adding up too quickly for us to be comfortable staying.
• March 2019 by Stephen S.
  We are very happy with our daughter's experience at Beginnings, and once our second child is old enough, we plan to send her there as well. I'm most impressed with the teachers. They are wonderful, and the child to teacher ratio is appropriate for the age groups, which I really appreciate. Our daughter's teachers are thoughtful, patient, kind, and clearly care deeply about the kids. To put it simply, I am very impressed with the work they do. Additionally, the classrooms and play area are great for the kids, clean and well maintained. The kids get plenty of time to be active outside and when indoors have daily art projects along with lots of other fun and educational activities. I'm grateful this is where my daughter is attending preschool and I highly recommend it.
• March 2019 by CM S.
  My wife and I love BLC, we were lucky to get in during the opening month, they have taken amazing care of our daughter since she was 18 months old. The faculty and the director make us feel like family! It's spotless, new and they have an AMAZING playground!!