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December 2019 by Christina Ross
What a beautiful, enriching, loving, adventurous, playful, creative, caring, nurturing, and multicultural school! The teachers, staff and community make this school a gem. Madame Joelle is an incredibly warm and generous woman and it has been an honor to have our son attend Claire Fontaine. We signed up for Summer Camp and immediately saw that we had to get our son enrolled for pre-k. Best decision we have made for our son and family. Being a French and American family the language component and community were very appealing to us. We were able to find more French speaking friends for our son to connect with all the while hear and witness his language skills further develop. The varied classes and offerings at Claire Fontaine has me wishing I attended this school even as an adult. My son came home teaching me new meditation techniques and a lot more French. Highly recommend this school to the community. What a gift it is to have this school in our neighborhood!
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December 2019 by Lauren Brim
Absolutely wonderful school. My daughter now listens to French cartoons without complaining she doesn't understand (after less than a year of school two short days per week), and she always looks forward to going to school to see her teachers and friends. We are so grateful for the love and attention they show our daughter.
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December 2018 by Megan Raney Aarons
Our family has been part of the magical Ecole Claire Fontaine community for three years, with another three to follow. We are passionate fans of this program. Joelle and her staff have created something that is more than a school. It is a family and a place where the children are celebrated, nourished and treated with such understanding. Our son's favorite classes on the big campus have been oceanography, music, architecture and journalism... all created for his imaginative, 4 & 5 year old mind. And for both our children's time at the big & little (camper) campus have been filled with imaginative play, gentle encouragement, fun, friendship and healthy, Californian outside living. The multi-language, multi-cultural, diverse & fascinating mix of families and teachers add such dimensions to their growth. And the teachers take their training & expertise very seriously. This is a piece of gold woven into the very fabric of Venice - gold that should be treated with the utmost care and respect. I wish I could attend a school like this. I hope you too will get to experience this piece of fairy dust.
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December 2018 by Liz Tigelaar
Our son has been here for the last year — he started when he was almost two and a half — and we could not be happier. When we first toured, we were excited about the older kids/Abbot Kinney campus because it had such a wonderland feel. What we didn’t realize is that the Camper Campus (for the younger kids) is just about the sweetest, most magical place you could imagine. The homey Craftsman and the yard that’s just paradise for kids has a total indoor outdoor feel. But honestly it’s the teachers, aides, and cooks that make it feel like an extension of home. Everyone who works there is so loving — greeting kids, preparing organic farmers market meals, there’s music playing when we arrive... and obviously the language aspect is huge. Only French and Spanish are spoken, so the kids are totally immersed. The school is full of good families who truly care and it feels like pure Venice. Every day, after saying goodbye to my son, i leave with such a sense of peace — that he’s getting an great education and doing tactile things (gardening, tortilla making, yoga) but he’s also well loved.
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December 2017 by Jeffrey Phillips
Now that I've had two of my children at this school for a year, I'll have to admit I'm very impressed. Highly recommended! They focus on helping the little ones develop the thinking process, and become more confident in themselves, which should or could lead to the children becoming future leaders or simply great students. We have no problem with the school staff speaking only French and Spanish. We all speak English at home anyway, and it seems our children's English is advancing faster than I expected considering they just attended a school that speaks only alternative languages. For those who want the best and don't mind thinking outside the box a little bit, I say 5 stars all the way for Ecole.
