-
February 2024 by Silvia Ruiz
Exceptional daycare that goes above and beyond! Both my daughter, who excelled in the preschool program, and my son thrived under the care of the dedicated staff and teachers. We genuinely miss the warm and nurturing environment they provided. Highly recommend this military-friendly establishment for any parent!
-
November 2023 by Nurse Ratched
This school is way more than 5 stars! This is a family-run daycare (not a chain), and each teacher in the school knows our toddler.Pros:-this place is CLEAN clean (more below on this)-the staff is super friendly and everyone knows our names and our child's names-the building and location feel safe and secure-bilingual- our toddler can say SO many things in English and Spanish already!-the curriculum is high-quality and we are blown away with how much our toddler is learning each day-the staff have worked with us on some behavioral issues- they have such a wealth of knowledge and new ideas to try, plus they were great with communication so we could be on the same page at school and home-great hoursCons:None (no really, there are none)We accidentally showed up, unannounced, to S&S in Lexington Oaks because we confused their location with the location in Land O' Lakes (totally unaffiliated schools). We were really impressed with the location and how kind the staff were, so we asked if we could have a tour. The owner, Ms. Zee, did not hesitate and invited us in for an impromptu tour. When I saw this location is clean, I mean clean as in we showed up unannounced, right after lunch, and it was spotless and clean. That sealed the deal for us- we knew right then that this is what the school always looks like.Our child had some behavioral issues and the school and teachers went above and beyond to help us figure out what the issue was and to address it both at home and school. They gave us resources and recommended an Early Steps (they are also great!) evaluation to ensure there were no developmental delays that we could all address together. S&S always worked with us on these issues, which is so reassuring to a parent (especially first-time parents like us).We are so appreciative to have accidentally walked into the wrong location, with the right director and teachers, and found this awesome preschool!
-
November 2023 by kinjal patel
This is the best daycare hands down!!! Everyone at this daycare really care about the kids and they make sure that the kids are well taken care of. I would recommend this daycare. I want to specially thank Ms. Zee for all her help she really is amazing. If your looking for a daycare for your kids this is the right place to go trust me you will not be disappointed.
-
November 2023 by Ryan Janeway
Writing this review about 4 months after the owner (Ms. Zee) unexpectedly kicked my 4yr old son out of sugar and spice on the spot, leaving my wife and I without child care and forcing us to scramble and make arrangements so we didn’t lose our full time jobs in healthcare. Claims of misbehavior are blown out of proportion….my son is not perfect but Ms. Zee will lead you to believe you have a deeply concerning problem with your child if they are not a robot. Be ready for 5-10 minute monologues where you are cut off or not allowed to speak (because she’s always the expert), be ready to have to pick your kid up in the middle of the work day without warning and cancel appointments (if relevant to your field), be ready to be treated like an employee and be kept in the dark on issues of concern (until it’s too late and you’re screwed). She will not think twice about leaving you high and dry if her ego is challenged. My son did summer camp at Creative Times Academy and is in VPK at O2B Kids and is thriving! They have nothing but great things to say about him daily, which confirms my suspicion that the problem was sugar and spice.Replying to below:Your accounting of the situation is incorrect. There was no “home correction plan”. My wife asked daily how he was doing to follow up on progress and we were made to believe everything was fine. We received very little feedback then suddenly get a call about how this is supposedly an ongoing problem. Aside from that, the way we were treated and talked to was highly unprofessional. Abruptly de-enrolling him without warning left us in an extremely dire situation to the point where we thought one of us would have to quit our jobs since we had nowhere to take him. That was inconsiderate on a human level and unnecessary. The fact is, the decision to de-enroll him was personal because you didn’t want to hear about the poor handling of the situation.
-
October 2023 by Erin K.
This school is way more than 5 stars! This is a family-run daycare (not a chain), and each teacher in the school knows our toddler. Pros:-this place is CLEAN clean (more below on this)-the staff is super friendly and everyone knows our names and our child's names-the building and location feel safe and secure-bilingual- our toddler can say SO many things in English and Spanish already!-the curriculum is high-quality and we are blown away with how much our toddler is learning each day-the staff have worked with us on some behavioral issues- they have such a wealth of knowledge and new ideas to try, plus they were great with communication so we could be on the same page at school and home-great hours Cons:None (no really, there are none)We accidentally showed up, unannounced, to S&S in Lexington Oaks because we confused their location with the location in Land O' Lakes (totally unaffiliated schools). We were really impressed with the location and how kind the staff were, so we asked if we could have a tour. The owner, Ms. Zee, did not hesitate and invited us in for an impromptu tour. When I saw this location is clean, I mean clean as in we showed up unannounced, right after lunch, and it was spotless and clean. That sealed the deal for us- we knew right then that this is what the school always looks like. Our child had some behavioral issues and the school and teachers went above and beyond to help us figure out what the issue was and to address it both at home and school. They gave us resources and recommended an Early Steps (they are also great!) evaluation to ensure there were no developmental delays that we could all address together. S&S always worked with us on these issues, which is so reassuring to a parent (especially first-time parents like us). We are so appreciative to have accidentally walked into the wrong location, with the right director and teachers, and found this awesome preschool!
-
August 2023 by Michael Morton
We have had 4 of our children attend Sugar and Spice Preschool of Lexington. Love the staff and atmosphere. Kids love it as well.
-
July 2023 by M Nich
Our daughter attended vpk in2018 and we loved it! She's now going into fourth grade.
-
June 2023 by Ashley Leverette
Unprofessional owner.
-
May 2023 by Ryan J.
I pretty much never write reviews online but am still in utter dismay at the situation we were left in by Owner, Mrs. Zee after almost 2 years of what I thought to be a good relationship. I rarely dealt with Mrs. Zee but when I did, I picked up on sort of a "know it all" / passive aggressive vibe but didn't read too much into it. As long as my kids were happy at the school and the teachers were caring for my kids, then whatever - right? And I will say that for the most part, the teachers do a pretty good job at what they do (the only reason I'm giving 2 stars instead of 1). However, the attitude I picked up on from Mrs. Zee came out in full force when we received a phone call one day that my 4 year old son was misbehaving at school. Now, I am not the kind of parent - by any stretch - who is dismissive of any complaints about my children. In fact, I expect to be made aware so I can address it and work towards improvement. However, we are incredibly busy parents who work full-time in the healthcare field and when we are required to pick our kid up in the middle of the work day, we have a problem. Appointments with patients have to be cancelled, staffing coverage needs to be arranged, etc. It's a big deal. But that's fine - if it's something that's urgent (illness, causing physical harm to others, etc) we are happy to comply. He was indeed misbehaving (again, my son is FOUR), but here's the problem: Apparently this type of behavior had been going for a while and despite his mother asking how his day was on a daily basis and being told that everything was fine, now we are suddenly being asked to pick him up because he was just SO out of control (e.g. being too "handsy" in her words) and that they have been trying SO desperately to get him to behave. She began listing off all the strategies they had been taking which was all BRAND NEW information to us as parents. Now, how in the world are we supposed to correct the problem if we are not aware that there is a problem?? Well, because clearly Mrs. Zee, and only Mrs. Zee, knows what is best for our children, right? I know my son, and I know how to get him to listen. This was not an uncontrollable problem.So my wife cancelled the rest of her patient appointments for the day and drove over to pick him up. I told my wife to call me and put me on speakerphone so that the three of us (my wife, Mrs. Zee, and myself) could have a brief huddle as to what was going on, how we can address the problem COLLABORATIVELY, and how we can avoid future instances as we do not have jobs that we can easily leave in the middle of the day. When the phone call was made, I attempted several times to speak, but Mrs. Zee continued talking. I thought maybe there was a problem with the signal so I asked if everyone could hear me ok. Yes, everyone could hear me, OK let's proceed! Mrs. Zee continued her monolog for quite some time and I'm not exaggerating when I say that this lady would not let me complete a single sentence. It was mind blowing. I used phrases like "can I speak now", "do I have permission to speak now", and STILL she continued to speak over me, cut me off, talked while I was talking. Never have I been so disrespected by someone I am paying so much money to. Finally, it got to a point where I said I needed to get off the phone because I was unable to complete a single sentence. Wouldn't you want to interject when you're suddenly being told that you may want to consider THERAPY for your child?! Well, how DARE I challenge or question The Great Mrs. Zee! So she impulsively made the decision to kick my son out of her school on the spot. That's it, no more daycare, he's out. No time to figure something else out, no concern for our son's well-being, no concern for what we would do with my son, no concern for two extremely hard-working parents and what might happen to our jobs. Just pure vindictiveness and revenge for having challenged her. This lady is a nightmare disguised as a child psycho
-
May 2023 by Johanna Arizaga
I love this school, they are so kinde and understand my baby needs. The director is a very nice person.
-
December 2022 by Heather D.
Our son was at this preschool since he was 6months old. In that time we missed so much work from constantly being called to come get him for every little sniffle, rash, too many poopy diapers in one day or crying. There were a few times he cried at drop off.He is 2, we assumed its because he is young and its EARLY drop off. One time we got a call to pick him up for possible hand foot and mouth. We complied and took him to the ER. The doctor said nope just bug bites. Gave us a note. The next day, we got the same call! She said "Are you sure? You need to have him checked again." So day 2 back to the doctor... the doctor said "Seriously! This is not hand foot and mouth" Gave another note. We lost out on $250 in work for the 2 days with no compensation. I lost out on a promotion because I couldn't gaurantee I wouldn't get a call to leave to pick up our son.We experienced charting issues where they said he was only changed at 10, noon, 2 and 4. We had to ask if those were the ONLY times he went every day? Vague daily activity updates.Meal charting, they would tell us he ate most of or all of his food. Our son refuses to eat meat so we questioned that and the charting improved. They also said he eats meat because the other kids do. We know better he has 4 siblings and he is stubborn. He had come home with a bleeding butt at least once (we have photo but wont post for obvious reasons) and we were told it was from his stools he had that day. We have a friend whose son is a year older in this same daycare and she complained of this many times.He receives early learning help for being speech delayed and behind on social skills and when we asked about what the teachers do to assist him and help his growth (after receiving a message about how they have to keep him by their side (1yr old) and didnt have time to deal with him and watch him all the time. When I questioned things, a meeting was called and we were accused of attacking the teachers. Also if he is having to stay by the teachers, they should see his dirty face and not send him home with a crusty dirty face. He was supposed to be potty training in the 2yr old class. They were having me bring pull ups because there was no changing table in that class and then they told me no bring diapers. Again a friend whose son is a year old said she was told not to potty train at home, they have a schedule at school to stick to.Everyday seemed to be something concerning our son. He is so big, they are afraid he will hurt a friend because he is biggest in the class, he took a toy from a friend and scratched them(written up even though it was an accident), he ran into a friend with a toy scooter, etc we've never signed so many write up slips in all my years with 5 kids. There were 2 teachers that were great. We would take the infant teacher and 1 year old teacher in a heart beat to our new daycare. The only other good things were that it was clean, locked doors and close to work. The owner though talks to parents in a condescending way. Makes everthing out like we are bad parents or doing something wrong at home. At 2 and a half, he was kicked out without any warning on Halloween. We got a call saying we needed to pick him up. He was only there an hour and a half. He was being to "handsy". Um... its his 1st Halloween that he is aware of and excited for the party. I got there and was told we had 2 weeks to find somewhere new. No explaination, no notice, just thats it. She stated he would do better in a smaller class (hers is a 20 to 2 ratio) and that her teachers were not trained to handle him. He did not get to participate in the activities and was sent home with a cupcake.We tried to text and email the owner for an explaination and was ignored. We feel like he was discriminated against because of his size (3ft tall at 2 and half) and constant comments about it and the fact that he receives Early Learning assistance. We later learned from other moms, that other kids who receive this assistance or kids who were "not robots" were kicked o
-
July 2021 by Duy T.
It's very unfortunate that I'm having to write this review. My child has been going to Sugar and Spice for the last 4 months. I don't have any problems with the teachers. However, my concern lies with Mrs. Zee, the Co-owner/Director. I have a couple of major issues. She seems friendly enough at first, but as time goes on you begin to notice passive aggressive undertones in her communication. So much so, that the parents are made to feel as though they're doing an inadequate job parenting their kid. She tends to compare children all the time, and offers unsolicited advice. For example, our son has trouble staying attentive (he's a just-turned-4 year old boy!). He is extremely hyperactive, and definitely a little daredevil. Honestly, what pre-school boy isn't? She tells me to get my son evaluated because he's a lot worse than most of their kids there. She'll say it in a way that makes it seem like she's just being caring, but in reality, it's very condescending. Another example - if my child has the sniffles or allergies one day, she somehow makes it into a massive ordeal as if I should get it checked out because it could be RSV which is DEADLY (and she was sure to mention the fact that it's deadly). Very tactless and unnecessary. Literally, every mild complaint my child has is blown completely out of proportion. In my view, as childcare professionals, they should know what is and is not serious enough to call a parent to pick up their kid. We have JOBS that we cannot just up and leave at the drop of a dime. A courtesy call is one thing, but that's not the case here. Inevitably, every time I pick up my son because of one of these ridiculous symptoms (insect bite, gas), he is always happy and totally fine once I get him home. Don't get me wrong, obviously if he's showing serious symptoms of course I have no problem picking him up! I wouldn't want to keep him there if he's contagious or feeling seriously ill. However, her ability to make appropriate judgement calls are lacking. Aside from that, good luck trying to have a reasonable adult conversation with her about your concerns. She's ALWAYS right and will talk over you. She's extremely rude if you actually challenge her. If you're looking for childcare right now, look elsewhere. The lower cost is not worth the extra drama of dealing with her.
-
January 2020 by Lesley Allwood
My daughter loves this school and the staff! I am so happy we found this school.
-
January 2020 by Chad Foster
Today I attended an award ceremony at Cypress Creek Middle School. As the names were called for various academic achievements, including my son's, I noticed how many other children I recognized and parents I knew, all from our time at Sugar & Spice. Our kids developed great friendships there and so did my wife and I. But more importantly, what a testament to the education and culture to have so many great kids excelling at the next level.Thank you Will and Zee! We appreciate you and the entire S&S family, you will always be part of ours!
-
January 2019 by Jamila Wright
My daughter loves Sugar and Spice! The staff is wonderful and friendly. It is also very clean. My daughter has not come home sick not one time. I’m so great for that!! I recommend to anyone look for a great preschool.