Stepping Stone School - Anderson Mill/Westwood

My daughter started going here when she was 8 months old and she is now 19 months old. We have felt very happy with this school. The director is great and really seems to care, and has quite a few eyars of experience. Miss Alida and Miss Ida in the infant room are such speacial ladies- one of them has been there for 7 years and the other a few years as well, and you can feel the love they give the babies. I felt so comfortable leaving mine in their knowledgeable care all day. Stepping Stone is lucky to have them both! more

My girls have been enrolled at this location for almost a year and a half. They never complain about getting up each morning and getting ready to go to school. The staff here is amazing. Carrie the director, the teachers, and the rest of the staff know both of my girls by name and for the most part have been able to tell them apart (which isn't easy to do for fraternal twins who look almost identical). Their teacher Carla always informs me of their progress. My girls are always so excited to run and give her hugs hello every morning. We moved closer to a different location a few months ago but wouldn't dream of changing schools. I highly recommend this location to anyone looking for a friendly place for their child to learn. more

Tiffany a provider there is wonderful even though all the providers are curtious kind and thoughtful Mariah my daughter seems to really enjoy herself there i would reccomend this school to any parent however tiffany is the best Pros: easy to find and get from more

We have had our two children in this school for a year and a half. The kids enjoy coming to school, which makes our mornings much easier! The staff is very friendly and are so helpful. They truly care about our kids and the kids have really formed bonds with their teachers. Pros: friendly, caring staff more

\r I would highly recommended this daycare to any parent. I was also on a waiting list for a different school on my first one. However, I was so happy with them I never moved. What I love is that it is a small school and every teacher in there knows every parent and every child by name. Even children that aren't in their classes. I'm amazed at how sweet and loving the teachers out to each child. \r \r As for preciouslittlegirls comments, I think her comments alone show how picky and unrealistic she is as a mother. She is giving them a 1 start rating b/c the bottle was served warm -- give me a break. I wonder what she will do when other kids start picking on her precious little girl -- she will probably lock her away. And on teacher turnover, I have no idea what she is talking about b/c the exact same 4 teachers have been in the infant/baby room for atleast the last 3 years. I know b/c my 4 year old started at 3 months and now my 10 month old has been in there since 3 months -- and the same 4 teachers are all still there. Yes, there has been some turnover in the older kid rooms but it is typical turnover and pretty stable. And she obviously doesn't read all the little notes the administrator leaves the teachers each day (I'm nosey and they are posted in the ladies room for them) or does she notice her always helping the teachers. \r \r Back to the important stuff, the teachers have been terrific in helping raise my babies. They have taught my children everything from crawling, to sharing, to please & thankyou, to reading to potty training. YES -- they potty trained my first one at 22 months!!! Of course they don't get everything right 100% of them but they are darn close. \r \r These ladies are awesome! \r \r more

I recently lost my job, and as a result had to pull our two boys from daycare at Stepping Stone IV. It was a heartbreaking change for our entire family as our two boys had formed close wonderful relationships with their friends, and we'd all grown very close to the staff there at the center. The Director and the entire staff have always been great with our boys and we couldn't be more thrilled about how much they learned while in their care.\r \r I hope my search for employment ends soon so that our boys can return to this wonderful school, play with all of their great friends, and be in the care of Stepping Stone IV's warm loving staff. Pros: Curriculum & Caring Staff Cons: None! more

My four-year-old daughter and two-year-old son have both attend Stepping Stones IV for over a year, and they love it. I like knowing that they are well cared for, and they really enjoy going to school. Nearly all of the instructors know both of my children, even though they may never have taught them. They make sure to keep me fully aware of how the kids are doing both socially, and developmentally, and I always feel very comfortable approaching the teacher's to discuss their progress or any concerns I may have. Stepping Stones has very well-structured lessons for the children, although I have to admit that they could probably do a bit more to implement them in some of the classrooms. However, all in all, the school is fantastic, and I am very glad to have the opportunity to expose my children to such a warm, caring and friendly environement. Pros: caring staff, clean, excellent hours Cons: no after-school pick-up for older children more

Our child has been at Stepping Stone IV since she was about eight weeks old. There are many daycare options available in Austin, and we investigated most of them. We chose the Stepping Stone Schools because of their reputation and longevity. We chose Stepping Stone IV because of the experience that we had with the people. more

Our daughter has been at Stepping Stone IV for over 3 years. Being our first child the decision to have our daughter going to a daycare was a very difficult one. I can now say this was the best decision we ever made. We were actually on a waiting list for a daycare that is closer to our house and had planned on enrolling our daughter at that school when an opening was available but we were so impressed with the staff and the care our daughter recieved at this Stepping Stone we decided to stay. more

My daughter was at this school from the time she was 4 months old until I pulled her at 11 months old. When she was little the care seemed very good but, as she got older and more active I began to relize how lazy the teachers were. When she started taking her bottle cold I asked them to offer it to her cold. I could not understand why she was only drinking a little during school hours. I had a family member start dropping by to check on her. One day she came by and was going to give her a bottle. Then teacher said to her we warm the bottle up. She said but, her mom gives it to her cold. She said well she sleeps better if she drinks it warm. From the time she first started getting active till I pulled her, almost everytime I came to get her or someone stopped to check on her she was in the playpin area. Many times when I picked her up she was crying and no one was tending to her. There is very little adminastrative support I always had a hard time when I needed to speak with someone about the issues I was having. The turnover rate is incredible. In the 7 months my daughter was there the school probably only had 5 or 6 of the teachers that were there when we first started. I do have one possitive thing to say and this is what originally drew me in. As far as learning is concerned they have a lot of good ideas in place. They are not implementing these weekly lesson plans as the should but, I see this being difficult when the teachers have no support system. Overall I was very disappointed in the lack of customer service provided by this school. Pros: there curriculum is very well thoughtout Cons: curriculum not implemented, teachers undermind the parents, little admin support, high turn over more

When I was pregnant with my first child 6 years ago, I didn't really know where to start looking for child care. My husband and I happened upon Stepping Stone (one of MANY places we visited and researched) and we decided to give it a try. We immediately felt welcomed and cared about, and this was just our initial tour of the school! We visited the infant room, and I instantly knew this was the place for our precious first baby! Now...3 children later...I could not imagine taking my children anywhere else!!\r There are several teachers at the school that have been there since our first child was an infant in the school. Some of the teachers have even had all three of our children in their classroom. Because of that, Stepping Stone feels like a ""home away from home"" for our children, and I know without a doubt that my children are loved and cared for each and every day. Not only are they given that warm and loving environment, but they are also learning SO MUCH every single day! \r Our oldest child is going to Kindergarten in the fall, and I know he will be more than ready for whatever comes his way. His fine motor skills, social and academic skills have taken off in his Pre-K class.\r Our middle child was writing his name, spelling his friend's names out loud and in sign language and advancing by leaps and bounds very shortly after turning 3! His teacher is absolutely AMAZING! Our youngest came home showing us sign language (saying ""more"", ""please"", ""thank you"", ""mommy"", ""daddy""...the list goes on), animal sounds, body parts, pointing to pictures, etc starting very early in the infant and toddler classes. \r I know beyond any doubt that these teachers are not ""baby sitting"" my children - they are giving them an education, but providing it in the kind of warm, welcoming, loving and nurturing environment that I would recommend to anyone!! I would never even consider taking my children out of Stepping Stone - we love it!! Pros: Loving teachers and director that truly care about children!! more