Saratoga

If you are searching for a school to enlightening your children's potential in academic, Challenger is the one for you. I'm not talking about having a 3 yr old writing an essay, it is the fun in reading and learning that they will find and also be beneficial for their whole lifetime. I have 3 young children, and 2 have/ are going with Challenger ( 2 different campuses). I wholeheartedly vouch for Challenger, especially the Saratoga campus. In the 4 years I sent my kids with the Saratoga branch, nothing I'd complain, even when there have been 3 different school directors. I held back writing this review for quite some time, because I would hate this site got filled up quickly, due to the capacity limit. It's also the capacity constraint makes me loving this site even more! The staff and the teachers are WONDERFUL and they know almost each kiddo even when they are not in the teachers' class. Both my kids who went to Challenger were shy in the beginning, but one thing they keep telling me throughout the years even starting the first week is they love the school, the teachers, and the environment. One of mine had to do stay-at-home learning due to COVID, and each day he told me he misses Challenger for the whole year! It's such a relief to see your children love learning, be very proud of themselves exceling, feeling loved, and happy in a school. I thank the Saratoga teachers and staff providing such a great place, memory, and impact to my children.

I attended Challenger School for preschool and kindergarten. While I feel funny writing this, I saw someone wrote about their own personal experience in 1971! I was at Challenger in 1990-1992 and LOVED IT. Obviously I was 4-5 years old so my memory from back then isn't crystal clear, but I can honestly remember loving school, my teachers, and my classmates. I was a very shy child and the teachers helped me adjust to life at school. My mom said I was always about to cry when I got out of her car, but then I would see my teachers and be happy to go in. Over time, I was excited for school! Both my brother and I attended Challenger school for Pre-K and K and then transitioned to public elementary school in Saratoga. We both agreed that we learned NOTHING NEW until 3rd grade because we were so ahead of our classmates due to Challenger's curriculum. (This ruined me a bit because school was so "easy" that I didn't realize I had to work at learning new things later on..if that makes sense). This is not to say that Saratoga's elementary school wasn't great or rigorous, it was just that we learned so much naturally at Challenger. Can't believe I have such great memories from 30 years ago, and I also love that the front of the school still looks exactly the same :) No clue what school is like now, but hopefully they have kept their values consistent!

Since joining the Challenger School my daughter has developed in so many ways. She is more confident and balanced and looks forward to going into school every day. She is having the most amazing time at Challenger School. She has lots of fun while reading and writing. I am glad she got very experienced teachers Mrs. Mand and Ms. Graves who are caring and professional and whom the children respond well to. The school director Ms. Michelle is very friendly and approachable. She takes care of the small to small needs of the children and parents. Ms. Victoria is welcoming with her big great SMILE :) Ms. Lesley is the best teacher. She has a lot of experience and her way of teaching is Awesome:) She teaches my daughter basic key of phonics :) There is a lot of positive vibes when I enter the school :) Good to be associated with this campus :)

We have been at Challenger, Saratoga campus since the beginning of this school year and we could not be happier. Just to give you some background, we had an older sibling at a different Challenger campus for a few years and so we knew what to expect when coming in. I must say that this campus has superseded our expectations and we are very happy with our decision to have come here.Our daughter loves her teachers (Ms Leslie & Ms Fatima)! She comes home quite happy about the interactions she has had with them and fellow students throughout the day. What I really like about this campus is, despite the fact that they are very academic focused and have to move at a fast pace, they do it in such a positive way and make it an enjoyable experience for the kids. The teacher to student ratio is great, and so the kids get adequate individual attention, which allows them to thrive.Ms Michelle, the Director is always so welcoming and approachable. Before we joined, we were considering options between two campuses. I had spoken to the other campus several times and it just took one phone call with Ms. Michelle for me to make up my mind that this is where we wanted to be. Her tone was warm and welcoming and was genuinely happy to provide us with the info we needed at that time.We are happy to be a part of this campus!Susan M

My daughter started pre-K class last year in the Challenger School at Saratoga when we moved here from East coast, and we had planned for her to go to local public school this year for Kindergarten. However, we changed our mind later and decided to let her stay in Challenger School this year, even though the local public elementary school is pretty well regarded.  Why? Because she loves all the teachers and environment at Challenger, and we do, too.Besides making a lot of really good friends here, which by itself is quite joyful already, my daughter has been continuously excited by what the school teaches everyday, from letters to numbers, from history to science, from writing to self portrait, with clear results of intellectual development day by day. Obviously the teachers have really been putting great efforts into the details of educational content and format, and we really appreciate that.The small sizes of the school and the class allow close interactions between kids, teachers, and certainly parents, and the quiet and convenient location is a plus.