Primrose School at Standley Lake

Reviews

• DJ

  Dorothy Jones

  Mar 5, 2026
  5.0
  We've been at Primrose since our daughter was 15 months old (she's now 5) and our son started at 6 months old. I can't say enough good things about this school, this staff, and the admins. The people here truly care about my children and it shows. So grateful for this amazing daycare!
• LP

  Lydia Popovski

  Oct 26, 2025
  5.0
  We love Primrose of Standley Lake. From leadership to the direct care level, we have had a wonderful experience and know our children are not only cared for but loved.
• RK

  Rebeccah K

  May 7, 2025
  1.0
  We started the twins at Primrose March of '24 - They had just turned 2. At first, the school seemed really nice. They're very well organized, which is amazing. They're constantly putting on events for the kids. The teacher turn-over is nonexistent. I've heard such rave reviews about the school. I talked to other parents who were very happy with it. They helped potty-train both of my kids without any major incidence. But this January (so we were there just under a year) the kids started telling us how much they hated school. They didn't like their teachers. The other kids were mean to them (I was signing multiple incident reports about my kids being hit or bitten). My son was telling me he was never allowed to play with cars - his favorite thing. I was witnessing the other kids ripping toys out of my kids hands at pickup. We were stuck in the 2.5 year-olds room, because there was no space to move them into the preschool classroom - so they wouldn't start preschool until at least 3.5. I talked to the teachers and one teacher told me that they avoid taking the cars out because the kids fight over them. The interesting thing about Primrose is that they follow something they like to call "purposeful play." This means that the kids aren't allowed to really pick what they want to play with and explore. The teachers pick 2-3 activities that align with their curriculum and put them out in different parts of the room. My kids' primary teachers actually told me that when there was nothing out that excited my kids, they would wander the classroom listlessly and finally -settle- on an activity that didn't excite them. Art was also very controlled. Right before we enrolled my twins in this school, my daughter started drawing creative pictures like bugs and balloons. After being enrolled in this school, that creative spark seemed to die. She stopped drawing creatively. They told her exactly what to draw and how to do it. At home she started just coloring things in - filling in entire sticky notes or just using coloring books - but she wasn't interested in drawing pictures anymore. This is why the classrooms are so immaculate and clean. The kids are not actually allowed to play. They cannot play with what brings them joy. There is no running at school - its actually one of their 5-or-so primary school rules - to use your walking feet. They try to keep the kids from getting too excited or rambunctious. You know - kid-like. I started touring alternative schools, and multiple schools told me that if the kids are still hitting or biting beyond 2.5, then there is probably something wrong with the classroom. I get it. The Primrose kids are being forced to conform to a box that children shouldn't fit into. I should have known that would be the case before starting when I heard about the uniforms at age 4, but I just shrugged it off knowing that everyone said it was such a good school. We have now been enrolled at a new school for 2 months. My kids actually ask to go to the new school each morning. They never want to go back to Primrose. They are allowed to run around and play and explore. They spend so much more time outside. I can see how much happier they are - and its kind of translated into them being better behaved at home. They're just happier. Fewer melt downs. And the icing on the cake: my daughter has started drawing the most amazing pictures - bugs, people wheels, rainbows, birds, trampolines. They're such beautiful, intricate pictures that it's obvious to me she had it in her this whole time. It's not like she ramped up to this new art. It was a sudden and dramatic change to her drawing the most amazing people. And I fully believe this is because of the environment she is in. She is now in an environment that has allowed that creative spark to thrive. Primrose is not and will never be a place for creativity. It is a fully-defined curriculum. I feel angry at myself for ever enrolling my kids at Primrose. I feel sad for the families we left behind. Primrose keeps the kids in a box. A beautiful box, but a box nonetheless.
• KW

  Katelyn Wager

  Dec 30, 2024
  5.0
  The Primrose environment and curriculum provides just enough structure to gently and naturally build smart, compassionate, and respectful kids while also letting them be kids who play and explore! The staff has been so loving and nurturing, as well. Our kiddo loves going to school, and that alone speaks volumes!
• MS

  Melissa Shortino

  Sep 20, 2023
  5.0
  We first started primrose with my first child when she was 4. We loved it so much that we enrolled our second when she needed daycare at 5 months old. Every person is fantastic here. My first child loves coming to pick up her sister and saying hi to all her old teachers (who still remember her by name too!).

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