Sunshine Park Academy

My child attended this preschool and came home with photocopied parts of a rather basic preschool workbook each day. All the teachers were nice enough, but the work was way below his abilities (my son was an early reader at age 4). He enjoyed going to school and making friends and eating lunch there, but the teaching wasn't student-specific, so he always said he was bored. I enrolled him at a summer VPK program at a preschool on Gateway near the freeway and he has just flourished with materials that challenge and encourage him. He cannot wait for kindergarten!

The entire staff treats each child as if they were their own. I have watched countless children flourish in this environment over the years. We all love what we do and who we do it with. Our staff has been together for years, we are a family. There is no better place to bring your little family members to get them ready for "BIG" school.

Overall I was fairly satisfied with my kids' experience. But I can't recommend the school in good conscience because in my opinion people who twist the truth for their own benefit on "little things" are highly likely to be deceptive about bigger issues, too. The owner/director Miss Maria had some consistent honesty issues when it came to accurate attendance reporting with the state and other business-type decisions.



As far as the teachers go, Miss Sandy is great, as well as all the assistants (Alba, Yvonne, Jessica, Raquel). I personally did not find Miss Melissa or Miss Ann to be up to par professionally as teachers. The secondary VPK teacher is quite immature and frequently impatient with some children, even yelling at kids at times. She does not prepare in advance but rather is busy getting her lesson ready after the school day has begun. She almost always leaves before the end of the school day. She does not pay attention to children's individual abilities or perceive when a child is more advanced. The three-year-olds' teacher is good with the kids for the most part but lacks social skills in certain ways. She frequently yells at her assistant and I have observed her loudly chastising parents and complaining about parents behind their back.



There is a great searchable resource where preschools are rated based on how well their graduates are prepared for kindergarten. It's called the VPK Provider Kindergarten Readiness Rate Website from the FL Dept of Educ.