Alameda Park Academy

Our daughter is 16 months and absolutely loves Alameda Park Academy. Sandra, the director, runs a very organized school and is super responsive. Everything is straight forward and I trust Sandra to provide the best care for my child with her keen judgment and retention of experienced teachers.

Our daughter instantly bonded with one of the teachers (she loves all of them but especially Teacher Ling) and goes to her voluntarily and happily every morning, which warms my heart as a mother and leaves me guilt-free to work and enjoy my day without worrying about my child. Our daughter has never been bitten or injured by another child, which is a huge relief!

Also, our daughter loves the food because she comes home with a full stomach everyday. I like how they serve breakfast snack, lunch and dinner so it makes it easy on the parents. The kids are happy here and I would recommend Alameda Park Academy to all families, especially if you have a child reaching milestones early on who could benefit from being in a mixed class with older kids rather than just peers. The kids learn quicker with the mixed ages with language, rules, etc. and it gives a chance for the older kids without siblings to take care of the younger ones too (great socialization!).

We enrolled our daughter at Sandra's Otis Street branch when she was around 13 months, and loved it. She thrived at this school--she loved her teachers, learned a new language, and made great friends. The teachers are caring and warm, the hours are very accommodating to working parents, and they provide healthy meals for the kids which is a total game changer! would so highly recommend!!

I cannot say enough good things about Sandra's family's Otis location. Our son has been going here since he was 18 months (for nearly 2 years) and loves it. Initially he had a hard time adjusting, but they were patient with us and him and once the transition time was over, he's loved it ever since. He's obsessed with his teachers (Xia and Lily) and their homemade food. There is only one other place we found serves food and they're more expensive with a lot more holidays/breaks than Sandra's with an impossible waitlist.
It's the only place he'll eat veggies and meat ‍! And, he's now fluent in Mandarin (spoke it before English even though we don't speak Chinese at home). They'll also help you potty train!

All but one of his best friends, we met at Sandra's and even found some great family friends here. Choosing a daycare can be really scary, but at Sandra's I always know he's well taken care of, well-fed and loved. Thank you to Sandra, her family and the teachers for taking such amazing care of our child.

We love Alameda Park Academy so much! My neighbor highly recommended this family care, and my son has been attending since early 2021. I am very pleased with the love, support and education my son is receiving here.

The family care is very clean and thoroughly sanitized daily, making it safe during the covid time. The past 2 years have been such a stressful time for families, but the safety precautions put in place at Alameda Park have truly given me peace of mind.

They offer 3 meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner), which makes it easy for busy working parents. All the parents are very nice too as we often chat when picking up our kids, and we all follow the covid protocol together to create a safe environment for all kids.

Every teacher here is so warm and welcoming. It makes me so happy to see my son running towards the teachers each morning, and telling me who his best friend is at school. When my son turned 2, Ms. Sandra Shi even took the initiative and threw a birthday party for him!

Since day 1, the school teaches singing, reading, and making arts and crafts, which helps cognitive development and fine motor skills. He learned to share and collaborate with his friends through these fun activities.

Overall, I highly recommend Alameda Park if you are looking for a loving and caring family care for your kid!

Me and my twin girls Loooove this school! Sandra is incredibly caring and the children are constantly stimulated by so many activities, outings, dance, performances, library, the list goes on and on. My girls came home talking about their community walks and the butterflies they saw along the way. The love the teachers have for the children is immense. The biggest mistake was leaving school for a school 10 min closer to my home. BIG mistake. I didn't realize what we had until we didn't have it anymore.

I truly believe this school has a balance of everything that a small child needs; Love, creativity, exploration, and love of learning and relationships. You are very lucky if you are able to attend this school!

When we toured Alameda Park Academy, it instantly felt like an extension of the wonderful daycare in SF where my daughter had spent her first 3 years of life. And that's a high bar to meet. We knew at that moment that this was the place for her.

Our kid had to deal with a new house, new city, new school, and none of the friends she's known since birth. Within a couple of days at Alameda Park Academy she was quickly settled in, loved going to school, and had made new friends. Her eyes light up whenever she sees her teachers and the love they have for each of the children is very apparent.

During these rough times when preschool is closed, the teachers still do Saturday Zoom classes and send us links to Mandarin content for the kids. Sandra, the preschool director, even did a surprise drive by visit one day because she missed her kids so much.

This is truly the best place in the world for your precious baby. Hands down.

My son has been attending Alameda Park Academy since he was 20 months. And now he is almost 3. This is the only school he has attended so far. The reason San Leandro where we live is not very close by Alameda, I still want him to go to this school mainly because it is a Chinese immersion school. And I also agree with the educational philosophy of the policy that the school is adhered to. I feel my son has got so many loves from his teachers and classmates; I am so happy I made the right decision.

The school has done fantastically during the pandemic after the reopening. The teachers do regular temperature checks and provide hand sanitizer to kids all the time. We are so grateful for the school that they ensured to keep our children' safe as its priority. For those of us who have to work from home, it is a big relief for us to send kids out. The school director Sandra even got an advanced air purifier for protecting kids from the poor air quality to ensure their health safety. Thank the teachers for everything they have done for our kids!

I cannot give this place enough praise. Our 2-year-old son absolutely loves it here, so much so that he runs to the door and starts laughing before they even open it.

Our top priority was to find a place with teachers who will love him almost as much as we do. I can tell every time I drop him off or pick him up how much love they give him and his classmates.

Don't think this place is only for kids who speak Chinese either. We are teaching our son Chinese because his mom speaks it fluently, but there are plenty of kids there with parents who don't speak Chinese at all, they're just there for the good experience.

Their hours are great too, 7:30am - 6pm, gives us plenty of time to drop him off and pick him up after work.

We get pictures of him playing and doing arts and crafts on a regular basis, which is always a welcomed surprise. Keep that up Sandra! I know all the parents really love that :)

Almost every day he has a new picture or craft he worked on that he's so excited to show us.

I feel a heartbroken leaving this review, because we're going on a long-term family vacation, and have to pull him out soon. Our only real hesitation to leaving was that he would miss his teachers and classmates so much. And finding another school is going to be almost impossible with this as our standard.

Thank you all for all the love and joy you've brought to our son's life :)

Updated review (7/2013): My daughter still loves it at Alameda Park Academy. She is about 15 months and is almost potty trained and says quite a few mandarin words. She loves going to circle time at the library with the other kids and beams every morning we drive up to school. We may be moving soon and would be super sad to lose this wonderful school for our girl. But I'm so happy that they've made learning a wonderful experience that our daughter looks forward to on a daily basis.

Previous review (11/2012): Our family feels so lucky to have found Sandra Shi and her Alameda Park Academy daycare. We found a safe and engaging home based daycare that offers language immersion in Mandarin Chinese. The facility is new with separate play rooms designed for toddlers and younger infants. Everything is decorated tastefully and is well equipped with plenty of age appropriate toys and play stations. The children takes naps in the bedrooms so that they are not disturbed by others who are still up and playing. The backyard has a fantastic garden and new sandbox.

Sandra Shi, the care provider, previously worked at the Russian Hill Academy Preschool in SF with recommendations. She is assisted by her wonderful mother (also has experience with child care in China) and her father (fantastic cook, my mouth waters everytime I smell his Chinese dishes simmering on the stove). Sandra and her team is flexible and respectful of our parenting needs. They maintain our diaper free, EC principles during daycare so that my baby can continue eliminating into the toilet at 6 months old. What we love most? No other daycare or nanny share was able to accommodate this request.

Seriously, the true telltale sign that Alameda Park Academy is the best fit for us? My daughter always greet Sandra with a warm caress to the neck/face every morning at drop off and hates to leave when its time to go home. To be honest, I get a pang of jealousy leaving baby at daycare every morning, but I can rest assure that she's in good hands and company with loving care providers. My baby absolutely loves Sandra and Alameda Park Academy. I feel blessed to be so lucky to have found Sandra and her family to care for our first child.

This is designated as a small sized, licensed home based daycare. Primary language is Mandarin Chinese, although Sandra also speaks English. They accept both toddlers and infants.

What a fabulous daycare! They have very affordable rates for a language immersion daycare, well, for ANY daycare, really. I had my daughter enrolled here for almost a year and she had so much fun - her favorite thing was doing dance and tumbling on Fridays. Ms. Pearl was there in the mornings to receive her at drop off and was always so sweet and welcoming. Ms Sandra was always available to answer questions, addressed any concerns we had very quickly, and even went out of her way for us a few times on her own time. I am grateful to all the ladies here who cared for my daughter and will continue to recommend this place to others.