Lakeside Academy & Preschool, Sarasota FL

This daycare has a strong ‘bringing up Bebe’ vibe. Unlike the book, it pushes academics strongly. If Montessori/ Waldorf isn’t working for your kid this would be a great alternative.

Our son and daughter joined Lakeside Academy last year and we couldn't be happier with our experience. My son struggled holding a pencil when he first joined and is now writing his name, enjoying math and is now teaching US Spanish, it's just incredible. We are so grateful to the teachers at Lakeside for providing our children with the best start to their education and would highly recommend to other parents.

We had a truly cruel experience at Lakeside Academy. My son was 2 when he was expelled. He had been a student for over a year and in that time, I'd received 1 notice that he had bitten another student. There were 2 other times the director said he had a "bad day", but by no means were they official or written warnings. We were blindsided and were given no resources and no advice (other than if my child bit again, I should bite him back and that would make him stop).

We were left thinking that our son was troubled and needed extensive counseling. The director told us that he was a "danger to other children" and was extremely condescending in her delivery of our expulsion. We saw several child behavior specialists, whom all confirmed that this was due to the environment of the classroom (ie punitive punishments, extensive screen time, constant teacher turnover) and not due to our child being anything other than normal. Again, he was 2 and biting at this age is developmentally normal. Of course, if I had known prior to the expulsion that this was a serious challenge in the classroom, I would have acted sooner to seek therapy and talk to help my child.

If your child needs any sort of extra love or comes from a home that is anything out of the "typical" ordinary home (not typical mom/dad home, not white-picket fence, etc), then I strongly encourage you to seek out another school in the area that can love and respect your child. We are a single parent household and were on financial aid, which I am 100% certain aided in the director's decision to terminate our family so abruptly. These other great reviews are likely older children, or people who are fooled by the pristine campus (it is beautiful and very clean). However, I can assure you, it is far from a loving environment.

Such caring and attentive staff combined with extremely clean facilities and appropriately challenging curriculum for kids make the perfect combo! We love It at Lakeside!

This is absolutely the best place to start your children off on a great path to loving education. My granddaughter was the second student there. She is an honor roll student going tnto the 5th grade. Ms. Catherine and Ms. Jackie are the best!

Very great school. I wish I had a school like Lakeside when I was growing up. The child there all so loved and well taking care of. Only school I would recommend for your child!

They came highly recommended. We went on a tour and fell in love. My son is excelling and so happy there. They do all the snacks and meals there which is so nice. They do a parents night out quarterly for free! Most importantly, they love my kid as their own. Thank you Lakeside!

We absolutely LOVE Lakeside Academy and everyone that works there. We started our 3 year old there in the middle of the pandemic and we were absolutely blown away by the cleanliness, security, healthy lunches, and academic rigor that our little girl gets at Lakeside. She is learning so much academically and will be more than ready for Kindergarten. In addition to the academics she has blossomed socially. She loves her classmates and teachers and talks about how much they do socially and cooperatively. She has come home teaching us social emotional concepts and conflict resolution strategies that she has learned from her teachers at school. Another huge bonus is the Christian based learning experiences she has gotten. We love that they say a prayer before lunch and that they learn songs and lessons from the bible focusing on kindness and compassion. We just wish we had started our daughter sooner but are so blessed that we get another year there since our daughter has a December birthday. Ms. Leah and Ms. Tina has been exceptional teachers and no one is more loving, compassionate, and genuinely exceptional than Ms. Jackie. Our daughter is mesmerized by her and has learned so many amazing things and talks about her constantly. Ms. Kathrine runs the best preschool in town and we are so blessed to part of their family:)

My daughter started with them a little bit before her 2nd birthday, she stayed with them until it was time for kindergarten. Ms. Katherine and her crew are an amazing addition to the raising, educating and caring for your child. They are nothing short of professional in everything they do.

This is the best pre-school in Sarasota by far! There are many great things to say about Lakeside Academy. When COVID-19 hit and times were so uncertain, Mrs. Katherine followed all the proper guidelines and kept the doors open for the children. With my wife and I being healthcare professionals and the citizens of Sarasota needing us more than ever, our biggest thing to worry about was where would our child go while we were at work. Lakeside was one of the few, if not the only pre-school to remain open. That is just one huge thing that makes Lakeside standout from the rest. Our child gets real homework every night. Math, writing, and some fun work. Not only am I impressed with how well our child is performing with academics, the homework is also good for mom and I. There will be a day when they go to big kid school that homework will be the norm. So it teaches us before then how to incorporate homework into our lives. It is now a fun thing that we do every night which takes a half hour or less. So there will be no big surprise when they come home with homework in kindergarten. I also notice the manners our child has which is observed from the teachers when dropping off and pick up. The location of the school is the best. It’s so quiet and at times you will see deer running around in the open fields. They serve lunch daily and food from home is not suggested. This is for a good reason because the peer pressure of all the kids eating the same items really helps with teaching our child to eat those certain things we can’t get him to eat at home. We experienced two schools prior to coming to Lakeside and I must say our lives are better being a part of this school. Thanks Lakeside Academy

Amazing staff! Helpful and understanding to each child's needs. I have my 2 boys attending this school for over a year now, I cannot express how lucky I feel to have such a wonderful place to send my kids.

Lakeside Academy and Preschool is fantastic!
Ms Katharine and her staff are so caring and loving to all the children and the kids learn so much!

Excellent school with loving teachers and staff. Would never consider another school in Sarasota it’s that good.

I am so thankful I found a pre-school is caring and loving towards
our child. The staff is proffesional, yet loving towards all the children at Lakeside Academy. Edward looks forward to going to school every day.