preschools in Brentwood/Clayton/Maplewood/UCity (Manchester, Jackson: YMCA, school district, price)

[giant54]

Hello all. We recently moved to Brentwood, and are late getting our 4 year old registered for preschool. We have called around and found that many of the preschools in the area have waiting lists. Any recommendations? I am a graduate student at WashU, so some place convenient to Brentwood and/or Clayton/UCity would be ideal. The price needs to be reasonable, but we are flexible in terms of the type of school.

We found that the Bethel School (bethelkids.org) in UCity has openings. Does anyone know anything about this school?

Thanks for your help.

[ajf131]

There are several good preschools in Clayton. One is the Clayton Child Center, which is at the intersection of Maryland Avenue and Jackson Avenue. Another one, The Family Center, is about a mile west down Maryland Avenue...it is on Gay Avenue just north of where Maryland Avenue hits it.

[giant54]

thanks for the advice. i think the places you mentioned in clayton are going to be out of our price range, at least until I finish grad school.

any other places that people can recommend, considering affordability?

[TGS]

I know many people that have been happy with Sacred Heart Villa on The Hill. St. Margeret of Scotland in Shaw also has a good montessori pre-school. Both are Catholic and pretty affordable. I know that they aren't in Clayton or Brentwood but they are still pretty close and their academic reputations are very, very good for the price.

I think that Little Flower in Richmond Heights and St. Mary Magdalen have pre-schools progams, but I don't know anyone that has used them, so I can't speak to their reputations.

[wustu87]

We used Martha Rounds Academy years ago (now the Elaine Rosi Academy) just west of the Schnucks at Brentwood/Manchester. It was a really nice place, but it was a bit pricey back then. I have no idea what they charge these days. Some of our neighbors back then sent their kids to Mary Magdalen on the corner for pre-school thru elementary and they seemed happy with it. We now know neighbors who send their kids to Immacolata on Clayton Rd just west of the Galleria, but I do not know if they have a pre-school. I assume you are too late for the Brentwood School district program or the one on campus at Wash U. How about the mid-County YMCA?

[SA17]

Samuel Church Pre-School on the border of U. City and Clayton is great. Despite the fact that it's housed in a church, the students are very diverse.