Preschools - Preston Hollow, North Dallas, Far North Dallas, Irvine (Irving: 2014, rentals)

[Hey1234]

Hi everyone!

We are moving forward on our relocation from Paris to Dallas.

We are planning a scouting trip for mid July. We have decided to rent for a few years and will be viewing some rentals with a realtor on our trip. So we don't really know where we will end up yet. But we'd like to visit a few preschools in each area anyhow to see what we can expect.

School for our oldest will be Dallas International School (as my children are French/Bilingual).
Husband's Job is in the Carrollton/Farmers Branch area of Dallas.
My job is undecided at this time but we'd like to be somewhat central to keep commute for all under 30-45 mins

If I could have 2-3 suggestions for Preschools (full time) non-religious per neighborhood and your thoughts on the neighborhoods (we need a 3 bd/2 ba/+den rental - 4 bd rm would be better but there are not many available). Public schools are not a concern at this point since we are renting and our kids are well below public school age.

We will only need it for my youngest for one school year - Sept 2013 - Jun 2014. She will be 2 years old (so young preschool class). We are tempted to try Montessori but not sure of the curriculum and then switching to a traditional French School System.

So far our neighborhood choices (based on research/distance from school & work only):

Preston Hollow
North Dallas
Addison
Far North Dallas
West Richardson
Irving (not first pick due to distance to school)
Coppell (just because I like the of that town)

thanks!

[jennifw]

Hello. Best of luck on your move to Dallas. My child is finishing up 6eme at Dallas International. We love it. How old is your oldest? Do you know that the campus is split? At 6th grade, they move to the upper school located in north Dallas (near the UT-Dallas campus) I mention that because the lower school was very convenient to us but the upper school is quite a hike. You might want to keep that in mind, depending on how old your oldest is and how long you will be in Dallas.

My daughter made the move from Montessori to DIS easily. I am sure every child is different, but it was an easy transition for her. Yours might be easier with just one year of pre-school before transitioning over.

I am sorry I don't have any recommendations for preschools. We live east of downtown. I would probably scratch Irving off of your list. It is too far from DIS. Coppell is a nice city, but it will be a bit of a hike to school.

Best of luck. We love the international community at DIS.

[Hey1234]

jennifw thanks! Good to know that Montessori's are still on the table. She will only need a daycare/young preschool for 1 year then off to DIS when she is old enough to enter Petite Section.

My oldest will be in Moyenne Section this coming school year. By chance do you know how many MS classes there are and their class sizes? Here it's 30 kids per PS class (there are only 2 in our school) for 1 teacher + 1 aid. I heard the class sizes are about half that + you have aides as well.

For uniforms where do you generally go? I see on the website they have their recommendations but I was wondering if kids go to places like Gap/Old Navy/Target and other brick + mortar stores to get their uniforms (any rec's would be helpful).

When does upper school start? collège? This is one of the reasons why are going to rent + we don't know the area very well and we may end up switching to public schools once their older.

Thanks

[fndmom]

Bent Tree Child Development Center in Addison would work for Addison or Far North Dallas locations. Alcuin Montessori is very close to DIS and has rolling admissions for 18mo-3. Westwood is another Montessori in Addison.

[jennifw]

Hey1234 - I sent you a private message.

[Hey1234]

fndmom - thanks so much! I will put those on my list to visit.

I also received a rec for Primrose not specifically the ones in my areas but they are a chain. any thoughts on the prestonwood location? Or North Dallas?