Stepping Stones Academy at Waipahu is a fantastic place! My daughter started going there at 8 weeks old when I had to go back to work. As a new mom I had a lot of questions and concerns but the teachers and the director, Mrs. Charlotte were excellent in answering any concerns I had and communication was great! Going back to when I first looked at the academy when I was 3 months pregnant, my first impression was it was SUPER CLEAN! I worked in the childcare business before and I know this was extremely important. The facility smelled clean and was spotless. Walking in the hallway of the classrooms, there wasn’t a speck of dust on the floor. They have a no shoes policy except for outside time which is great. It doesn’t really apply to infants of course. I met the teachers and saw the infant room. The ratio was really good 1:3 and the staff always had activities for the infants. As my daughter attended, they worked with her to reach her milestones. I completely attribute my daughters ability to sit up on her own at such an early age to their work! I would have carried her around everywhere if I had her all day to be honest. Before enrolling, I went back a few more times to visit at different times of the day throughout my pregnancy and noticed the staff was always the same, they did not have high turnover which is wonderful for children to be able to see the same faces everyday. That also told me that the teachers liked their job and they were treated well in the workplace. The facility is very open with low walls so that all the adults can see everyone. It gives the academy a sense of openness and a lot of natural light. The infant room (all rooms) has a hand washing policy for both parents and children as soon as they come in. Bottles are stored in a very clean refrigerator, which I appreciated. I never saw old milk or spills inside the refrigerator. They have cubbies for your child’s belongings and spare clothes. Medication is not a problem as long as there’s a doctors prescription. Diaper changes happen every hour and this was wonderful because my daughter NEVER had daycare diaper rash! They remind you when you are running low on supplies so you can bring it the next day. My absolute favorite part is their online communication system, SchoolVine. They posted daily reports and photos of my baby so that I could see her from work by email. So many photos I’ve saved because they were so precious. If you are military, they work with the Child Care Aware program which helps cut your cost out of pocket. My daughter attended the academy for 4 months, and would have attended longer but I decided to stay home and leave my job. If I continued to work, there’s no doubt I would have stayed at Stepping Stones Academy at Waipahu. My daughter was very safe and protected there. Gates codes were used for the facility. She was loved by all her teachers. Never did I pick her up after work was she crying. She was happy there. I highly recommend this academy to anyone. If I decide to go back to work, she would attend again!
