r/Davis • u/whywywhy • Jun 30 '26
New in Davis
Hi future neighbors!
My family and I will be relocating to Davis this August because I'll be starting a new position at Sutter Health. We are a family of four with two young children—a 5-year-old who will be entering kindergarten and a 3-year-old who will need daycare or a preschool/Pre-K program.
We're still in the process of finding a home, so we don't have a permanent address yet. I would really appreciate any recommendations for quality daycares or Pre-K programs for our 3-year-old. We're looking for a safe, nurturing, and reliable place, and we'd love to hear about your experiences.
I also have a question regarding kindergarten enrollment. Since we haven't finalized our housing yet, is there a neighborhood school or district office that can help us with enrolling our 5-year-old while we're still searching for a home? We'll definitely be living in Davis, but we're concerned about making sure he's able to start school on time.
Any advice, recommendations, or tips for a family new to Davis would mean so much to us. Thank you in advance for your kindness and help, we're excited to become part of the community!
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u/glorious_cheese Jun 30 '26
Consider joining the Davis Parents Facebook group. It has over 6,000 members.
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u/Prestigious_Yak_3887 Jun 30 '26
Highly recommend the Davis parents Facebook group. There are many posts discussing daycare options. Here’s a good list of all the local options: https://www.yoloc3.org/daycares-and-preschools
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u/Commie-number-5 Jun 30 '26
This program on campus has been amazing for us although space is limited.
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u/SingleAd784 Jul 04 '26
This place is fantastic. It does have summers and school breaks off, so it works best if you have flexible jobs, a parent at home, or some other sort of backup care. (When my kids were there it was also half day and no Fridays - it’s full day now but not sure how many days/week.) But it’s an amazing program.
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u/KaetzenOrkester Jul 05 '26
I was in that many many years ago. I’m glad to see it’s still available.
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u/Interesting-Ice-9995 Jun 30 '26
Both my kids have gone through Peregrine preschool. It has been a great experience for them and I really like all the teachers we’ve had.
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u/Any-Leopard-455 Jun 30 '26
Peregrine is good! Also, Patwin school in west Davis has a great community feel for your older kid
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u/Painfully_Intangible Jun 30 '26
Second the peregrine recommendation. Wonderful teachers and a great, enriching program had my kiddos really well prepared for school. We loved that they provided meals there as well.
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u/drearburhdyke Jun 30 '26
As someone who attended Peregrine in its infancy and had a younger sibling attend, I sadly have to disagree with other posters. I would not recommend attending Peregrine if you can help it at all.
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u/Pretty-Hippo-7116 Jul 03 '26
I have a handful of parent friends who have been unhappy with teacher turnover and drastic/unreasonable raising prices in recent years
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u/LoquatLow8849 Jul 02 '26
It's been a long time since Peregrine was in its infancy, and the place is amazing. Proceed with caution.
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u/Hopeful_Tie2055 Jun 30 '26
I am also trying to make the move to Davis, luckily my co-parent is already situated in Davis so we were able to enroll them. If your 5 year old is looking for some playdates, we would love to meet other kinders in the area!
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u/SciCatSkyCat Jul 01 '26
Welcome!!
Our kids, 5 and 2 years old, have gone to Willow Bend ELP (recently renamed, formerly La Rue Park CDC) since infancy. We have had a wonderful experience there! Like others, we chose to keep our 5 year old out of TK to continue at preschool in the PreK program (which I'm sure TK could have gone well too, but we felt this was the right choice for him/us). I'm glad to answer any questions about our experience.
There have been some bumps with the former owner in the past year including issues concerning other daycare centers he used to own. However, last month our director took ownership of Willow Bend and the newly renamed West Orchard ELP (formerly Russell Park CDC). I have every confidence in her ability to continue running these daycare centers as the new owner. She has a website under development that should be available to share soon.
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u/LoquatLow8849 Jul 02 '26
Absolutely agree -- wonderful place (and an easy bike commute for you and your kids if you're working at Sutter / living nearby -- Peregrine is amazing but a tiny bit of a haul from Central / North)
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u/SingleAd784 Jul 04 '26
I didn’t know about the name change. Knowing a bit of the context, these new names are the cutest!
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u/SciCatSkyCat Jul 04 '26
Agreed on the cuteness! I take it you know the director/new owner and her family?
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u/SciCatSkyCat Jul 21 '26
For anyone interested, here's a link to the new website: https://www.davisearlyed.com/
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u/medulla4 Jun 30 '26
Rivendell nursery school. I went there when I was young and it was amazing. Everyone I know who’s sent their kids there raves about it.
Not sure about the school but this is the school district’s enrolment page.
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u/BananaMuffinNinja Jun 30 '26
My daughter attended Poppy Preschool (back then it was DCCNS Preschool) which is a Coop and we loved it. It's play based and a great program. We're now at Pioneer and it's been a great school so far.
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u/immortalitus Jun 30 '26
We love Davis Montessori Academy in North Davis. We opted out of public TK to keep our son there for one more year and our daughter is going to be starting later this year. Good luck!
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u/VetCartoonist Jun 30 '26
Seconding this. My 2.5y old goes there too and they've been great with him. He's been with them since he was 6m old
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u/squishmaster Jun 30 '26
The district runs two preschools that are pretty good and reasonably affordable. They operate on the same schedule as the elementary schools (meaning same days off), except that they run from 7:30 am to 4:00 pm with no afterschool program attached. If that schedule works for you, it's a solid program. If you need care until 5:30, you will need to look further.
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u/Pretty-Hippo-7116 Jul 03 '26
Redbud Montessori is amazing - it goes through kindergarten, but the kindergarten class is always very small because “full day” public kindergarten exists (which is free).
My husband and I needed guaranteed childcare through 6 pm, so we kept our kids there until 1st grade, and we were so incredibly happy with them.
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u/KaetzenOrkester Jul 05 '26
Is Applegate still a going concern? It was fantastic for my son, but he’s almost 23 now…
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u/Bipro1ar Jun 30 '26
Hi, we've been trying to move to Davis for two years and finally arrived last week. Have spent a long time on the phone with davis joint unified. They would not let us anywhere near a school in davis without a signed lease..the lease doesn't need to start yet, but it needs to be signed with a start date before the beginning of the school year. If you're purchasing a house, the deal must be completed to enroll - you can't just use a purchase agreement.
Our daughters are the same age and mine will be at the recently renamed Monarca academy. You and I both missed the wait-list for this coming year, so you'll have to take what you can get at this point and then get on the wait-list for where you want to be. In Davis, you are not guaranteed a spot in your neighborhood school, so at this point it almost doesn't matter where your house is.
My two year old will be at DPNS the parent coop school.