Coral Reef Academy in Melbourne,

Coral Reef Academy in Melbourne, Florida offers a mixed experience with varying levels of care and educational programming for young children. The facility maintains clean spaces and provides basic educational activities like ABC learning, counting, and essential life skills development for toddlers and preschoolers. While some families report positive experiences with attentive teachers and strong bonds forming between staff and children, others have expressed concerns about staffing levels and communication practices.

Day Care Information

Address

4945 Stack Blvd, Melbourne, FL 32901

Reviews

106 Reviews

Day Care Features

Does this day care accept infants?

Yes

Reviews mention infants attending the daycare, and one review specifically discusses a child starting in the infant room.

Reviews:

Author: krista Dunham Rating: 1/5 Date: 4/30/2022, 10:20:40 AM Review: UPDATE:: STAY AWAY. OWNERS/MGMT ARE OFFERING TO ENTER PARENTS INTO A RAFFLE TO WIN 2 WEEKS TUITION FOR 5 STAR REVIEWS. THEY ARE TRYING TO BURY THE RECENT NEGATIVE REVIEWS. I JUST LEARNED OVERNIGHT4/30/22 THAT MY SON WAS PHYSICALLY ABUSED AND THE TEACHER WAS LET GO AND MGMT NOR STAFF FELT THE NEED TO NOTIFY ME. Let me begin this review with first saying, I did not think I would ever be leaving such a negative review or terrible experience as this that my family and I have experienced at this facility. This daycare prides themselves and advertises that they appreciate the diversity that each child brings and how each child is unique in their individual needs. And while that may be true for a child of normal circumstance and needs, it was not true of my recently diagnosed speech delayed child. My son started at this facility in July of 2020 in the infant room and has been there until today. We’ve been with them through the height of covid and the uncertainty that a pandemic brings to everyone. Closures, positive cases, regular colds and germs associated with daycare. In the 1 year room my son was bit countless times by multiple children which is normal for that age, I know. But while my son was coming home day after day covered in bites, bruises, and cuts, I showed patience and understanding with them because it happens. I never imagined that when my son was diagnosed at the end of December with a speech delay, that they wouldn’t show the same patience and understanding. As responsible parents, my husband and I immediately got our child into speech therapy even with the therapist coming into the school to do therapy. I made sure the directors and teachers were well aware of his diagnosis, evaluations and progress. None of this was done because of prompting by any of the daycare workers, by the way. At the end of February I was approached to hold a conference about my sons progress and expectations in this facility. We met, talked about progress and concerns and we jointly agreed that it would be beneficial to my son to be in a facility with a smaller class size and that they would work with us on time because they understood you can’t just walk into a good daycare the next day. No time limit was given. 48 hours later I had a resolution in progress. We were on multiple lists for reputable daycares in the area that offered smaller class sizes. I informed the program director that we were on multiple lists but that we were looking at a new school enrollment towards June. 3 months away. To this information, I was given a displeased facial expression with a “I’ll talk to so and so and let you know” I didn’t hear anything else for about two weeks until I was approached and asked for another conference. I scheduled the conference for the following Wednesday. The Monday before our upcoming conference, I was given a termination of services letter with the director stating that with my sons speech delay, he was just too hard to handle. Maybe if they had been more commutative, or forthcoming with their expectations or internal timeline they wanted him discharged, we would’ve had a more amicable split. My son walked out of the only daycare he’s ever known today with not so much as a goodbye or a hug from any of his teachers. Change is hard for anyone. Change is especially hard for a child that doesn’t understand why. My heart breaks for him. I’m hoping this review will prevent this discrimination from happening to someone else’s child and it should not have happened to mine.

Does this day care have monitoring cameras?

Yes

Several reviews mention the existence of video footage of incidents, implying monitoring cameras are present. However, others note that footage was not shared with parents, indicating potential inconsistencies in access and policies.

Reviews:

No reviews found with the keywords: cameras

Working Hours

  • Monday6:30AM-6PM
  • Tuesday6:30AM-6PM
  • Wednesday6:30AM-6PM
  • Thursday6:30AM-6PM
  • Friday6:30AM-6PM
  • SaturdayClosed
  • SundayClosed

Latest Reviews

Author: Mariah Jorden
Rating: 5/5
Date: 1/30/2025, 11:18:26 PM

This school is one of the best hands down. From the front desk to the teachers they are all great they keep the facility very clean which is a plus for me . My daughter is in VPK & loves her teacher Ms.Savannah

Author: aabukhamis
Rating: 5/5
Date: 1/24/2025, 5:25:31 PM

My daughter loves this school much enjoying her VPK . All she talks about is Mrs. Savanah. Thank you all

Author: Kaitlyn
Rating: 1/5
Date: 12/6/2024, 2:30:54 PM

JUST DON’T! I am pained to admit there were times my son would say that he learned/copied an aggressive action from a teacher and I didn’t believe it and I regret that every day!!!! It took such a toll on him and our family. They are seriously understaffed with unqualified teachers (literally anyone they can find) and it will affect your child. What staff they do pick to be in the classrooms are seriously unequipped educationally and mentally to be educational and behavioral leaders to developing toddlers. At the end of the day, the children suffer. My son was looking to them to teach and guide him. Instead, they were grasping at straws in their VERY overpacked classrooms and children would fall through the cracks. It’s a great place to work because the Director and administrative team will always have their staffs back, even if they are wrong which has been proven multiple occasions.

Author: kaitlyn smith
Rating: 1/5
Date: 8/19/2024, 9:21:55 PM

Communication and concerns are handled unprofessionally at this location. Had to remove my daughter from this school as an issue with a specific teacher was disregarded constantly. Teachers are allowed to scream at children here which is beyond unprofessional and higher staff must not care as multiple complaints have been made in the past with 0 phone calls returned. My daughter had two teachers whom she loved but unfortunately with the unorganized and chaotic environment, our hands were forced to remove her. Please do better.

Author: Berna Johnson-Jenkins
Rating: 5/5
Date: 5/14/2024, 8:47:36 PM

I absolutely love this school for my 4 year old son! He had never been in school before until 10/2023 and after attending one school 6 months, he transferred here. He cried the first day ONLY at drop off, I can tell he was welcomed warmly by his 2 teachers (Miss. Izzy & Mrs. Jennifer). He didn’t shed a tear the second day and was smiling faces at pick-up!! He now identifies letters and sounds. He also is eager to get to class when we get there mornings! Everyone at the front is glowing upon arrival, the corporate DIRECTOR Tara makes it her business (even if in the office or on a call) to greet my son with a hug! Peyton (assistant director) gave him his own “nickname” ;) and Shianna (lead Director) compliments how good of a child he is (that means she pays attention to her students). They just make me feel safe & secure as a parent to have my baby boy in their hands. I’m over joyed that I picked this place and pray every TEACHER & LUNCH staff (too many to name) are beyond BLESSED for caring for little ones as THEIR OWN! It’s a family at Coral Reef, keep up the phenomenal work ladies*******************

Author: Erin Kirker
Rating: 5/5
Date: 4/22/2024, 3:03:55 PM

My daughter has been going to this daycare since 6 months old and she is 2 years old now. I am giving this daycare a high rating because my daughter is very happy and I am impressed with what my daughter has learned because of Coral Reef. She knows her ABC's, can count to 20 (w/out any assistance), and has learned life skills such as wiping her face and hands, washing her hands, and cleaning up her toys, among other things! They also provide us with input on things she needs to work on at home, for her it's working on sharing. I have also seen how loving the staff is toward my daughter and it melts my heart to see her have such a great relationship with other adults besides family that deeply care for her and who can be a source of comfort while at school. Specifically, there is a lady in the cafeteria who she has developed a bond with and it is so adorable!! I almost cry out of joy and thankfulness. My daughter also developed a bond with her teacher as well. While Coral Reef is not perfect and we've had some complaints at times, they've always listened to our feedback and made adjustments. Most of our complaints or issues had to do with the quality of care after their main daycare teacher is done for the day ~3pm or later. And one time our daughter pooped during a nap and was in the diaper for an extended period of time and got a diaper rash so bad that her skin was raw and had a hard time walking. But this was one time during the entire 1.5 years and the teacher was very attentive to her while she was recovering. Recently within the past few months we have not had issues though and it seems to have improved. To balance out the negative with a good story, another time our daughter got sick and her teacher Ms. Evette stayed longer taking care of her until we arrived to take her home. We are pretty sure our daughter threw up on her (sorry!). We are so appreciative that she stayed and comforted our daughter! I've also seen some parents post reviews about their kids around 1 years old or under getting sick a lot. We had the same experience with ours being sick about every other week or so. I believe this likely would have happened at any other daycare, the only way to avoid it would've been to keep her at home. The kids immune systems are not developed yet and they put everything in their mouth so they get sick easily and often. It does get better, once my daughter was around 1.5 years old being sick suddenly became a rare occurrence because her immune system was more developed. Please talk to your pediatrician about it. Also, I know the daycare had previously offered awards of a free daycare if you provided a high review. I did not want to participate in that as I felt people were giving high reviews for the free daycare instead of giving the review that was in line with their experience. This review is genuine and provided only after reflecting on our experience for quite some time.

Author: Kassandra Paz
Rating: 1/5
Date: 1/23/2024, 5:37:21 PM

My nephew has had 3 facial injuries in a matter of 2 months & the staff told us the reason they can’t show us the video footage is because of the privacy of other children. But the last incident we were told there were no children involved and he “ran into a wall” and they still wouldn’t show us any video footage. Not only that but he is always sick. He has had 3+ viruses back to back. In the end, they removed my nephew because we “broke the trust”. STAY AWAY FROM HERE

Author: Virginia Townes
Rating: 5/5
Date: 12/6/2023, 10:09:49 PM

I love the teachers and staff. My son is thriving and loves going to school everyday.

Author: KHADIDJA Feredj
Rating: 4/5
Date: 9/16/2023, 3:22:07 PM

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Author: Brian Pineda Arceo
Rating: 1/5
Date: 8/24/2023, 4:36:25 AM

The management at this facility is awful and it almost seems as they do not value the safety of the children.

Location

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