Auraria Early Learning Center

My son attends this daycare, and I absolutely love watching him thrive here. Teachers are attentive and affectionate, and the facilities are like no other. This place is full of enrichments that keep children happy and engaged throughout the day. Also, it is always kept clean and organized by the teachers/workers who tirelessly work with patience and care. It also has the highest ratings from the state-wide 'Colorado Shines' rating system. It really deserves it. Yes, it's competitive to get in, but so are most of other daycare centers in Denver. One caveat is that, like other reviewers mentioned, their customer service has room for improvement. This might stem from the fact that it's the only campus daycare center for all three universities' students, faculty, and staff on the Auraria campus.

The staff is incredibly friendly. Wish the offered care before 1 and could keep kindergarten!! Looking forward to seeing both my kids there!!

Great school. If your child is developing behind, use a small amount of caution as they are not staffed well for an inclusive environment.

I work on campus and this ELC is a to notch day-care.

I am a student at CU Denver. I came here trying to enroll my 14 month old son as part time. They explained there are limited spots and that a lottery will be held on 12/5/17 starting around 7am for open enrollment. I arrived at 6:20 and was the 4th person in line. As I waited, several more parents arrived (some with their kids)with the same hopes as everyone else there. It was very cold and as employees arrived, they made it a point to not look at the line and most had the same tired/uncaring/blank look in their face. When they opened the door, around 20 people were lined up. As the first person walked in they had him draw a number. His number was 26. I was the 4th in line and received 13. I didn t know how this was going to go down, so I went to a play area where they were to explain everything further. They came back and called #1. The parent with that number had just got there and drew that number. She went back and presumably enrolled her child. Nothing else was explained. The 1st guy in line went to ask how this works and they told him they would be calling out the numbers in order. He had been there since 5:45am waiting in the cold for a fair shot at enrollment and was basically beat out by someone who had just strolled up. This is not a lottery. This is chaos. A lottery works on the principal that everyone who is there has a fair shot. If there are 40 numbers(or however many)in a hat, with only 20 or so present at the time of the number distribution, how is that even a lottery. They were still handing out numbers to people just arriving at around 7:30 and they were receiving places in line ahead of the people who had been there since an hour before they were open. How bout you give numbers to people who are there, put those numbers in a hat and draw. That s a lottery. If you hand a person number 26 when there aren t even 26 people there, you have just told that person they have no chance. After witnessing how the man in front of me was treated, I approached the assistant director (I believe) and inquired about how this works. She explained it exactly how I thought it was going down. Again, that is not a lottery. That isn t even a fair playing field. There are more numbers than people present and then they go down the list chronologically. I am thankful for the experience because I could see how the people who worked there reacted to this and they all seemed indifferent. Jaded almost. If you can afford to go somewhere else I would recommend doing so. This is a last resort kind of place in my opinion.

This is not the place for you if your kiddo has any struggle with self regulation or social/ emotional delays!!! We were disenrolled after a day and a half, and sent on a wild goose chase tracking down assessments from behavioral specialists and head start evaluations. This place even went so far as to imply that our son might have ODD. Nothing ever came of any of it. After our head start evaluation, other than recognizing some sensory processing issues and needing glasses, our kiddo was cleared to start school without an IEP or 504 plan. He never ended up needing one while in public preschool and two years later he is now happily back in a private preschool. Please do not let our experience with AELC become yours, this place is incompetent and they do not value inclusivity of ALL children. Be very careful in trusting your kiddos with them.

Expect 1000$ every 15 days great teachers unreal fininacal expectations

I absolutely love this program. The staff is very mindful of all the students. They are a great with individual learning and helping the children advance. All the staff is loving and helpful. every one in the building makes sure your child is secure and safe. They check ID's and make sure your child can leave with the people that are there to pick them up. You are always greeted with a smile and a hello when you enter the building. The only issue is that they don't open early enough for my work schedule.

My daughter has attended this school for over 2 years and we have had nothing but wonderful experiences