Ranked #1 overall across all 11 quality dimensions among every licensed childcare center in Redwood City. This is the highest recognition we award in the city.
Best for Safety
Earned the highest safety score in Redwood City. Our safety dimension weighs inspection history, deficiency records, and parent-reported safety culture across reviews.
Best Teachers
Earned the highest teacher quality score in Redwood City. This dimension weighs staff tenure, qualifications, warmth reported in parent reviews, and consistency of care across classrooms.
Best Curriculum
Earned the highest curriculum score in Redwood City. This dimension evaluates structured learning, developmental programming, and how well daily activities prepare children for each stage.
Best K-Ready
Earned the highest kindergarten-readiness score in Redwood City. This dimension reflects pre-literacy, pre-math, and school-readiness preparation reported by parents and visible in the curriculum.
Best Management
Earned the highest management score in Redwood City. This dimension reflects director responsiveness, communication, operational consistency, and the overall tone families experience from leadership.
Full Ranking Detail
childcarepreschoolelementarytoddler
Harper School is a CCLD-licensed, center-based preschool-through-8th-grade program located at 3150 Granger Way in Redwood City, CA, serving toddlers through elementary-age children on a spacious tree-filled campus. The school maintains strong compliance with only one Type B citation across four state inspections since its August 2021 licensing, and operates at capacity 110 with excellent teacher-student ratios (1:5) that parents consistently praise. Grounded in empathy-centered values and founder Joe Wagner's Silicon Valley education background, the program emphasizes personalized, challenging learning paired with character development, offering robotics, coding, violin instruction, and summer camps. With 15 positive Yelp reviews highlighting teacher care and continuity across multiple grade levels, Harper School delivers a tuition-based program suited to families seeking long-term educational partnerships; as a newer entrant to the market, prospective families should verify current pricing and enrollment directly.
Safety6.0
Curriculum8.0
Art / Music6.0
Infant care5.0
Kindergarten readiness8.0
Teacher quality8.0
Compassion8.0
Management7.0
Culture8.0
Extracurriculars7.0
Programs & curriculum
Curriculum & approach: Emphasizes a personalized learning experience that is challenging and fun, with high expectations paired with academic success. Uses a learning-by-doing approach focused on character development, good behavior, and self-discipline.
Programs & activities: Age groups include Toddler, Preschool, Pre-kindergarten, Kindergarten, Elementary (K-6), and Summer Camps. Activities include phonics and math, reading and writing, coding, robot programming, teamwork, violin/music instruction, and physical activity and wellness.
What sets it apart: Founder Joe Wagner previously co-founded Stratford School in Silicon Valley and holds degrees from Georgetown University and the University of Pennsylvania.
Recognition of Excellence — Website Badge
🏆 For Center Directors
Your center has earned independent recognition based on verified parent reviews. You are welcome to display this badge on your website. Paste the snippet below into your site's HTML — it links back to this verified recognition page.
#1 in Redwood City
<!-- Recognition of Excellence: Harper School -->
<a href="https://creativemindsmontessori.com/US-wide-childcare-preschool-rankings/california/sf-bay-area/redwood-city/harper-school/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" style="display:flex;align-items:flex-start;gap:16px;padding:18px;background:#FFFBF0;border:1px solid #EDD97A;border-radius:10px;max-width:420px;text-decoration:none;color:inherit;font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,'Segoe UI',Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;">
<img src="https://creativemindsmontessori.com/US-wide-childcare-preschool-rankings/badges/rank-1-city.jpg" alt="#1 in Redwood City - Harper School - Redwood City, CA" width="80" height="80" style="border-radius:8px;flex-shrink:0;" loading="lazy">
<span>
<strong style="display:block;font-size:15px;color:#1A1A18;margin-bottom:5px;">#1 in Redwood City</strong>
<span style="font-size:13px;color:#4A4A46;line-height:1.5;">Ranked #1 overall across all 11 quality dimensions among every licensed childcare center in Redwood City. This is the highest recognition we award in the city.</span>
</span>
</a>
Best for Safety
<!-- Recognition of Excellence: Harper School -->
<a href="https://creativemindsmontessori.com/US-wide-childcare-preschool-rankings/california/sf-bay-area/redwood-city/harper-school/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" style="display:flex;align-items:flex-start;gap:16px;padding:18px;background:#FFFBF0;border:1px solid #EDD97A;border-radius:10px;max-width:420px;text-decoration:none;color:inherit;font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,'Segoe UI',Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;">
<img src="https://creativemindsmontessori.com/US-wide-childcare-preschool-rankings/badges/dim-safety.jpg" alt="Best for Safety - Harper School - Redwood City, CA" width="80" height="80" style="border-radius:8px;flex-shrink:0;" loading="lazy">
<span>
<strong style="display:block;font-size:15px;color:#1A1A18;margin-bottom:5px;">Best for Safety</strong>
<span style="font-size:13px;color:#4A4A46;line-height:1.5;">Earned the highest safety score in Redwood City. Our safety dimension weighs inspection history, deficiency records, and parent-reported safety culture across reviews.</span>
</span>
</a>
Best Teachers
<!-- Recognition of Excellence: Harper School -->
<a href="https://creativemindsmontessori.com/US-wide-childcare-preschool-rankings/california/sf-bay-area/redwood-city/harper-school/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" style="display:flex;align-items:flex-start;gap:16px;padding:18px;background:#FFFBF0;border:1px solid #EDD97A;border-radius:10px;max-width:420px;text-decoration:none;color:inherit;font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,'Segoe UI',Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;">
<img src="https://creativemindsmontessori.com/US-wide-childcare-preschool-rankings/badges/dim-teacherq.jpg" alt="Best Teachers - Harper School - Redwood City, CA" width="80" height="80" style="border-radius:8px;flex-shrink:0;" loading="lazy">
<span>
<strong style="display:block;font-size:15px;color:#1A1A18;margin-bottom:5px;">Best Teachers</strong>
<span style="font-size:13px;color:#4A4A46;line-height:1.5;">Earned the highest teacher quality score in Redwood City. This dimension weighs staff tenure, qualifications, warmth reported in parent reviews, and consistency of care across classrooms.</span>
</span>
</a>
Best Curriculum
<!-- Recognition of Excellence: Harper School -->
<a href="https://creativemindsmontessori.com/US-wide-childcare-preschool-rankings/california/sf-bay-area/redwood-city/harper-school/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" style="display:flex;align-items:flex-start;gap:16px;padding:18px;background:#FFFBF0;border:1px solid #EDD97A;border-radius:10px;max-width:420px;text-decoration:none;color:inherit;font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,'Segoe UI',Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;">
<img src="https://creativemindsmontessori.com/US-wide-childcare-preschool-rankings/badges/dim-curriculum.jpg" alt="Best Curriculum - Harper School - Redwood City, CA" width="80" height="80" style="border-radius:8px;flex-shrink:0;" loading="lazy">
<span>
<strong style="display:block;font-size:15px;color:#1A1A18;margin-bottom:5px;">Best Curriculum</strong>
<span style="font-size:13px;color:#4A4A46;line-height:1.5;">Earned the highest curriculum score in Redwood City. This dimension evaluates structured learning, developmental programming, and how well daily activities prepare children for each stage.</span>
</span>
</a>
Best K-Ready
<!-- Recognition of Excellence: Harper School -->
<a href="https://creativemindsmontessori.com/US-wide-childcare-preschool-rankings/california/sf-bay-area/redwood-city/harper-school/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" style="display:flex;align-items:flex-start;gap:16px;padding:18px;background:#FFFBF0;border:1px solid #EDD97A;border-radius:10px;max-width:420px;text-decoration:none;color:inherit;font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,'Segoe UI',Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;">
<img src="https://creativemindsmontessori.com/US-wide-childcare-preschool-rankings/badges/dim-kinder.jpg" alt="Best K-Ready - Harper School - Redwood City, CA" width="80" height="80" style="border-radius:8px;flex-shrink:0;" loading="lazy">
<span>
<strong style="display:block;font-size:15px;color:#1A1A18;margin-bottom:5px;">Best K-Ready</strong>
<span style="font-size:13px;color:#4A4A46;line-height:1.5;">Earned the highest kindergarten-readiness score in Redwood City. This dimension reflects pre-literacy, pre-math, and school-readiness preparation reported by parents and visible in the curriculum.</span>
</span>
</a>
Best Management
<!-- Recognition of Excellence: Harper School -->
<a href="https://creativemindsmontessori.com/US-wide-childcare-preschool-rankings/california/sf-bay-area/redwood-city/harper-school/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" style="display:flex;align-items:flex-start;gap:16px;padding:18px;background:#FFFBF0;border:1px solid #EDD97A;border-radius:10px;max-width:420px;text-decoration:none;color:inherit;font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,'Segoe UI',Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;">
<img src="https://creativemindsmontessori.com/US-wide-childcare-preschool-rankings/badges/dim-mgmt.jpg" alt="Best Management - Harper School - Redwood City, CA" width="80" height="80" style="border-radius:8px;flex-shrink:0;" loading="lazy">
<span>
<strong style="display:block;font-size:15px;color:#1A1A18;margin-bottom:5px;">Best Management</strong>
<span style="font-size:13px;color:#4A4A46;line-height:1.5;">Earned the highest management score in Redwood City. This dimension reflects director responsiveness, communication, operational consistency, and the overall tone families experience from leadership.</span>
</span>
</a>
This recognition is awarded independently by Creative Minds Montessori based on publicly available parent reviews and public records. Centers do not pay for or request these rankings. Scores reflect editorial synthesis of verified parent experience — not center marketing materials. Rankings are updated periodically as new reviews are analyzed.
