Ven Ensemble AES

Ryan Bradley _{on Google}

May 2nd, 2024

Would give zero stars if possible. Our family's experience with Ven Ensemble was traumatic for us and our 17-month old son. In fact, it was as if the "instructors" never learned about attachment theory or other methods of creating trusting rapport with small children. On Day 1, the director literally recoiled when my son reached out for her, as I stood close encouraging his trust of her. My partner and I spent the better part of a month, missing work, trying to help our son adapt there. When we were there, rather than leverage our presence to increase his trust in the instructors, our son was ignored, leaving the caregiving to us.
The instructors regularly referred to his lack of adaptation as the problem (as compared to a deficiency in their skills to help him feel comfortable and trust them). He was ultimately referred for a behavioral evaluation. His questionnaire and evaluation results demonstrated his development was normal and actually well above- not below- his age. A fact clearly missed by the instructors. It was insulting to be told it was his behavioral problem rather than their inability to reach him constructively. This experience made us question their overall grounding in early childhood education. In fact, only the Director lists having a degree in education on their website, and that has been some time ago. Hindsight is 20-20 thinking now about how this should have been a red flag to us regarding the missing qualifications one would expect to see for early childhood educators.
The expectation seemed to be for a 17-month old boy to quickly adapt to a noisy house filled with a ten+ kids, sit in a chair, not explore their surroundings unless told they could, neatly use a fork and spoon, follow detailed instructions, play when told they could plan, and quietly take naps on a mat on the floor in a busy, congested and brightly lit house. Otherwise, the child has a behavioral problem.
Also, it's important to know the Director and her daughter are two of the "instructors", and while our son was there, the daughter's two children in the "school" got a disproportionate amount of their energy and attention. So the functional ratio of instructors to children was much higher than was stated during our tour/orientation.
Finally, be cautious of their contract. They enforce it with an aggressive Seattle attorney. If you try Ven, I strongly encourage you request a modification to the contract to allow refunds if there is incompatibility, or at least to not pre-pay for the promised "discount". We pre-paid for 6-months, missed work for a month, had to find alternative childcare and had no legal recourse.