I've been sending both my kids to RA/RHA since 2018 because Jiali and her team have been so wonderful. This review is specifically for my daughter, who has been attending since 2022. First and foremost, the teachers are so caring and wonderful - my daughter excitedly tells me about her day everyday and she is so happy to go to school. I really appreciate the videos/photos that RA will post so we can get an update on what goes on during school. They've also been so accommodating with us and my erratic work schedule (sometimes I need to suddenly pick up early or drop off late, etc. they've been nothing but accommodating). I feel like both my kids truly thrived here through the nurture and care given by the teachers. Secondly, there's a wonderful parent community at RA which has engaged in sharing updates, set up playdates, etc. You can tell not only do the teachers/Jiali care about the students but so do the parents who send their kids here. Third, the mandarin teaching has been exceptional. In fact, sometimes they need to tell ME what a Chinese word means because they've learned so much. My daughter will be graduating to K soon and we'll truly be sad to leave this place. Would highly recommend RA 1000x over

I can't say enough great things about this school, and I already know this review will never be able to do RA justice. My daughter has been at Richmond academy from 18 months to kindergarten. I am so enormously grateful for RA for helping raise my daughter into an absolutely wonderful little girl. - The school is very kind and has the best intentions. The teachers are warm. The students learn to be good people. My daughter is a nice person, has great manners, and also knows how to speak up. I credit RA for teaching her this. - My daughter's Mandarin Chinese is phenomenal. She has complex conversations with her Taiwanese grandma using accurate Chinese vocabulary. - There is an academic spin to this school (it's in the name of the school). They taught my daughter to sit down, do workbooks to practice writing and math, and memorize. This is not easy and I find it so impressive they could do this and keep my child so happy. - My daughter has serious food allergies (anaphylaxis) and we have never once had an issue. - They potty-trained my daughter on their own at 18 months. Thank you RA!

Jiali and the teachers at Richmond Academy taught our kids everything from the time they were 1 year old. When we applied for private schools in SF, we got into 5 out of 5 schools we applied to, and I attribute how prepared our kids were for the evaluations due to Richmond Academy. If you want your kids to learn Mandarin, math, manners, and kindness — this is the spot. When we were deciding which kindergarten to attend, we decided not to continue Mandarin immersion because, frankly, our kids would be bored waiting for other kids to catch up. You won’t need to keep switching schools each year; Richmond Academy handles all levels, including daycare, TK, and PK. They let us focus on our careers, knowing our kids were taken care of 8-5pm. Even when we got off work earlier, we would leave them with Jiali, knowing they were happy and thriving at school. Lastly, while many places were closed during Covid, they didn’t let us down and found a way to stay safe and open. We had no learning loss to deal with. Forever grateful for the time our children spent with Richmond Academy!

Finding the right preschool these days is just as difficult as finding the right university because so many elements need to be considered, especially children with special needs. Many may think preschool is just a daycare where a bunch of kids play but it is more than that. The first 5 years of childhood is so important as these are the golden years that will help shape your children's behaviors and their views of their surroundings. As parents, we hope that our children could begin their lives with positive experiences. However, due to Covid-19 pandemic and our children having multiple food allergies, we were not confident to send our younglings off to the outside world so we waited until they turned 3. As we waited, we researched and toured many preschools (Chinese immersion and regular schools) but there was always something missing that made us turned away. The biggest concern for us is finding a school teamed with empathic faculties that will care for our children with food allergies. A lot of Chinese immersion preschools we have toured serve meals from Chinese restaurants which contains common food allergens and cross contaminations. These schools could not accommodate any alternatives even though tuition includes meals and carelessly told us that our children can bring their own lunches and snacks and that teachers can separate them from other students to sit by themselves to eat alone. With disappointment, we started to give up. Luckily, one of our friends recommended RA to us because her son attended there and was very happy. Not only did the teachers took very good care of him, he also learned a lot of Chinese (which is a huge plus in our books since we want our boys to be exposed to their Chinese roots). Without hesitation, we toured and met with founder Ms. JiaLi and her lovely husband Randy who designed the school's interior. Her passion for early childhood education and the general wellbeing of children touched us. She was still very enthusiastic about ECE despite being in the industry for many years. She reassured us that all her teachers are trained on CPR and Epi-Pen administration and was very open about sharing how they have handled past incidents with children that needed Epi-pen. Just as we thought this couldn't get any better, Ms.JiaLi told us she cooks all hot meals on site everyday with all children's allergies in mind AND her school does not require student to be potty-trained to attend. When we were told that, I was jumping in joy (in my head of course..) because as first time parents and small business owners, we don't have the experience nor do we have the time and having professionals do potty-training and providing safe meals gave us a mental relief. With the level of honesty, passion and knowledge Ms.JiaLi presented, we quickly decided to send our boys to RA. When our boys first started school, they did cry for about a week due to separation from mommy during the day and due to the new routines they had to adapt. But that quickly subsided with teacher Mei, teacher Jane, teacher Yannie and teacher Kathy all working as a team to comfort them. As time passed, our boys grew to love their teachers so much that when we drop them off, they walk in confidently without turning their heads and during pick up, they come out running with huge smiles and voluntarily hugging their teachers goodbye. And recently, our boys cried at home saying they miss their teacher due to her absence on maternity leave. That is when we know we made the right choice! One very impressive point I need to bring up is all their teachers (no matter which class) work very closely with each other and with Ms.JiaLi and Director Jojo to ensure clear communications regarding their students. You may wonder how do we know?.. because all the teachers seem to know our boys well when we don't even know who some the teachers are. The teachers are very approachable and openminded when we have questions or concerns; which they do solve immediately and efficiently. Curriculum is tailored according to each student's needs and when we expressed to director Jojo that our children will be taking English assessments for kindergarten, right away director Jojo incorporated some English Kindergarten prep materials into their lessons and we were astound that she took what we said into consideration. Recently, it seems she have added multiplication worksheets (without us asking) for our boys to do to ensure they are academically challenged and not get bored learning the same materials repeatedly. Fast forward to now, our boys have been in RA for over 1 year and we are back to searching for schools again but this time it's for elementary school. It has been a frustrating process because the level and standard of care, education, and especially the teachers that RA provides is very hard to match up. Nevertheless, we truly appreciate what RA has done for our boys and would recommend them to anyone looking for a quality preschool.

Our daughter attended Richmond Academy for 1.5 years starting at the age of two. We were very happy with our experience and highly recommend the school. We left because she got into a Pre K class with the Unified School District. Touring the site, we were beyond impressed by the activities, amenities, cleanliness and obvious care and attention that Jiali (owner) has put into the school. The opportunity for our child to be immersed in a second language at such a young age was an added bonus (our family doesn't speak Mandarin). Some details: - They potty trained her (!) - There is no doubt that our child was loved and safe. - There was a great balance of curriculum and fun. - Even when they're closed for Spring, Summer and Winter Breaks, you can send your kid for an additional cost (very helpful). - The school doesn't have outside space, but they walk to the Rossi playground 3-4 times a week before lunch. - They create a monthly video to recap their lessons/activities and send home crafts and school dittos. - They don't allow parents inside the school so drop off and pickup are done at the door. We will miss our time at the school and they will always hold a special place in our hearts. We'll also consider attending their Half Day Saturday Mandarin Program when it gets up and running this Fall.

We are very happy with the Richmond Academy. Our child gets both academic learning in Mandarin, English alphabetic work, plus arts and crafts time. His interest in numbers, letters, and Chinese characters has so much to do with the teaching he gets from the Richmond Academy. The handwriting exercises in his weekly packets enabled him to be able to write his name without much assistance from us. Our child has a good connection with his teacher and likes her very much. The classrooms are always clean, well organized, and secure. The safety measures and COVID strategies work well. In the beginning our child's toilet training made a huge leap once he started at school and his social skills and interactions with people are progressing more than if he was at home. The staff are very engaged, responsive and have a lot of energy. As parents we appreciate that a full lunch and breakfast snacks are part of his school day program. At pick up time he's always ready and I feel safe with the staff that he's looked after well. Most importantly our child enjoys learning and playing at school. He looks forward to going to school everyday.

My son has attended Richmond Academy for over 6 months and unfortunately has to move on to an English speaking preschool (we speak Mandarin only at home). We will tremendously miss Jiali, Kathy, JoJo, all the teachers and staff there! My son only cried shortly on his very first day of school, since then was always so happy to go to school, coming back home with a smile on his face. He has made huge improvements including being fully potty trained by two and half. He would tell me what songs they sang at school and what dances they've learned. We've collected all his art works from school and now it's an art wall in our home! Thank you for everything you have done, Richmond Academy!

We absolutely love Richmond Academy and highly recommend if you are looking for a preschool. The teachers are AMAZING. They genuinely care about the children. We always hear wonderful stories from our daughter about how much fun she had at school - dancing, singing, arts and craft, story time, cooking (and the list goes on). They provide 2 meals and 2 snacks a day. This makes it SO easy for us, as we rarely have to prep food for our daughter throughout the week. Not to mention their meals are nutritious - there is always protein, veggie, carb and soup. They recently moved to a larger facility on Geary, with lots of functional and play areas. If you are curious, we suggest you take a tour. They also regularly take the children out to Rossi playground (which is right around the corner) for outdoor activities. We are SO thankful to have our daughter at RA!

What can I say? One of the best decisions I have made for my son was to have him go to Richmond Academy. My son started coming here during the pandemic, it was a was a really hard decision to make but I knew my son was in good hands as soon as I visited and met Jiali. Jiali and the rest of her staff are amazing! They are caring and loving. My son flourished since starting Richmond Academy. He's learned so much from being potty trained and teaching other friends how to speak Mandarin (Mandarin isn't spoken at home). It is bittersweet that my son is now old enough to start Pre-K and my heart hurts so much because not only me, but my son will miss everyone at Richmond Academy. Just like the previous review stated, I hope I will be able to maintain his Mandarin at such a high level at his new school.

Our daughter has been attending Richmond Academy for almost 2 years and I cannot recommend the school enough. We absolutely LOVE Jiali, Jane, Yannie and all the teachers and staff at the center. Our daughter's Chinese had improved significantly since she joined. I still cannot believe that at the age of 5, she can write and comfortably read books and poems. She also love to perform all the dances she learn in school. She always love to go to school, and had made tons of friends while she was there. Now that she has graduated from the school, we're quite nervous whether we can help her maintain her Chinese as Richmond Academy had set such a high bar! I'm a lifetime fan of the school and would recommend all our friends to go!

Our family is so happy and satisfied with this school, they are always considerate with the parents and the kids. They provided snacks and food they NEVER got my kid sick, I like the small hand writing exercises and art works they do at school, my kid is always proud of himself about his works and hand writing. The teachers are well trained and educated to be individualized each kid’s backgrounds and education. Five stars!!!

Such a wonderful school! Both our kids have been at Richmond Academy since before they were 2 (now ages 4 and 6) and have loved it. They come home full of smiles and cute songs and funny stories about their friends. When I first toured Richmond Academy, I was immediately struck by how warm the environment was, and how attentive the teachers were to the children. The teachers are kind and loving, but also excellent instructors. Our kids have learned good habits--washing their hands, putting away their shoes--while also gaining social skills and learning a LOT of Mandarin. It's not just colors and counting. They learn to recognize characters, to talk and reason in Mandarin. Our older child can read stories in Chinese at this point. It's super impressive! Because of the strength of RA's Mandarin program, we did not put our older child in Mandarin immersion elementary school. In our experience, the instruction at RA is stronger and she can maintain her fluency in RA's after school program without locking us into only 2 private school choices in San Francisco (i.e., CAIS and PKS). The school director Jiali makes the whole thing work. She is so energetic and loves kids. She knows each child and is constantly going above and beyond to enrich the students' experience. There's a lot of other things to talk about-the beautiful interior of the school, the outings to nearby parks and libraries, the cake they make for each kid on their birthday (with the ridiculously adorable birthday hat), daily arts and crafts, the fact that they make 2 full meals and snacks each day. It's amazing. We feel so lucky to be part of this community!

My 2 children, now aged 5 and 7, have been at Richmond Academy since they were 2. Jiali, Jiawen, Kathy and the other wonderful teachers have, in essence, helped to bring our children up. My kids' Mandarin was so good by the time they were kindergarten age (being able to speak, read 300 characters, write AND do math!) that they were far ahead of their peers looking to enter Chinese immersion programs in SF (CAIS, PKS etc). Additionally, the teachers lavish love, care and fun on the children. They are kind and loving but firm. AND they pay attention to the little details - for example, we never had a diaper rash at Richmond Academy, while this was a weekly occurrence at their former preschool. My older one now attends RA's afterschool program, where Jiawen continues to hone their Mandarin skills and gives each one individualized coaching. On top of this, the children are exposed to traditions such as Chinese New Year (they get to write scrolls and make dumplings), Mid-Autumn Festival (they make mooncakes), Hallowe'en (their day-long festival is a scream), Christmas (replete with a gift-giving Santa)... the list goes on. We feel blessed and lucky to be part of the RA family, and highly recommend Jiali and her team.