Golden Poppy Preschool and Infant Center

Golden Poppy Preschool and Infant Center offers daily activities that include storytime, music, educational toys, art, puzzles, dramatic play, natural studies, cooking projects, dance, yoga, exercise, arts and crafts, field visits, and music and movement. Children participate in age-based developmental curriculum with a focus on social and emotional development, leadership and team building skills, public speaking and communication, and grace and courtesy etiquettes. The program uses smart technology and a school app to involve parents in their child's progress and to share memories through videos and photos.

• Ages: 0–6 years old

Golden Poppy Preschool and Infant Center has qualified teachers with multiple years of experience, including certified and experienced teachers in the Infant Program in Corte Madera. The leadership team includes Sarah, Director of Golden Poppy Sandiego; Joanie Deksnys, Director of Golden Poppy Corte Madera; Iris, Lead Teacher in the Lion Room; and Shannon, Lead Teacher for Transitional Kindergarten, who started teaching at Golden Poppy Preschool in 1993. Children are divided carefully by age and instructed according to their developmental milestones, with smaller stable cohort groups to minimize mingling.

The two-year-old program focuses on self regulation, language development, and following multiple step directives. The three-year-old program focuses on encouraging fantasy play, teaching letter recognition, and developing fine motor skills. The four-year-old program focuses on more complex cognitive skills, reading readiness skills, and appropriate social and behavioral skills. The transitional kindergarten program focuses on writing skills, more complex math and cognitive skills, and early reading development including phonics.

The program’s stated philosophy is that children understand themselves and their world through pleasurable learning activities planned for their developmental level, and that as children grow and become competent in the skills taught, they become self-directed and have a positive view of themselves. The mission statement also says the goal is to provide a loving and stimulating environment that encourages children to grow intellectually, interact appropriately with peers and adults, and exhibit respect for themselves and others, and that educators provide materials to facilitate each child’s natural development.

Golden Poppy School is described as a high-quality early education provider in Corte Madera with age-appropriate programs. It is described as a 4.5/5 star rated preschool on Yelp, with a 4.9/5 rating mentioned in a testimonial, and as the #1 Preschool in Corte Madera. Parents are invited to meet other parents and join community events, and there are parent meetings to build transition plans and set up digitized enrollment and parent technology.

Health and safety practices include all staff and parents wearing masks in and around the facility, children aged 2 and above being encouraged to wear masks, and only staff and children being permitted inside the classroom while parents pick up and drop off at the entrance marked with 6-foot separation. The program uses touchless check in and out or GPS signing through a Parent App, conducts temperature checks for children and staff daily, and has a COVID questionnaire for each family every day.

One parent testimonial from Molly Branch, a mother of a 5-year-old and a 3-year-old who has been with Golden Poppy Preschool for three years, states that staff reach out to share stories about the children on a daily basis, that the children have a full time with lots of activities and arts and crafts, that the children always have an interesting story to tell when they get home, and that Golden Poppy Infant Care San Diego has been flexible in working with parents and in communication during COVID.

Last updated April 1, 2026.