Palo Alto · Licensed center
Palo Alto Friends Nursery School
- Medium play-based center, licensed for 38 children.
What these mean, and where they come from
Medium means the middle half of Bay Area’s 439 licensed centers by state-licensed capacity: 31 to 75 children. Small is 8 to 30; large is 76 to 312.
How they teach
Play-based
“Our Play-Based Philosophy”In their words, July 2026.pafns.org
One of 82 Bay Area providers that describe a play-based approach, out of 164 that describe any approach at all.
Who cares for your child
Ratio not published
Ten staff are named on their site, with no start years given.
What it costs
Application fee $45.
Shortlist doesn’t have these yet: cost, sick and biting policies.
What the state has found
Routine visits: 1 of 5 cited something
Bay Area centers: the state cites something at about 1 in 4 routine visits.
From California CDSS Community Care Licensing’s published reports, last checked September 25, 2026.
Read every record and the state’s reports
State record — California CDSS Community Care Licensing
- Last visit
- February 10, 2025
- On file
- 5 visits since November 2021 — 4 cited nothing
- Most serious
- No finding carrying a severity level in the last 24 months.
California CDSS publishes the full investigation narrative for a complaint, including its disposition, and classifies a citation Type A — an immediate risk to a child — or Type B.
Aug 2023 Licensing visit 1 finding
Licensing visit · August 28, 2023
CCR 101700.3(b)(1) · Type B
A result with values of 5.5 ppb or greater shall be deemed an Action Level Exceedance. Sample ID A drinking fountain_out dr nr of and sample ID C drinking fountain_hallway had a Lead Action Level of Exceedance Response of more than 5.5ppb.This poses a potential health, safety and personal rights risk to children in care.
How the comparison is built
Routine visits: across Bay Area centers, the state cites something at about 1 in 4 routine visits (2,260 visits).
A day here
- Meals
- snacks provided by the school
- Hours
- 8:30 AM to 3:30 PM, 5 days a week, school year
- Schedule
- half-day
Details
- Website
- pafns.org
- Address
- 957 Colorado St
- License
- 430700496, active
- Ages they serve
- two, three, four, and five year old children
- Established
- 1954
Do you run Palo Alto Friends Nursery School? Shortlist has no ratios or policies for it, because the state does not publish that. Adding it is free and takes about ten minutes.
Add what is missingSources and dates
Where every fact on this page came from, and when Shortlist last checked it against that source. Anything Shortlist could not source is named here rather than left blank.
How they teach
- Approach — Checked July 2026 pafns.org
Who cares for your child
- Staff pafns.org
What it costs
- Application fee — Checked July 2026 pafns.org
State record
Every state visit and complaint on file, shown in full and never edited. Open a date to read what the state wrote.
A day here
Details
- Phone, Address, License — Checked July 2026 ccld.dss.ca.gov
- Website — Checked July 2026 pafns.org
- Ages they serve — Checked July 2026 pafns.org
- Established — Checked July 2026 pafns.org