I would suggest Kindercourt on Delaware as they spend a lot of time with their kids and make sure that there is always something to do. The location is not the best but they have really caring staff.

Alpha Beacon Christian School on 42 Ave. in San Mateo was voted the Best PreSchool 2008 by U.S. Local Business Assoc.

For preschool, I think it depends on what you want. Certain things are a universal good - clean facility, caring teachers. Others factors are more subject to choice: Do you want play based or "academic" based?

Some of the top private schools (Sacred Heart ) actually use preschool as entry point, and entering in Kindergarten is not as common. So if you want to go private for elementary, you need to get on top of it ASAP.

Kinder Academy Montessory
San Mateo
Santa Inez
Very nice place, have part time and full time options.
Do not feed the kids which is bad.

You really need to check them out yourself to see which ones align the best with your values. You can't go solely by reputation, we made that mistake with Serendipity Preschool in San Mateo. They had a very good reputation that was based in part on longevity of teachers, but the year our kids were there they lost half their staff. They had to cobble together replacements mid-year, and we were not getting what we paid for. We also felt that they had no interest in input from parents, and after several disagreements with their directors we found what we felt was a much better option in Foster City Preschool & Day Care. Much cleaner, more experienced teachers, and more classroom time. Our girls bring home more artwork in a week now than they used to in a month at Serendipity. Did I mention hot lunches? Hormone-free milk? Gymnastics and dance classes available so you don't spend your whole weekend in the car? We dig it.

thanks for the info, very helpful.

I have a preschooler myself and know how crazy it can be to find a good one, so I have compiled all the preschool data for Belmont, San Mateo, San Carlos, Redwood City and Foster City on my website if you look under Peninsula Resources, Preschools - Here is a list of San Mateo:
Alpha Beacon Christian School
525 W. 42nd St
San Mateo, CA 94403
650.212.4222
Ages 3-5 Years Old
Part-time Only

Pacific Rim International School (PACIFIC)
454 Peninsula Avenue
San Mateo, CA 94401
650.685.1881

Bunkerhill Co-op Preschool
2145 Bunkerhill Drive
San Mateo, CA 94402
650.349.1581
Part-time only

Serendipity Preschool
San Mateo, CA 94402
650.574.7400
Full-time and Part-time Available
Please contact school for pricinig

Little Wonders (Co-op)
225 Tilton Avenue
San Mateo, CA 94401
650.348.0736

Transfiguration Preschool
Alameda De Las Pulgas
San Mateo, CA 94403
650.341.7878
Ages 2.9 to 6 Years
Part-time Only

Jaime, please consider Burlingame. It has great public and private schools fro kindergarten to high school. It is absolutely a great place to raise family.

Children's House is excellent. Cary School has a good preschool. St. Matthews Episcopal, if you can get in. There are several Montessori schools too. The JCC in Foster City has a great preschool program, too.

baywood elementary school has great school scores on the api test and a 10 rating on greatschools.net