Leading child care provider acquires 15 high-quality Montessori schools in the San Francisco Bay area

TORONTO, Jan. 8, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Busy Bees North America (BBNA), one of the leading child care providers on the continent, announced today the successful acquisition of Learn and Play^® Montessori School ("Learn and Play"). The agreement includes 15 Learn and Play San Francisco Bay Area schools with additional locations in the pipeline for growth. This latest strategic acquisition furthers Busy Bees' commitment to offering exceptional care and early years education to children and families throughout North America and marks the provider's entry into the state of California.

"We could not be prouder to welcome Learn and Play Montessori School to the Busy Bees family," stated Mary Ann Curran, Chief Executive Officer of Busy Bees North America. "This meaningful acquisition expands our ability to deliver high-quality care to families in California and we look forward to positively impacting quality and accessibility of child care in the state," continued Curran. "Learn and Play's historical commitment to providing opportunities for children to thrive and grow in a warm, supportive environment makes them the perfect partner for us."

Founded in 2008 by Harpreet Grewal and Kiran Grewal, the mission of Learn and Play is to inspire children to become self-confident and motivated individuals, providing opportunities for each child to reach their highest potential. The early years education provider is well-known for its unique blend of Montessori methods and its commitment to fostering each child's individual potential, creativity, and development.

Kiran Grewal, Co-Founder of Learn and Play added, "From the very beginning, our mission has been to provide high-quality education in clean, organized, safe, and resource-rich environments." Grewal continued, "Becoming part of the Busy Bees family will enable Learn and Play to continue to grow across California while preserving the high standards of care and exceptional programs."

Learn and Play's highly regarded program and innovative Montessori-based curriculum complements Busy Bees' current portfolio of exceptional early childhood education centers and schools in the U.S. and Canada, most of which operate under the BrightPath Early Learning and Child Care brand. With the addition of Learn and Play Montessori School, Busy Bees North America now operates 225 centers across North America – 139 in the United States and 86 in Canada. Busy Bees' employee base will increase by nearly 300 upon integrating the newly acquired schools, and more than 1,700 families will join the leading child care provider group. For more information, visit https://www.busybeesna.com/.

About Busy Bees Group
Busy Bees is a global early education provider with more than 1,000 centres worldwide caring for over 90,000 children in the UK, US, Ireland, Italy, USA, Canada, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and Australia. Busy Bees is majority-owned by Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan with a strategic minority stake held by Singapore-based Temasek and the balance of equity by management. Ontario Teachers' is a global investor with net assets of CAD $255.8bn¹ and Temasek is a global investment company headquartered in Singapore with US $287bn² in net assets.

About Busy Bees North America
Busy Bees North America is one of the leading childcare providers on the continent with more than 225 schools across Canada and the US, including California, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Ohio and Arizona. The organization is committed to offering exceptional care and education to children with an innovative curriculum that ignites curiosity and sets the stage for a lifelong educational journey.  Learn more at https://www.busybeesna.com/

About Learn and Play Montessori School
Learn and Play^® Montessori School was founded in 2008. Its mission is to inspire children to become self-confident and motivated individuals, providing opportunities for each child to reach their highest potential. Offerings include daycare, childcare, preschool, PreK, TK, kindergarten, and after-school education in Fremont, Danville, Pleasant Hill, Moraga, Hercules, San Carlos, Milpitas, Sunnyvale and Dublin, California, with a passion for combining Montessori + STEM^™ (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math).

¹ As at 30 June 2024
² As at 31 March 2023

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SOURCE Busy Bees North America