The best daycare for a commuting parent isn't the one with the fanciest lobby, it's the one that doesn't add twenty minutes to your morning. Newport Ave Preschool sits at 13682 Newport Avenue, directly off the I-5 Newport Avenue exit, about five minutes from The Market Place and four from Tustin High. If your day runs on the 5 or the 55, this is the drop-off that isn't a detour.
Key takeaways
- A cross-town daycare stop typically adds ~20 minutes each way; an on-route stop adds under five.
- We open at 6:30 AM and run to 6:00 PM, built for parents who need to be on the freeway by 6:45.
- Old Town, Tustin Ranch, North Tustin, and the Irvine/Santa Ana borders all reach us in about 10 minutes or less.
- One campus covers 18 months through private kindergarten, siblings mean one stop, not two.
Why does drop-off location matter more than parents expect?
Because it repeats ~250 times a year, each way. A daycare that adds 20 minutes per direction costs a commuting household roughly 165 hours annually, four full work-weeks of driving. Choosing on-route instead of across-town is the single largest quality-of-life decision in the childcare search, and almost nobody ranks schools by it.
How fast can you actually get here?
From most of Tustin, under ten minutes on surface streets, and the campus sits before the freeway, so the stop happens on the way, not against traffic.
Heading south on the 5 toward Irvine's business corridor? Exit Newport Avenue, drop off, and you're back on the on-ramp in under ten minutes total. Parents in Irvine and Santa Ana routinely find us faster than options in their own zip code. preschool near Irvine
What makes a drop-off actually fast?
Three things, all boring and all decisive: on-site parking (we have a dedicated lot, no street-parking circling), a secure single-entry check-in that takes under two minutes, and hours with margin. We open 6:30 AM and close 6:00 PM, so an early meeting or a late 5 backup doesn't trigger penalty fees.
Hot breakfast is served to early arrivals, cooked on-site and included in tuition (from $175/week), so a 6:40 drop-off doesn't require a drive-through stop first. what tuition includes
Frequently asked questions
Where exactly are you relative to the I-5?
13682 Newport Avenue, Tustin, a few hundred yards from the I-5 Newport Avenue exit, on the Market Place side. Free on-site parking; drop-off typically takes under five minutes door to door.
What are your hours for early commuters?
Monday–Friday, 6:30 AM to 6:00 PM. Breakfast is included for early arrivals, and there's no early-hours surcharge, the schedule is the schedule.
Do you serve families outside Tustin?
Constantly, Irvine, Santa Ana, Orange, and North Tustin families use us precisely because we sit on their commute. About a third of our families live outside Tustin proper. preschool near Santa Ana
Can siblings of different ages do one drop-off?
Yes, we run programs from 18 months through private kindergarten on one campus, so a toddler and a TK-age sibling are one stop, one check-in, one goodbye.
Test the route yourself: call (714) 730-3424 and book a 7 AM tour, drive it exactly as you would on a workday.