day care / nursery schools in West Orange? (Livingston, Maplewood: house, YMCA)

[Gravy Boat]

Does anyone have any recommendations or reservations about nursery schools or day care in the West Orange area? Thanks

[Butterfly92]

West Orange High School does a program for pre-schoolers about ages 3-4 where it's a half day or full day of pre-school and the high school students teach them (with professional, adult supervision). Full day pre-school is on Tuesdays and Thursdays and Half day pre-school is on Wednesdays and Fridays. Or, there's the West Orange Community House located on Main Street.

If you're looking for something with a younger age group (infants-2 years) there's a place called KinderCare near Saint Barnabas Medical Center. Although it's in Livingston, it's very close to West Orange. Hope that helps!

[Golf Doctor]

Contact the West Essex YMCA at 973-992-7500. They offer day care for infants through preschool at very reasonable rates with excellent care. Both of their facilities are located in Livingston, but service West Orange residents also. Peanut Shell and Weekday are their two facilities and they have openings.

Good luck.

GD

[walkmore]

My kids went to Children's Corner in the Pleasantdale section of West Orange. Highly recommend it. The director and head teacher are wonderful! Both kids are now at Redwood and doing great but we stop in to visit now and then.

[melyn]

The South Mountain YMCA in Maplewood is another option for you. They are one of the few in the area that are open from 7 am until 7 pm and the care is wonderful. The ratio for infants is 3:1 and the caregivers stay with the class until the children are 3 years old, ensuring continuity of care. My child started there when she was 5.5 months and I've been really thrilled with the care.

I'd recommend you check out Maplewoodonline.com which is a source of local information and also has a discussion forum, similar to this but localized for the South Orange, Maplewood and West Orange. All you need to do is go to the "Latest Discussions section" and enter daycare into the search function and you will find all the threads. Message Board

Another source of great information and advice is the South Orange Maplewood Mothers and More group. They have reviews of all the daycare centers in the general area from with verbatims from mothers experiences at each. It is also a great way to meet other mothers and get their advice on pretty much anything. South Orange\Maplewood Chapter of Mothers&More

Good luck with your search