The Children'S Studio is a child daycare & preschools daycare located at 135 Ann Street, East Rutherford, New Jersey NJ. Find contact info, location details, and similar daycares nearby.
What Parents Say
The Children's Studio receives mostly positive reviews praising its warm environment, caring staff, and child-led learning approach based on Reggio philosophy. However, one parent reported serious safety concerns including inadequate supervision, failure to report and communicate about a child's injury, and incidents of physical harm from other children.
We were extremely nervous about enrolling our 2 year old daughter in any daycares and visited at least half a dozen places. We found some or the other flaw in literally every daycare we visited. The minute we entered the Children's Studio for a tour, we fell in love with the place! It's a cozy and warm place where you can see that the staff genuinely cares about the children so much. Our daughter loves to go to school every morning. All the teachers and the supporting staff are delightful. The children run into their teacher's arms every morning. Colleen is a wonderful lady who shows so much interest in each child's wellbeing and progress. It truly is a home away from home for the kids. We are so happy on our decision to enroll our daughter here! It has been a wonderful first experience for the paranoid parents that we are.
This school is truly special, and I'm not sure where to begin on why. Every Wednesday they have cooking class where my two year is chopping apples (plastic knife of course), mixing, and tasting her creation. On Fridays there is live music from Guitar Bob. Everyday the children are learning in this open classroom filled with play/creative stations where the child leads where they want to play. It's about discovery. In my 3 year old's pre school class, she is learning about the life cycle of a monarch butterfly. From egg to butterfly, the children are raising the caterpillars by feeding them milkweed that they picked from the school garden and taking note everyday of the changes. And my children's art projects are amazing keepers! I highly recommend giving your child this one of a kind experience.
Hate to write a detailed review as it means reliving the experience. My son was not safe in Ms. Maria's class. He had injuries from other children on several occasions. One reason was due to the fact they were trying to help a problematic child reform or improve in the class my son was in. I was only told this after I paid and registered. So convenient. The final straw was when I picked my son up at the end of the day and I couldn't stop looking at his face. It was bruised, scratched and bright red on one side, including the eyelid. Ms. Maria said it was because I dress him so warm. I give him a hoody and a jacket in winter, yes, but I assume he removes them during class and puts them back on before we go out in the cold. Afterall, I had to be extra careful because he caught a nasty virus there where his fever was 106 for 2 days and 104.5 the other 2. (The older children go upstairs in the nursery area where I've seen diapers being changed and just not a very clean environment). So, when I took a closer look I said did you see this? She said "Oh my gosh I didn't know it was that bad." Of course, I asked when it happened and she said at around 10:30 or 11am when he was playing outside. So, my son has been like this until now, which is after 2:30. Wow. I had them create an injury report which had not been done and the director had come down. She was very upset I was taking my son to the our doctor to ensure he was fine. She kept saying, "Wow, this is a first." and things of that nature. I said, very upset, "Excuse me, is this discussion about why my child was not treated, why I wasn't called and why nobody was aware of his injury or my choices as a parent?!" I asked my son what happened and he said, "I told so and so not to push me when he tags me because I almost fell the first time but I saved myself, but he did it again really hard the second time and I fell on my face." My son knows to put his arm out to break a fall but I knew it was a completely unexpected fall for him because he absorbed the entire impact on his face which had abrasions, bruises and very red on one side. So, he slid on his face upon falling and bruised it and it was so painful that he would barely let me clean it. I asked my son what Ms. Maria said, and he replied. "She told me, '(child's name) is a good kid.'" I took him to the doc who did a evaluation for a concussion upon seeing him, without me saying a word. I would think any parent would rule out that as his head had a bruise on it, right above his brow. Shame on the school as when I called to get my funds back, as he had barely attended between him being sick and me pulling him out, they refused. The other incidents that bothered me were that they were allowed to play outside on a day when it was below 32 and another time, they were lining up outside to into the front door from the back class door and there was only one aide with all the children who was not able to watch the kids up front. It is on a street with car traffic so I was concerned. When I brought it up, I was told that usually there are 2 adults supervising, this was an off day. There. I relived it but I hope I helped others in the process.
I love this school. My granddaughter is attending there for the 2nd year and the experience has been more than just positive. The school really uses the Reggio philosophy to the max and makes school the best possible experience for all the children.
Excellent staff and great environment. I wouldn’t feel comfortable bringing my son anywhere else. He learns so much every day and really loves all his teachers. Highly Recommend