Christ Church Nursery School
30 East Lane Short Hills, NJ 07078
973-379-6549
"Helping children embrace learning with curiosity, enthusiasm and confidence!"
THE DROP IN CENTER AT CCNS
THE DROP IN CENTER AT CCNS
The Drop In Center at CCNS provides flexibly scheduled care for children from twelve months to five years old. Our Drop In Center is open weekdays from 8:00am – 4:00pm. Within these hours, you can choose to have your child(ren) here for just a few hours, or all day long, as needed, based on availability. Many families use Drop In to extend their children’s nursery school day or to add an extra day when their children are not in the nursery school. For Drop In, we utilize two mixed-age classrooms and typically split the children into two groups (one younger and one older).
When you register your child, you will choose a weekly schedule for them, and we will work with you to offer you as close to that schedule as we can. Though children are typically on a regular schedule, on rare occasions, there will be room for a last-minute reservation. We will accept registrations throughout the year based on availability and allow additions to schedules when spaces are available. Families can cancel enrollment in Drop In anytime throughout the year.
The month of April will be reserved for priority registration, which will be offered on a first come, first served basis to children currently enrolled at CCNS, children who will be joining CCNS in September and children who have a sibling at CCNS. After May 1st, all children will be enrolled on a first come, first served basis. If you register your child prior to their first birthday, we will add them to the waitlist once they turn 12 months old.
There are several factors that impact availability in Drop In. Between 8am – 9am, Drop In typically has room for anyone who needs it. At 12pm, demand for Drop In goes up because some of the children who attended in the morning stay for lunch (and sometimes nap) and some CCNS children join Drop In after their classes dismiss. Between 1pm – 2:30pm, enrollment typically dips since many families choose to nap their children at home. Demand goes up again between 2:15pm – 2:30pm until the end of the day as the later CCNS classes dismiss. Please be aware that we may not be able to offer everyone their first choice of schedule, even currently enrolled CCNS children.
An annual registration fee of $75 is required for all children not enrolled in CCNS. For the 2023-2024 school year, we will be charging $16.20 an hour for the first child and $11.40 an hour for the second child attending at the same time. Families only pay for the amount of time your child actually attends Drop In (regardless of planned schedule), and that amount is rounded to the nearest five minutes. Families will be billed at the beginning of each month for the previous month.
Because there are often other children waiting to enroll in Drop In, spaces in Drop In cannot be held indefinitely. When you are offered a spot, you must have your child start in Drop In within a month of the offered start date. If you cannot take the spot by that point, your space will be offered to the next family on the list, and we will put your family back on the waitlist.
For additional information, please call the main office of the school at 973-379-6549 x1 or email Mathiana at msaint-val@christchurchnurseryschool.org.