Schedules and hours
Full-day care, seven until a quarter past six
The schedule most families in this neighbourhood actually need, and the one a surprising number of nurseries do not keep.
A nursery that opens at eight and closes at five and a half is describing a working day almost nobody in Woodside has. The commute out of this neighbourhood is a 7 train and it is not reliable enough to be cut fine at either end.
So we open at seven and close at a quarter past six. The extra fifteen minutes at the end is not a rounding error — it is the difference between making the last train and not, and it was the single most requested thing in our first two years.
What a full day costs, and why it varies by room
Infants $475 a week, toddlers $425, twos $395, preschool $365 and pre-kindergarten $345. The whole of that spread is the ratio: one adult to four babies against one to six in the twos room, which is a fifty per cent difference in the staffing a child consumes.
Every rate includes breakfast, a cooked lunch, two snacks, nappy changing, settling sessions and the entire curriculum. There is no premium tier and no outside provider invoicing you separately for a class delivered on Tuesdays.
The two things not in the weekly fee are registration, at $75 a year per family rather than per child, and late collection after 6:15pm at a dollar a minute — which is published rather than improvised and goes to the two members of staff who stayed.
The shape of a full day
Arrivals from seven, gently. Breakfast until half past eight for anybody who wants it. Then the long morning play period, which is protected and is where most of the actual work of the day happens.
Lunch, cooked here, around half past eleven for the younger rooms and noon for the older ones. Then rest — a cot for every child, an hour, and permission not to sleep.
Afternoons are outside first, then a snack, then a second play period, then a long tail of collections from half past four. The last hour is deliberately quiet, because a child collected at six should not be leaving a room at full volume.
What holds through the day, and what to ask about
The ratio holds through lunch, through the start of nap and through the last hour. Those three moments are where staffing quietly fails in most centres and they are worth asking about specifically, here and everywhere else you visit.
Rooms are not combined at the end of the day to save an adult. A child collected at six is in their own room with an adult they know, which costs us money and is the entire point of the last hour.
Our permit caps how many children may be here at once. Our permit states the maximum number of children who may be on these premises at any moment the programme is operating, set by the Health Department from the space, the teaching staff and the certificate of occupancy. That number counts children present, not children enrolled — so an hourly child takes up a permitted place in exactly the way a full-time child does. This is the honest reason we cannot always say yes to a drop-in, and the reason to be sceptical of anybody in New York City advertising unlimited same-day availability. It is a legal ceiling, not a scheduling preference.
Included as standard
What is included
Open 7:00am to 6:15pm
Monday to Friday. The fifteen minutes past six is deliberate and it is the difference between making a train and not.
Breakfast, cooked lunch and two snacks
Made in the kitchen in this building rather than delivered.
The ratio held through lunch and nap
And through the last hour, when rooms elsewhere are commonly combined.
Rooms not merged at the end of the day
A child collected at six is in their own room with an adult they know.
Nappies changed and recorded
Included. Nappies and wipes come from home.
Two weeks of settling, unbilled
Short sessions building to full days, before the weekly fee starts.
The whole curriculum, no tier
No premium track, no accelerated stream, no external provider billing you separately.
A written note home every day
Sleep, food, mood and one specific thing that happened, including the difficult parts.
When to make an appointment
Signs this is worth an assessment
- Your working day plus a commute does not fit between eight and half past five.
- You need the same five days every week and want them staffed by the same adults.
- You would rather pay one weekly figure than a fee plus meals plus a curriculum supplement.
- You want to know what happens in the last hour of the day before you enrol.
- You are collecting at six and do not want your child in a merged room by then.
- You want the rate published before the tour rather than after it.
Full-day care — what it costs
- The weekly rate depends on the room, because the ratio does. Infants are $475, toddlers $425, twos $395, preschool $365 and pre-kindergarten $345.From $345 / week
Every rate on this site is published in full on the tuition page, including the ones that make us look expensive. Meals, snacks, nappy changing, settling-in sessions and the whole curriculum are inside the weekly fee — there is no premium tier and no outside provider invoicing you separately for a music class. The two charges that are not in the weekly fee are registration, at $75 a year per family rather than per child, and late collection after 6:15pm at $1 a minute, which goes to the two members of staff who stayed. If your child is three or four, read the 3-K page before you read this one.
Questions we are actually asked
Full-day care — frequently asked
What hours are you open?
7:00am to 6:15pm, Monday to Friday, and 8:00am to 1:00pm on Saturday. The quarter past six is deliberate rather than an odd number — for a family travelling on the 7, fifteen minutes is the difference between comfortable and impossible.
How much is full-time daycare here?
By room: infants $475 a week, toddlers $425, twos $395, preschool $365 and pre-kindergarten $345. All meals, nappy changing, settling sessions and the whole curriculum are included.
Why do the rooms cost different amounts?
Because the legal ratio differs. One adult to four infants against one to six in the twos room is a fifty per cent difference in how much staffing a child consumes, and that is the entire spread.
Do you combine rooms at the end of the day?
No. It is the standard way to save an adult in the last hour and we do not do it. A child collected at six is in their own room with an adult they know, which is a real cost and the reason the last hour works.
What happens if I am late?
A dollar a minute from 6:16pm, published rather than improvised, and it goes to the two members of staff who stayed rather than to the nursery. We would much rather you rang to say you were stuck.
Related programmes
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Half-day
Seven thirty until half past twelve, lunch included. Cheaper than a full day, but not by half — the place is still held all day.
70% of the full-day rate
Part-time
Fixed days only, and we will tell you plainly which combinations we can actually staff before you rearrange your work around one.
45% or 65% of full
Early & late
The half hour at each end that turns an impossible commute into a possible one.
$45 / week
Hourly & drop-in
Genuinely hourly, genuinely bookable, and genuinely limited — because our permit caps how many children may be in the building at once.
$28 / hourTuesday and Thursday mornings, while the children are here
Come and see the room
A tour here happens during a session, in the room your child would actually be in, at the time of day they would be in it. You meet the person who leads that room rather than only the director, and you see the noise and the mess that are genuinely there. It takes an hour. If your child is three or four we will ask whether you have applied for free 3-K or Pre-K for All before we quote you a rate, because a good many families should not be paying us at all.