About Toms River Nursery School

Mission

At Toms River Nursery School, we respect the personality of each child and strive to invite a child’s curiosity, encourage creativity and inspire ideas. All classrooms create an environment that stimulates the need to ask questions and seek solutions while allowing the child the freedom to develop his or her own style of work and play. Independence is encouraged with the clear understanding that it carries with it social responsibility. We strive to stimulate and inculcate in a child a feeling for aesthetic and moral values through his or her enthusiasm and attitudes.

It is important to us to foster a relationship with parents of our students. We strive to create an atmosphere that encourages parents to consult freely and exchange ideas with teachers and observe their child in a group situation.

All of our teachers are certified by the state of New Jersey and are committed to excellence in the field of early childhood learning. Each teacher has an assistant, making our adult/child ratio about ten to one. Our entire staff is required to meet a minimum number of professional development hours each year, furthering their knowledge in areas like child development, nutrition, classroom management and many other areas.

History

Toms River Nursery School was established in 1945 as a non-profit parent cooperative vested in the idea that parents and teachers working together helps children develop in the early childhood stages. The school was founded by the parents of 11 students who envisioned an early childhood center that emphasized the importance of social, emotional, intellectual and physical growth through play as well as parent participation.

Toms River Nursery School was located in various places until 1978 when our current facility was purchased. The building of our school was a truly cooperative effort with many people donating services like plumbing, electrical expertise, and legal assistance to name a few. When our building opened, it had three classrooms and a small play area. Today, our facility has five classrooms, a playground that is designed for children six and under, and parking facilities for parents. Over the 78 years Toms River Nursery School has been in business there have only been three directors and very little turn-over in our teaching staff. We pride ourselves on the longevity of our educators and their commitment to Toms River Nursery School as well as the parents and students.