By Emily Piccone

A new nursery school in Norwood will be open by the New Year, and the space is already set up and ready for the children to stream in.
Occupying the first floor of a new apartment building on Decatur Avenue just north of East Gun Hill Road, Tender Tots Nursery School is available to children from 6-weeks to 5-years-old. The children are divided into four age groups and in class sizes of 10, with two teachers each. School officials say the ratio for the infant classroom is slightly smaller at 4:1.

The colorful new carpets displaying the alphabet, painter’s easels, mini-kitchens, puppet theaters and arts and crafts stations all stand ready for the children’s use starting in January.

The school’s Educational Director Michelle D’Avanzo says she is using a creative curriculum, which leaves a lot of the lesson planning up to the teachers, but wants the focus of Tender Tots to be around play, and there’s ample space to grant it. One large empty classroom with bay windows is being left empty for exercise and games, D’Avanzo says. Plus, they have placed soft playground flooring on the outside courtyard for safety during playtime.

The school is open for both full day and part day, and rates start at $200 a week for full day (7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.), for children ages 3 to 6.
Included in the price is both breakfast and lunch, which will be catered in daily, including pancakes, bagels and waffles for breakfast, and pasta, chicken, fish sticks and pizza for lunch.

Ed. Note: For more information or to register, visit tendertotsny.com or call (718) 324-1052.