Daycare & Preschool in Cranford, NJ

Welcome to Lightbridge Academy of Cranford, NJ!

Hello! My name is Liz Henao and I am the Center Director of our Cranford location. I have my Bachelor’s Degree in Spanish Education. I have been with Lightbridge Academy since 2009 and have been working with Early Childhood Education for over 16 years! My experience began with babysitting in high school for many families. My administrative experience began in 2018, in which I was able to focus on coaching and mentoring. I’m a mommy to a beautiful baby girl. I am passionate about spending time with family, traveling and anything Mickey and Minnie Mouse.

Our Assistant Director, Mariann Finistrella has been with Lightbridge Academy since 2017. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Science and has been working in Early Childhood Education for over 13 years. She began her administrative career in 2020. She has been married for 31 years and has three children, Joe, Mathew and Marisa. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her family and friends. During the holidays her favorite past time is to watch Hallmark Christmas movies.

Our Seedlings curriculum focuses on the whole child, incorporating areas such as writing (Handwriting Without Tears), language and literacy, social and emotional development, STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, math), and utilizing the outdoor learning environment for collaborative learning and play. Our center also offers state of the art technology including a biometric fingerprint entry, interactive whiteboards, ParentView® internet monitoring, and Tadpoles; our e-communication system. These tools all help us reach our goal of keeping parents connected to our center and to their child throughout the day. We strive to meet the needs of our working families as well as our stay-at-home moms/dads who are looking for a program that will offer early education and socialization for their children on a part time basis. In order to do so, we offer our families a flexibility in programming, ranging from 2, 3 or 5 days per week for children ages 6 weeks through Preschool/Pre-K. We look forward to meeting you and having you join our family!

Sincerely,

Liz Henao
Center Director