The regions Heschel offers busing from are:
Additional notes: We offer subsidized door-to-door transportation to and from Heschel through a private bussing company. The school facilitates and subsidizes the service, but policy agreements are made between each family and the company. Bus service currently runs between Finch Avenue to the north, Bayview Avenue to the east, St. Clair Avenue to the south, and Dufferin Avenue to the west. The boundaries are subject to change in any given school year based on demand. We are assessing the feasibility of depot bussing for the 2023-2024 school year to provide a more economical bussing option.
How we see The Toronto Heschel School
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How The Toronto Heschel School sees itself
"Heschel provides a progressive Jewish education within a close, caring community. We aim to inspire a sense of awe and wonder in your children, and a lifelong love of learning. Heschel offers an innovative, interdisciplinary curriculum built upon arts-based activities and Jewish culture and literacy. Our welcoming and egalitarian school promotes mutual respect, concern for others, and social justice. Graduates embody the confidence, skills and compassion to be thought leaders and engaged community members."
"We take an arts-based, interdisciplinary approach, whereby Jewish content and Hebrew are woven with general studies throughout the school day. Hands-on experiential learning trains students to go beyond rote memorization to test theories and internalize concepts. Our progressive school promotes social responsibility and social-emotional learning, producing confident students who feel accepted and respect diversity. As a Platinum EcoSchool, students also learn to be environmental change-makers."
"Families are attracted to Heschel’s warm and inclusive community. We consciously create ethical human beings through social emotional learning and derekh eretz, resulting in a cohort of kind and considerate children. In this milieu, students feel comfortable being themselves.
Our award-winning thematic curriculum fuses general studies and Judaics with the arts and multi-sensory learning, allowing students to boost creativity and build enduring connections. Kids enjoy learning at Heschel!"
"Students build their communication skills through drama, public speaking and concerts, allowing them to feel confident in their own skin and in expressing their opinions. Assignments are built on each other to develop skills that are interlocking, with the bigger picture in mind. This may not be evident midstream but is obvious by Grade 8.
In addition, each class is deemed as important as the next. This enables students to discover new strengths because they are encouraged in each subject."
"At Heschel, we reconceive the role traditional school subjects play in education. Instead of math, language, music or Talmud being “stuff” deposited in our children’s minds, we see these classes as “disciplines”—ways of training our minds. School subjects are viewed not just as a means to convey information, but as vehicles to hone cognitive abilities. In a rapidly changing world, it is unclear what our children will need to know, but we can train them to be smart, mentally agile, and creative."
"1. We use Harvard’s Teaching for Understanding methodology whereby students acquire deep and lasting knowledge.
2. Kisui head coverings are worn in our pluralistic and egalitarian Jewish community.
3. We've been an Ontario EcoSchool for 16 years, at the Platinum level for the last 7.
4. Hebrew is not an isolated subject. It’s used throughout the school, even in gym class.
5. We have a kiln to fire each grade’s pottery projects. Kids use a wide variety of media to express their creativity."
Our traditional playscape
Early years all natural playground
Basketball court
Drama program
Full-time ceramics studio
Filming Shmuel Bet
The front of the school faces six acres of field and playspace
Grade 8 graffiti projects can be viewed around the building
The Heschel field
One of three outdoor classrooms
JK at Chanukkah
Each grade has a box in the Heschel garden
Our pollinator garden
Music room
The Multi-Purpose Area - or MPA, as we like to say
Indoor gymnasium
How people from the school’s community see The Toronto Heschel School
Top-down influence on the school’s direction and tone
Dr. Greg Beiles, Head of School
B.A., B.Ed., M.A., Ph.D.
At Heschel, we are proud to integrate a deep love for Jewish learning with the highest academic standards. Our inclusive pluralistic community invites Jewish families with diverse perspectives to join in a respectful learning community. Our cutting-edge integrated curriculum is based on research and development of best educational practices. We nurture the habits of heart, soul, body and mind that enable children to flourish academically, emotionally, socially, and spiritually.
Our team of passionate, highly qualified teachers see themselves as on-going learners and reflective practitioners. We strive to deepen our understanding of how children learn best so that we can design the optimum learning experiences for each child.
Together with our teachers, our families are our most valued partners in achieving the best education for children. Families play a tremendous role in shaping and upholding the inclusive, nurturing, and positive culture of our school. The values of our parent body provide the context for our educational approach to succeed.
Greg Beiles, Head of School
Please click HERE to watch video greetings from Moreh Greg!
Most big schools provide your extroverted child with plenty of social opportunities and the ability to interact with different peer groups with a wide range of personalities, interests, values, etc. A larger student population and more extracurriculars—including activities like team sports, arts programs, and debate—will give them a broader scope of opportunities to participate in events that scratch their interpersonal itch. “This may also give them the opportunity to hone certain skills,” say Ann and Karen Wolff of Wolff Educational Services. “For instance, they might run for student council to develop leadership and public speaking skills and learn to be a voice for other students.”
Make sure any prospective school, no matter what size, provides the right social environment to help your child feel at home, make friends, and develop confidence. This is especially important at big schools, which are sometimes more socially overwhelming and challenging for an introvert to find their bearings in. Of course, “Because larger schools usually have a more diverse student population, introverted kids are more likely to find a small group of people like them, a peer group they can relate to and find acceptance from,” says Dona Matthews, Toronto-based education consultant and co-author (with Joanne Foster) of Beyond Intelligence.
Bigger schools often have a broader scope of extracurricular activities, which is another way to help your child meet the right group of friends. “This may also give them the opportunity to develop certain skills,” say Ann and Karen Wolff of Wolff Educational Services. “For instance, they might run for student council to develop leadership and public speaking skills and learn to be a voice for other students. Remember, though, each child is different—so what works for one may not work for another.”
THE OUR KIDS REPORT: The Toronto Heschel School
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