Hillcrest principal Queenie Spindel, back left, with nursery teacher
Melissa Alonzi and her students, take a moment to pose for the camera
on the school playground. [Frances Kraft photo]
TORONTO — Hillcrest Progressive School will celebrate its 80th anniversary with an onsite birthday bash on May 26 from 5 to 8 p.m.
Now a Jewish preschool in Toronto’s Hoggs Hollow area, Hillcrest began its existence in 1929 as Ontario’s first Jewish day school.
Associated Hebrew Schools – Toronto’s oldest Jewish day school, which celebrated its centennial last year – began as a Talmud Torah and did not become a day school until the mid-1950s. Eitz Chaim, the second-oldest day school in the city, also started as a supplementary school, and became a day school in the 1940s.
Hillcrest Progressive School – “progressive” referring to modern educational philosophies – was originally located in a rented house on Christie Street. In 1934, it was chartered under the name of Central Jewish Institute, which is still the name of the entity that operates the school.
Hanna Shlesinger, 83, who taught three-year-olds at Hillcrest’s current location from 1975 to 2002, told The CJN in a phone interview that some of her childhood friends attended the preschool’s predecessor on Christie Street.
“I remember just that [the original school] was a wonderful place to be,” Shlesinger said. “Everybody had a good time, plus the fact that they were learning something.”
She recalled that the house had a turret on top, and said she believes it is now a private home.
After a few years on Christie Street, the school moved to 574 University Ave. in the early 1930s, according to information on its website. The University Avenue property was expropriated for the building of what is now Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
Hillcrest was in its own building on Avenue Road until 1955, when it moved to its current location.
Shlesinger, who taught at Holy Blossom Temple before joining Hillcrest, said one of the things that stood out for her about the preschool was that “warmth radiated when you opened the front door.
“It was a great place to work. So many teachers have been there for so long.”
Hillcrest’s principal, Queenie Spindel, has been with the school for 23 years.The Capetown native, who started as a nursery teacher, said most of the teachers have been with the school for more than 15 years.
“We have a special slogan – ‘Every day is a special day’ – and we truly believe it is,” she said.
The school building is an old farmhouse, originally set on two acres of land, a portion of which was sold in 1977 to fund an upgrade. “It’s as if you’re in the country and yet there’s the city around me,” Spindel said.
A playground behind the school, complete with a bike path under a bridge, lends itself to parades for Yom Ha’atzmaut and Sukkot, she added.
The private, non-profit preschool, which is not affiliated with UJAFederation of Greater Toronto’s Centre for Enhancement of Jewish Education (the Mercaz), serves 165 students from age 2 1/2 to 5, and also runs a summer day camp.
Shabbat and Jewish holidays are celebrated at the school, and a once-a-week Hebrew teacher supplements the children’s Hebrew language education.
For further information about the birthday celebration, or to purchase tickets ($20 each, or free for children under age 2), call the school at 416-489-8355.
