Connecticut is home to 15 Jewish day schools. As the new school year approaches, the Ledger checked in with the schools to find out about the new and exciting programs that will greet students in just a few weeks.

NOTE: Schools that are included here as listings only did not report back to the Ledger by press time. Visit their websites for more information.

EASTERN CONNECTICUT
Solomon Schechter Academy (Pre-K – 6)
660 Ocean Ave.
New London, CT 06320
(860) 443-5589 / ssa-newlondon.org
Barbara Wolfe, Head of School

GREATER HARTFORD & CENTRAL CONNECTICUT
Bais Yaakov of Waterbury (Girls’) High School
47 Buckingham St.
Waterbury, CT 06710
(203) 805-8401 / bywaterbury.org
Ita Selengut, Principal

Bess & Paul Sigel Hebrew Academy (Early Childhood – 8)
53 Gabb Road
Bloomfield, CT 06002(860) 243-8333 / sigelacademy.org
Rabbi Zev Silver, Principal

Hebrew High School of New England
300 Bloomfield Ave.
West Hartford, CT 06117
(860) 231-0317 / hhne.org
Rabbi Jeremy Bruce, Head of School

Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Hartford (Early Childhood – 8)
26 Buena Vista Road
West Hartford, CT 06107
(860) 561-0700 / ssds-hartford.org
Andrea Kasper, Head of School

Yeshiva Ateres Shmuel of Waterbury Mesivta (Boys’ High School)
47 Buckingham St.Waterbury, CT 06710
(203) 756-1800 / yasw.org
Rabbi Daniel Kalish, Principal

Yeshiva K’tana Elementary (Nursery – 8)
32 Hillside Ave.
Waterbury, CT 06710
(203) 528-4147 / ykwaterbury.org
Rabbi Yehuda Brecher and Mrs. Penina Noy, Principals

GREATER NEW HAVEN
Bais Chana Academy High School for Girls
261 Derby Ave.
Orange, CT 06477
(203) 795-5261 / schacademy.org/bais-chana-academy
Bluma Hecht, Principal

Ezra Academy (K – 8)
75 Rimmon Road
Woodbridge, CT 06525
(203) 389-5500 / ezraacademy.net
Dr. Melanie Waynik, Head of School

Southern Connecticut Hebrew Academy
261 Derby Ave.
Orange, CT 06477
(203) 795-5261 / schacademy.org
Rabbi Sheya Hecht, Head of School
Rabbi Enan Francis, Principal

Yeshiva Beis Dovid Shlomo Mesivta (Boys’ High School)
292 Norton St.
New Haven, CT 06511
(203) 789-4571 / ybdsnewhaven.org
Rabbi Yosef Lustig, Principal

Yeshiva Elementary School (Pre-K – 8)
765 Elm St.
New Haven, CT 06511
(203) 777-2200 / yeshivaelementarynh.org
Rebbetzin Sarah Greer, Principal

Yeshiva of New Haven Mesivta (Boys’ High School)
765 Elm St.
New Haven, CT 06511
(203) 777-7199
Rabbi Avi Hack, Principal

SOUTHWEST CONNECTICUT
Bi-Cultural Day School (Early Childhood – 8)
2186 High Ridge Road
Stamford, CT 06903
(203) 329-2186 / bcds.org
Jacqueline Herman, Head of School
Rabbi Harold Tzvi Bernstein, Dean

Carmel Academy (Pre-K – 8)
370 Lake Ave.
Greenwich, CT 06830
(203) 863-9663 / carmelacademy.com
Nora Anderson, Head of School

Jewish High School of Connecticut
Science Technology Center
1937 West Main St.
Stamford, CT 06902
(203) 357-0850 / jhsct.org
Rabbi Elisha Paul, Head of School
Dr. Paul Castle, Principal

Bi-Cultural Day School

2015-16 milestones:

Bi-Cultural Day School celebrated its 60th year of providing academic excellence, balancing core Jewish values with community involvement.

Sixth-graders P.J. Jelen, Andrew Reicin, Lev Shapiro, and Aaron Liebskind take a look at 3D creations in the Bi-Cultural Day School Makerspace Lab. (Photo by Dora Salm)

With the launch of the new Makerspace Lab, Bi-Cultural is the only Jewish elementary school in the area that is home to such a unique hands-on learning space. The lab integrates every element of a STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) curriculum through student-driven crafting and tinkering. Through the school’s popular lunch-and-learn program, an opportunity for additional enrichment classes during the lunch and recess hour, students can enroll in Makerspace classes ranging from jewelry design and sewing to robotics and coding. Experiential learning was demonstrated in other areas of the curriculum; for example, middle-school Judaic Studies students created a large-scale replica of the Mishkan (the ancient Jewish prayer tabernacle) piece by piece, using a 3D printer.

“This year has been an extraordinary year, a year of many firsts, a year of great progress and a year to remember,” says Jackie Herman, principal and head of school. “The growth of our school has been due to the exceptional partnership between our teachers, our administrators, and our parents, all devoted to bringing out the best in every single child. I am deeply committed to ensuring that we continue to grow and thrive in ways that will bring pride to each member of the Bi-Cultural Day School community.”

Bi-Cultural’s dedicated, award-winning faculty have been focusing on developing cutting-edge curriculum ideas and content to ensure that students hone in on crucial critical-thinking skills while integrating universal Jewish values in all subjects, from pre-K through 8th grade. Chesed (kindness), community involvement, and being a part of a global Jewish world are all woven into each activity, project, and lesson.

New and notable for 2016-17:

First-graders Samara Kurtz and Sadie Palker hug their new Siddurim (prayerbooks) following the first grade Chag HaSiddur presentation and service. (Photo by Dora Salm)

Hebrew-language immersion begins as early as Pre-K through music, singing, and play. This year, the 2nd-grade faculty team will be launching iTaLAM, a new digital-based interactive and multi-sensory Hebrew-language program.

Bi-Cultural’s extensive after-school program currently offers a wide variety of sports activities, theater arts, and other clubs and programs. In addition to basketball, fencing, and cross-country, students will soon be able to participate in gymnastics, dance, yoga, and soccer, as well as Lego Robotics, fashion design, aviation design, chess, and magic.

Carmel Academy

The Carmel Academy community is vibrant and diverse, attracting families of all Jewish affiliations. Accredited as a school of excellence by the Connecticut Association of Independent Schools, Carmel Academy is set on a historic 17-acre campus in the heart of Greenwich, drawing students from throughout Fairfield County, Westchester, Riverdale, and Manhattan.

2015-16 milestones:

Carmel Academy added to its award-winning STEM program with a new year-long engineering course that exposed students to the fields of civil, mechanical, electrical, and aeronautical engineering.

Carmel Academy’s award-winning STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) program garnered national attention in 2015-16 with its students winning awards in two nationwide STEM contests. Carmel was also featured in a National Science Teachers Association publication highlighting schools that have adopted in-school STEM enrichment programs and, in turn, provide students with a more challenging curriculum.

Adding to its award-winning STEM offerings, the school piloted a yearlong 8th-grade engineering course, exposing students to the fields of civil, mechanical, electrical and aeronautical engineering. The engineering class will again be offered in the coming school year, in addition to an honors biology course.

Carmel’s PALS (Providing Alternative Learning Strategies) for students with learning disabilities marked its 10th anniversary and remains a one-of-a-kind program in the Jewish day school world.

Carmel offered a variety of adult-learning and professional-development opportunities, including a partnership and lecture series with the Manhattan-based Mechon Hadar educational institution, as well as workshops in the Orton-Gillingham approach for teachers of English and Hebrew reading and language. The workshops are being offered again in the 2016-17 academic year.

New and notable for 2016-17:

Carmel Academy’s Shorashim transitional kindergarten program students learn the Passover story. The school’s Shorashim a Reggio Emilia-inspired pre-kindergarten program opened last fall and has doubled in size.

After launching our new Shorashim Transitional Kindergarten last September, the program has doubled in size for the 2016-17 school year. The pre-K program, headed by veteran early-childhood educator Julie Thaler, uses a project-based curriculum and a Reggio Emilia approach to teaching.

We welcome Rabbi Jordan Soffer, who will join Carmel’s faculty as rabbi-in-residence. Rabbi Soffer will enrich the Carmel community’s Jewish learning and living through new programming and classroom teaching. He will oversee the school’s t’fillah (prayer) curriculum and collaborate with the faculty to further promote Carmel’s vision and commitment to pluralistic Jewish education. Also joining Carmel’s Educational Leadership team is veteran educator, teacher-trainer, and curriculum-developer Jennifer Gensior as the school’s new director of General Studies Curriculum and Professional Development.

Carmel Academy has been selected by the JTS Davidson School and Pardes Center for Jewish Educators to pilot two new initiatives. With the Davidson School, Carmel will work with six other schools to build a research-based Rabbinics curriculum. With Pardes, the school will work with three schools to develop an innovative and traditional t’fillah program.

Launched as part of the 2015-16 curriculum and continuing in 2016-17 is a Middle School Electives Program and Genius Hour, an initiative made popular by Google. For an hour each week, the school’s 4th- through 8th-graders immerse themselves in personal projects as they explore their interests, choose a topic, and craft a driving question that guide their inquiries. The end result is a project that students share with their peers. To further encourage innovation and creativity, the school will open a loose parts playstation in its early learning center next year.

Carmel Academy has several events and programs open to the wider community throughout the year, beginning with an Open House for prospective families on Sunday, Nov. 6, 10 a.m.- noon. Details at carmelacademy.com.

Ezra Academy

New and notable for 2016-17:

From left to right, Hannah Herbst, Sarah Rastelli (back), and Ethan Sapire in science class.

Ezra Academy will continue its 50th-anniversary celebration with many innovative additions to the curriculum. Middle-school students will be learning coding as a part of their math curriculum, and create their own educational games and programs.

Fourth- and 5th-grade students will be participating in “Teva Tuesdays,” an outdoor educational program based on a 6th-grade field trip to the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center in Falls Village. Students will be spending an entire afternoon outdoors, regardless of weather, exploring nature through an integrated curriculum of science, math, ecology, and Torah.

Ezra Academy will continue its dedication to expanding our students’ knowledge regarding social justice. Middle-schoolers will be diving into many topics including diversity, inclusion, and labor through the eyes of the American Jewish experience, mitzvot and middot (character virtues).

Hebrew High School of New England

New and notable for 2016-17:

Judaic class in the Judaic library.

HHNE is growing! Since 2014, the school’s student body has increased 14 percent. As well as an increase in students from West Hartford, New Haven, and Springfield, Mass., the school will welcome eight boarders in the new academic year, from Boston, Sharon, and other northern Massachusetts communities. This growth, which includes a record 27 applications for this year alone, follows an extensive recruitment and marketing campaign under the guidance of the Partnership for Excellence in Jewish Education (PEJE) Atidenu program.

The academic and Judaic programs continue to expand with an emphasis on integrated curriculum. Combined-faculty teams have been planning a range of integrated units that ensure that our math and science, and English and history curricula align to provide a robust and holistic education. The Judaic program will include a new service-learning component to embed Judaic values and ideals in the students’ everyday Jewish practice.

HHNE already offers an extensive range of 10 AP courses and will be expanding college-preparatory opportunities by offering students in the U.S. History classes the chance to earn UConn credits that can be transferred to other U.S. colleges and universities. This follows the appointment of HHNE faculty-member Lorie Zackin as an adjunct instructor of history at UConn.

The Modern Hebrew course is undergoing a significant enhancement with the adoption of the internationally recognized NETA-CET Hebrew-language program. NETA brings Hebrew alive for middle- and high-school students with cutting-edge print and digital media designed for a range of abilities.

HHNE welcomes three new faculty-members in 2016. Rabbi David Fried joins the school from Frankel Jewish Academy in Detroit as a high-level instructor in Talmud and Jewish Philosophy. Aharon Skoglund, a veteran Judaic teacher with over 15 years of experience, will be teaching Torah, Talmud, and music. Our new AP Biology instructor, Zachary Towne, has extensive experience as a cognitive neuroscience researcher and scriptwriter of scientific videos for the PBS Digital Studios BrainCraft YouTube channel.

Jewish High School of Connecticut

2015-16 milestones:

JHSC students (from left to right, Alex Cahr, Sam Terr, Daniel Hanna, Matthew Zweibel, Leah Voytovich, Jacob Sigman, Max Laufer  and Micah Banschick) enjoying the school’s Tu B’Shevat seder organized and led by the Beit Midrash classes.

For the past three years, JHSC has placed a student in the highly competitive Yale School of Medicine Discovery to Cure Internship Program. Supported by the National Institutes of Health, the internship was established in 2003 by Dr. Gil Mor, professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences, as a way to expose students from area schools to Yale’s biomedical laboratories so that they might consider pursuing career opportunities in science and medicine. Greg Feldman (JHSC 2016) is the only student to have received a year-long internship, during his senior year, with an offer to continue his work as a college undergraduate. He is currently working in the Yale Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences on a research project that involves ovarian cancer.

In January 2016, JHSC students and faculty enjoyed the debut of The Housemate, a play written and directed by Anya Castle (JHSC 2016) and performed by JHSC students. The script was developed in a creative-writing course, and the performance was the culminating project of a semester-long theater course, both taught by Rabbi Seth Riemer, PhD and designed to foster creativity and social engagement in JHSC’s academic program.

New and notable for 2016-17:

JHSC is proud to announce that it is now certified as a University of Connecticut Early College Experience program site. JHSC instructors simultaneously teach high-school classes and UConn courses which will give students college credit on a UConn transcript while they are still in high school. These credits are considerably less expensive than they cost as part of UConn tuition and allow students to essentially begin their college classwork while still completing high school.

Solomon Schechter Academy of New London

2015-16 milestones:

Solomon Schechter Academy fourth graders and science teacher, Dianne Zimmer, are testing the pH of different solutions such as pond water, diluted lemon juice, and baking soda mixed in water.

Solomon Schechter Academy (SSA) encourages students to take an active part in their education. Collaborative learning is cultivated, both within individual classrooms and the whole school. This year, SSA’s “Kids Teaching Kids” program focused on force, motion, and simple machines. Younger students built a wheelbarrow and wagon to show important physical concepts, such as push vs. pull and wheels and axles. Kindergarten students taught peers about pulleys, inclined planes, levers, wedges, and screws. Second- and third-graders discussed friction, motion, and gravity. Fourth-graders talked about Isaac Newton’s three laws of motion and demonstrated key concepts, such as inertia, in a fun and interactive way.

Another example of collaborative learning at SSA is Project Night, where a specific theme is presented to family and friends by all grades in a hands-on, interactive way. This year, students highlighted “The Blue Planet,” learning about all things aquatic. The kindergarten students became “expert” cloud identifiers and weather watchers. Second- and third-graders studied marine animals, and fourth graders honed their research skills and wrote a paper about a water-related theme of their choice, such as pollution sources and solutions.  Students created poetry, designed posters and generated graphs to supplement their scientific studies.

In addition, SSA is thrilled to announce the results of the Connecticut Independent School Test of Mathematics (CISTM), whose goal is to provide Connecticut Independent Schools with a benchmark comparison relative to students in 26 other countries. Our upper-grade students took the test in the spring and scored in the highest band possible, as per the report we received: “The average student score places Solomon Schechter Academy at or above the achievement level of the countries [Singapore and Chinese Taipei] in the top decile of performance.” We believe that this success stems from the solid foundation provided at school and the unwavering support of students’ families.

New and notable for 2016-17:

Special attention will be given to Rosh Chodesh. Each month will carry its own theme, which will integrate both Judaics and secular studies. Themes will include governing yourself, honoring the elderly, mitzvah logs, packages for Pesach, and Derekh Eretz. Additionally, we are planning to host a 6 a.m. Slichot service and breakfast which will be extended to the larger community.

Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Hartford

2015-16 milestones:

Fourth-graders practicing their piano skills.

Schechter celebrated its 45th year educating students.

In the past year, Schechter began offering personalized instruction and ignited a passion for reading and writing through school-wide Readers’ and Writers’ Workshop; fully implemented a Reggio Emilia-inspired approach in the Early Childhood Program; and online application and enrollment.

Schechter is a partner school of Facing History and Ourselves, a non-profit organization that develops educational material on prejudices and injustice in American and European society, with a focus on Nazi Germany and the Holocaust.

Rabbi Chatinover and EC3 student Benjamin investigate a shofar.

New programs include MakerSpace with 3D printer, sewing machines, Vimeo, and circuit pen; coding for students in the Early Childhood 4s program through 8th grade; and eighth grade students applied JavaScript to program personally-created games.

The school’s girls’ basketball team won second place in the Seder Plate Tournament.

New and notable for 2016-17:

Multi-grade leveled second language Hebrew-acquisition classes in Middle School; After-school satellite location for Playhouse on Park and Mad Science; Restorative Practice Trained Community; 1 to 1 Chromebook for 5th- through 8th-graders; Launching new look and website.