Gan Avraham

It was in 1979 that Gan Avraham started with a handful of parents and children. We have grown into a thriving school with a license for 60 children per day. Children from two years of age to five thrive in a warm, nurturing, developmentally appropriate preschool setting. Our extended hours allow parents who work outside the home to leave their children confidently, knowing that their children’s needs will be met throughout the day.

Gan Avraham is often the first step in a child’s Jewish education. Children participate in activities that give them a sense of the richness and variety of Jewish life – spiritually, ritually, and culturally. These experiences are woven into the fabric of daily life at Gan Avraham; children play and learn about the world and themselves as they interact with each other.

Gan Avraham is lucky to have a gifted staff of teachers who are trained and experienced in early childhood education. We all enjoy working with each other and take pride in the quality of the program we provide.

Gan Avraham is open twelve months of the year. We provide child care during most of the holidays. We are closed entirely, with no child care, on Jewish holy days, national holidays and the week before Labor Day.

School starts the day after Labor Day. Children must be two years of age by September 1st to enter Gan Avraham. We welcome children with diapers, pacifiers, “lovies” and blankies. We provide morning and afternoon snacks; children bring their lunch. There is ample opportunity for parent involvement on many different levels: serving on the Education Committee that makes policy recommendations to the Board of Directors, being involved in GAP (Gan Avraham Parents), the fund-raising arm, and volunteering to help out in the classrooms.

The morning program runs from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM. Extended care is available from 8:00 AM to 9:00 AM each day and from 1:00 PM to 6:00 PM Monday - Thurs and 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM on Friday.

Gan Avraham maintains ratios of 1:5 for two-year-olds and 1:7 for three and four-years-olds. Two-year-olds are in a group size of 15 and, three and four-year-olds are each in a group of 19.

Thanks to a generous Emergency Education Grant from the Jim Joseph Foundation, Kehillah's financial aid award process is being implemented in partnership with the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties; the Jewish Federation of Silicon Valley; the Jewish Community Federation of the Greater East Bay; and the Bureau of Jewish Education.  The Jim Joseph grant will enable families to keep their children in Jewish preschools, day schools, and Jewish overnight summer camps throughout the Bay Area.