» Why Choose Schechter

Why Choose Schechter

At Solomon Schechter Day School of Raritan Valley we provide your children with the foundation they need to succeed in life. When you choose a Schechter education you can expect to receive:

Outstanding Leadership and Faculty
Our Head of School holds a doctorate in Curriculum Development and several graduate degrees in Jewish studies; our Principal of General Studies holds a doctorate in educational leadership. Faculty in both Jewish and General studies are credentialed and many of our teachers have earned graduate degrees. All faculty participates in continuous professional development.

Small Class Size and Individual Attention
The average class size in our lower school, kindergarten through fifth grade, is 11 students per class; in our middle school, sixth through eighth grades, the average is 14 students per class. We allow no more than 19 students in one class, giving students the benefit of small group instruction and individual attention.

Outstanding Standardized Test Scores
SSDSRV students consistently perform in the top 10% on the Terra Nova exams.

State-of-the-Art Technology
Through the generosity of the Caroline and Joseph S. Gruss Life Monument Funds, Inc., we have a new computer lab for our academic grades and a new computer area for our kindergarterners. The new lab consists of 22 desktop computers equipped with SuccessMaker Enterprise courseware. The kindergarten computer area, located right in our kindergarten classroom, houses four computers equipped with Waterford Early Learning courseware. Thanks also to the Gruss Life Monuments Funds, Inc., we have installed touch-sensitive SmartBoards and computers in our middle school library and in middle school classrooms to enhance instruction in Social Studies, Mathematics, and Science, and we are also constructing a new science lab with the most modern equipment and courseware.
Click here to learn more about our Gruss computer labs, SuccessMaker Enterprise courseware, and Waterford Early Learning courseware.

Jewish Studies
Our Jewish studies program is conducted almost exclusively in Hebrew. Most of our graduates who continue in Jewish day high schools are placed in the highest-level Jewish studies courses because of their extensive knowledge of Hebrew and Torah.

Values
We teach both civic and Jewish values, the core of any high quality Jewish education, through several programs and activities:

• Annual Jewish value-concept themes that drive the year’s programs
• Tzedakka collections initiated by students for Jewish and non-Jewish recipients
• Sherut, student in-school service
• Student councils in lower and middle schools.
• Using values as a standard for interpreting intellectual issues and texts
• Assessing how members of the school community treat one another

Successful Graduates
Our graduates are regularly placed into honors classes in the high schools of their choice. Our students have been accepted to a variety of high schools such as Rutgers Prep, Pingry, Solomon Schechter Day School of Essex & Union, Kushner Yeshiva High School, Moshe Aaron Yeshiva High School, and Torah Academy of Bergen County.

Regional/National Activities
SSDSRV participates in the following programs and competitions:

• New York BJE (Board of Jewish Education) day school math contest
• Israeli Folk Dance Festival
• Salute to Israel parade
• Johns Hopkins Gifted Students programs
• Eighth-Grade essay contest
• E2K International Science Competition.

Student Services
We provide full-time nursing services and a part-time guidance counselor. We also have special education services every week, provided by Middlesex County; supplemental instruction in general studies and Jewish studies; and instruction for gifted students.

Co-Curricular and Extra Curricular Activities
We offer a variety of activities for students both during and after school. These include instrumental music instruction, Israeli dance, competitive sports, and more.

Arts
Our lower school students have weekly art classes in which they learn about and use a wide range of media, and music classes in which they learn Israeli and Jewish music as well as music theory, music genres, and the masters. All students learn about and do music, dance, and art with visiting guest artists. We also offer extra-curricular weekly music instruction for a variety of musical instruments, and Israeli dance performance groups.

Sports
Our physical education program and extra-curricular sports programs utilize our full-size gym; we have Varsity and Junior Varsity basketball teams and intramural soccer for our middle school students; and students in all grades can participate in a wide range of after-school fun programs.

Tuition Assistance
Tuition assistance is available to qualified families. Our successful fundraising, support from Jewish Federation, and an anonymous gift enable us to distribute nearly one million dollars of additional aid in the coming years.

Endowment
We are embarking on a two-phase program that will create an endowment of five million dollars. The interest generated by this endowment will support our tuition assistance program.