Yeshiva to open a childcare centre
YESHIVA College has applied to Waverley Council to open a childcare centre on a property at 255 Old South Head Road in Bondi Beach.
YESHIVA College has applied to Waverley Council to open a childcare centre on a property at 255 Old South Head Road in Bondi Beach.
According to a development application, which is currently before Waverley Council, the school estimates it would cost $100,000 to upgrade facilities, install safety fences around the perimeter, rezone the property for a childcare centre and make other changes necessary to make the site safe and suitable for young children.
The property is used by about 40 pupils in Yeshiva’s girls school.
“We are going to ensure the kids have all the best facilities to enable them to be educated in an environment where they lack nothing,” said Yeshiva Centre general manager Rabbi Shmueli Feldman.
Rabbi Feldman said Yeshiva was excited about the development, which had been in the works for more than a year.
“The Yeshiva has been involved for 60 years in childcare services and schools,” he said. “We have established kindergartens all over Sydney, including in Flood Street, Blair Street, Dover Heights, Strathfield and a playgroup recently in Yeshiva. This is a natural development.”
Rabbi Feldman said it was part of the greater plan by Chabad NSW and Yeshiva to strive to further advance Jewish educational institutions in Sydney.
However, local residents have complained to council about the impact of the developments on traffic and noise.
“A facility supporting between 70 and 80 students [40 childcare and 30 or 40 high school students] will generate a significant amount of noise in what is currently a quiet, residential area,” resident Kate Turnbull said in a submission to council.
She said the noise would come from the students playing outside, conversations between parents and students in the mornings and at pick-up times and the increased traffic.
Another resident, Joanne Hilton, said Francis Street, which was at the rear of the property, was a quiet street and cannot take more cars.
“Parking and traffic in this street are at an impossible level,” she said.
A Waverley Council official said she expected a decision within three months.
JOSHUA LEVI
The property at Bondi Beach. Photo: Ingrid Shakenovsky
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