Epstein Hillel School in Marblehead is thrilled to welcome Heidi Chapple as the new kindergarten teacher. She will assume the position in August after the retirement of 30-year veteran teacher Barbara Sidman.

A veteran teacher herself, Chapple has a deep commitment to Jewish education. She comes to EHS from The Rashi School where, over the course of 21 years, she worked first as a kindergarten and then first grade teacher before becoming head of the Lower School. Prior to Rashi, she was a preschool teacher at the Jewish Community Center in Stoughton and taught art in her hometown of New York City. During her teaching career, she has mentored innumerable students in the teaching programs from Wheelock College, Lesley University, Boston University and the Delet Program at Brandeis University.

Chapple believes strongly in differentiated education, meeting students where they are and ensuring that each child has the tools to be successful in meeting the goals they have set together. From her roots as an art teacher, she takes every opportunity to incorporate multi-sensory learning into her classroom. Chapple is acutely aware that next fall’s incoming kindergarten class will bring with it the loss of several months of preschool. She is already making plans to start building relationships with her new students well before school resumes in the fall. Kindergarten students’ social/emotional development is paramount in her eyes.

Thrilled to be returning to the classroom, Chapple remarks that she is “returning to her true love: working with children.” With a robust kindergarten class enrolled for the 2020-2021academic year (only a few spots remain for the fall), she is looking forward to joining the EHS community and working with the exceptional leadership and teaching team to adapt to whatever the school setting will look like in the fall.  

Chapple holds a degree in synesthetic education from Syracuse University, a master’s in early childhood education from Wheelock College and principal licensure from Massachusetts Elementary Principal Association. She lives in Brookline with her husband, Michael, and is a mother of three and proud grandmother of four granddaughters.

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