Vaughan Co-op Nursery School — St. Clair West Oral History Project

Each person has something special to offer

Once again in a covid lock-down, families and communities are reminded of the importance of schools in the lives of children and their communities.

One longstanding institution on St. Clair West is the Vaughan Co-op Nursery School. Begun by Daisy Dotsch in her home at 8 Cherrywood Ave in 1943, the school has served local families, children and parents for almost 80 years. Now known as the Hippo School and located in the lower south end of St. Matthew’s United Church since 1969, the school got its name from the nineteen years it was located at 94 Vaughan Rd.

As part of the movement to build cooperative nursery schools throughout the city, Vaughan Co-op influenced the upbringing of many children in the neighbourhood and contributed to the close-knit and engaged nature of the community. Throughout his interview, Joe Mihevc, former City Councillor for the area talks about how the character of the St. Clair West community included the ability to organize and mobilize to get good community initiatives underway, perhaps a legacy of families building trust and relationships in their early connections at the Vaughan Co-op Nursery School.

The Nursery School evolved with the needs of families and particularly women. Originally a morning nursery programme, it eventually was able to offer full-day care. Over its many decades, Vaughan maintained the parent duty days and thus the opportunity for learning and mentoring for the parents and relationship building. Play dates and cups of coffee supported women who were at home with children at a time when many others were engaged in paid work. It also supported families whose work was not typical – artists, actors, students, business owners. With the maintenance and other parent volunteer jobs, it made space for involvement of fathers and other parents who weren’t available for duty days.

One neighbourhood family for which Vaughan has been a major community beacon are the Endicotts. Valerie Endicott reflects on her experience going to the Nursery School when it was located on Vaughan along with her cousins and then sending her own three children to Vaughan when her Aunt, Isabel MacIntyre Endicott taught there. Isabel was influenced by the philosophy of Daisy Dotsch to study early childhood education both informally through the Institute for Child Study and then formally when she lived in British Columbia.

Isabel was a teacher in the afternoon programme from 1985-1989 and her evening workshops on child development and how to support children in positive ways were highly prized by parents who attended. Isabel died recently, December 22 and many neighbourhood friends have reached out to say how important she was to their children in their first school experiences at the Nursery School.

The family connection continues as Isabel’s great grand children also went to the school and their mother, Alysin Dowlatram, was also influenced to follow in her grandmother’s footsteps, caring for and teaching the latest generations of Hippo School children since 2006.

Robert Ashley, a neighbour and business owner comments in his interview on the choice he made to send his children to neighbourhood schools, starting with the Hippo School. This is how kids make friends in their neighbourhood, he says, which carries them through their schooling experience as they rediscover nursery school friends when they arrive at High School.

Last year Vaughan celebrated the 70th anniversary of their 1951 incorporation. They shared a video made by John Shipman at the 2005 Book Launch of A Patchwork of Memories: Celebrating the History of the Vaughan Co-op Nursery School, published in 2004. Daisy Dotsch, the school’s founder speaks of her vision, which is still going strong, of a place where working together, parents, children and teachers discover that each person has something special to offer.