Established in 1971, the Peoria Hebrew Day School serves the Reform, Conservative, and Traditional communities of the greater Peoria area as well as everyone in the community regardless of religious affiliation. PHDS is the only Jewish Day School in downstate Illinois. Our Board of Directors includes professional representatives from the Jewish community interested in providing academic excellence in an elementary setting. PHDS is a community day school maintained by tuition, generous allocations from the Jewish Federation of Peoria, support from Congregation Anshai Emeth and Agudas Achim, and contributions from many supportive families and individuals, and businesses.

The Peoria Hebrew Day School mission is to create a community of learners who value lifelong study, respect human diversity and feel positive about themselves.

We do this by:

• providing a stimulating and nurturing environment
• Encouraging each student to feel positive about him/herself
• Preparing each student to be a knowledgeable, caring, and contributing member of society.

Choosing a school can be a challenging endeavor as well as an opportunity for new and exciting experiences.  We hope that the Peoria Hebrew Day School will be one of those positive experiences. We are very proud of the quality education, both secular and Judaic, that we provide our children. We would love to take you on a tour of our school and even invite your child for a classroom experience.  Our warm nurturing community, our infusion of Jewish Values into everyday life, and our high level of academic excellence are at the heart of our success

At every age, children are faced with ethical dilemmas forcing them to make choices about how they treat and value themselves and others. Whether a simple issue, like sharing, or a complex one, like deciding to whom and how much tzedakah, or charity, to give, our students are taught how to evaluate situations and apply Jewish values and ethics to make good choices for their own behavior.