Telegraph Hill Neighborhood Center

We love Tel-​Hi Neighborhood Center! Our son, 2 years old, has been going there for over 6 months. The staff is incredible. He loves the teachers in his Guppy classroom — Teacher Mari, Teacher Cece, and Teacher Kim. Why do we like it?
–Tel-​Hi is well-​organized, but they also give the kids freedom to do what they’re interested in
–Great hours: 7:30am — 6:00pm is key for dual working parents
–Nice playground right on site so the kids get plenty of outside time
–They put sunscreen on the kids, and they all have tooth brushes and water bottles, it’s cute!
–The teachers all have training and I think college degrees in early child-​hood development
–They don’t punish the young children with time-​outs, they instead have conversations with them, and encourage them to have «safety breaks» and play in another area
–Incredible community of other families who are involved
–Amazing, mostly organic food, and we get menus each month so we know what are kids are eating
–We also get newsletters each month with photos, explaining what the kids are learning (they’ve learned about feelings, insects, gardening, butterflies, plants growing, birds, etc. it’s so fun getting the emails!)
–When we pick our son up, most days he doesn’t want to leave, even when we arrive just before 6pm and he’s been there all day. That’s such a great feeling!
Thank you Tel-​Hi!

Our child is in the preschool program and in the short time that we have been involved with the school, we have been nothing but happy, and our child is thriving. They have excellent structure in place, with schedules that are followed, and different free play and learning ‘stations’ for the kids to use. The hygiene programs in place (washing hands, teeth brushing program) teach the kids good skills for life. The teachers are so kind and positive with the kids and the parents, and parents are updated on things that went on during the day. We feel security is one of their top priorities, so children are checked in and out by parents each day, doors are locked, kids monitored for safety, etc. The food program is amazing! 90% organic meals are catered and served throughout the day and teachers and children eat ‘family style’ and talk about various things. They also incorporate plenty of outdoor play and the onsite garden is used as a platform to learn about flowers, plants, how things grow and about the life cycle of bugs and insects. Finally, for working parents, their open hours are 100% catered to allowing San Francisco parents to have as easy of a work-​life balance as is necessary. The stress is minimized knowing that they understand that this area is typically made up of working parents who have varying hours.
On top of the excellent preschool, I find it amazing how the Center also caters to infants and toddlers, all the way up to the after school programs, summer camps and their commitment to feeding the elderly.
We are SO pleased.

The toddler program at Tel Hi is fantastic! My son’s been going there for over a year now and – in my opinion – have received the best care and guidance from his teachers.
His teachers are attentive and are always readily open to suggestions and chatting about his day-​to-​day progress. My son suffers from eczema and they’ve just been amazing by giving him extra care on the bad skin days. My wife and I know he’s in good hands when we drop him off during the week.
The facilities are also great. They have their own playground where my son and I would spend a few minutes each morning playing on the swings. The kids’ meals are prepared fresh daily and the menu is sent to us every month. The kids eat better than I do at work.
Looking at previous reviews, it seems the program experienced rough patches a few years ago. But speaking from my experience and observations this past year, I’m happy to write that my son will be transitioning to their preschool program next month.

My son is in his second class at Tel-​Hi. I looked at other programs and chose this one because of a couple of things. It’s been around a long time, and has a great reputation in the neighborhood, which is a very tight-​knit, old community in SF. I knew a former family (and neighbor) that had glowing reviews, and thought it was a solid choice. Upon my visit, I found the ratio of staff/​child (for infant, and then toddler) excellent. My partner is in early education and helped evaluate our choices, and Tel-​Hi was very high in almost all the considerations. From physical activity and exploring, to reading, to social interactions, to arts and crafts, and now they have a built out gardening area, too.
The facility is big, with a playground on site, and a large new park across the street. I feel completely safe that my son is there, and they are very good at communicating with me– from their policies to incidents, to fun little things that come up. Always more impressed with the fun touches they put to things. This is really a group that cares about our neighborhood’s children. We considered a smaller facility, and a larger one across town, but now that I’m here I really like that my son is with other levels, and that there’s experiences outside of his age range. It’s a comfort to know what his next class will be like, get to know the teachers, etc. And as a facility they can borrow staff or solve issues very easily because they have so many resources.
I love that they provide meals, catered from a good organic kitchen, and they also have a kitchen on site. I’m impressed with the care and attention they give to evaluating themselves and the children so they stay on top of it. We’re both working and find the schedule easy to work with.

Our son has been attending the Tel Hi preschool since January 2015. We are very happy with the program. The teachers are extremely caring and amazing individuals. The daily activities teach the children, all while having fun. My son loves art, building and creating, and he comes home daily with a pile of things he has made. It is great that many of the families live in the neighborhood and we see them at the park or around on the weekends. It creates a nice sense of community in the big city. We would definitely recommend Tel Hi preschool!

I love this preschool. My son started attending Telegraph Hill since Fall 2014. The teacher, staff and families are amazing. I get a lot of support here as a parent and feel a part is a really wonderful and diverse group of families. The teachers are wonderful at communicating by phone and by email. This preschool provides healthy meals and snacks, lots of activities, art projects and trips to near by parks and library. My son learned so much, expanded his vocabulary, increased his social skills (he’s a shy boy) and much more. Every day my son comes home with a happy face and excited for the next day. I would definitely recommend Telegraph Hill neighborhood center !!

This is a fun hill to climb. Lots of nice houses, Coit tower, and the views!
Grab a picnic from the bottom and climb or take a bus up. The hill has lots of beautiful homes, lots of flowers (in season) and a park at the top. If you are lucky and look for them you may even see the famous wild parrots.
if you decide to walk up, it does get steep. The views are worth it though, Just follow the signs or use you phone to direct you (just tell it you want to go the Coit Tower.)

The deets…
It’s magnificent up here.
You’ve got truly breathtaking, mesmerizing, world class, kick-​ass views.
And a pristine batch of homes to rival any high end (Marina Boulevard, Pac Heights, St. Francis Woods) SF neighborhood.
The one corner market (top of Union Street) is now closed.
And the restaurant Julius Castle is now closed.
…for now.
A former colleague of mine helped Julius Castle become a historical landmark, so they wouldn’t tear it down.
Right at the very top & on the very edge of the hill.
Food varied only in degrees of mediocrity over the years, but it had that magical view.
Telegraph Hill also boasts the stunning building forever referred to as «the Art Deco Building.»
And of course the very famous Coit Tower.
This is the hill that looks over protectively on North Beach, both literally & figuratively w the Telegraph Hill Dwellers Association.
Check out Julius Castle… even from just the outside.
It’s a must see view wise, an embodiment of luxury & decadence & pampered living.
Closing it was truly the end of an era.
5 stars.

I can’t disagree with the previous (now censored?) one star review. I used to work in the preschool. I left when I did in order to maintain my sanity. The school is poorly managed. No communication between admin. upstairs & admin at the preschool, so people who have absolutely nothing to do with the preschool, make decisions that affect the preschool.
The student-​to-​teacher ratio, while legal, is too high for quality care. The ratios are the bare minimum. This was a decision made «upstairs».
I can confirm that the kitchen is infested with cockroaches, too. At least while I was there…

The preschool classrooms are cockroach infested! Cockroaches observed in the bathrooms, kitchen, kitchen hallway, and all classrooms while children are present on multiple occasions on an ongoing basis. Water was shut off on multiple occasions during current remodeling of senior kitchen and new preschool classroom, leaving no water for the children and staff to was their hands, or flush the toilets, on several occasions for extended periods of time (at least 2 hours on the most recent occurrence). Faucet in the kitchen dripped steadily for more than a year, despite repeated requests for it to be fixed. A portion of the ceiling collapsed on the co-​op classroom, while staff and children were present; co-​op staff were unaware construction was even going on above them. Poor communication, disorganized, and very poorly managed.

I love this place. I grew up here and made tons of friends. in the summer time they bring you to many places on field trips: camping, raging waters, Great America, discovery kingdom, etc. and activities: cooking, arts and crafts, sports, swimming, parks, pier 39, etc. came here for 3 – 4 years… and i still remember everything from the past… This place is great, starts up alot of good memories