Strategic Plan 2022-2027

When Tenacre initiated its Strategic Plan 2022-2027, two questions emerged as a guides for the process: What must change at Tenacre? and What must never change at Tenacre?

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What must never change at Tenacre?

What must never change at Tenacre?
A school rich in tradition and culture, Tenacre’s current success grows from the strong roots of our history. At the onset of our strategic planning work we affirmed four principles as critical components to preserve for Tenacre’s future.
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- Our Mission: To Nurture and Challenge Each Child Everyday.
- Our Values and Core Philosophy: As a community, we strive to work hard, to find joy, and to be kind.
- Our commitment to being a diverse, equitable and inclusive community where all children and staff feel a sense of belonging.
- Our Structure: we specialize in elementary education and we are committed to being a Pre-K through 6th grade school. Our relatively small size helps ensure that all community members are known and appreciated; we want to keep our enrollment at approximately 200 students.
Hallmarks of a Tenacre Education

Hallmarks of a Tenacre Education
Alongside preserving our mission, values and structure, there are core elements of the Tenacre experience we want to preserve for our students.
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Tenacre is a small school with a community feel. Every student is known, allowing for deeper and more personalized instruction and relationships.

Faculty and staff are committed to nurture and challenge each child every day. Each student’s self-expression is nurtured and challenged and we strive to enrich areas of strength while supporting and nourishing areas where students are building nascent skills and buttressing confidence.

Participation is for everyone. All students have opportunities to participate in the full range of courses and activities at school. Everyone has a role in class plays. All students play on athletic teams. Artwork from an entire class is displayed in the hallways. We acknowledge excellence and ensure all students are celebrated

A rigorous curriculum builds a strong foundation. We ensure solid preparation in our core academics critical to elementary education. The fundamentals of reading, writing and arithmetic are evident and we build a broad base of subject area experiences to help make connections across disciplines. Special subjects are an integral part of the curriculum and are often part of interdisciplinary projects that deepen a student's understanding of subject matter.
What must change at Tenacre?

What must change at Tenacre?
From solid roots, Tenacre will continue to grow, expanding our programs and curriculum to fit the needs of our students today and into the future. Strategic planning committees identified critical opportunities for growth in our curriculum.
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Opportunities to expand our curriculum include:
- expansion of our design technology program
- more interdisciplinary curriculum
- additional investment in our successful learning support and enrichment
- expansion of auxiliary programs
To accomplish these programmatic goals Tenacre also recognized a need for new and improved facilities to support program objectives. And, finally, the strategic plan articulated the need to ensure ongoing investment in financial support for students, families and staff. In short, our strategic plan

Recent Events

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MakeCreateLearn event held in April

A small group of Tenacre parents gathered on April 24 for a hands-on design class with Dave Hamilton, Tenacre’s Director of Design Technology, and Lauren Howard, an Instructional Technology Specialist at Tenacre.
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Both of these positions resulted directly from Tenacre’s Strategic Plan 2022–2027. Using the PAC foyer as their classroom, parents learned how to use Adobe Illustrator to create trivets from simple drawings, the same process Mr. Hamilton and Mrs. Howard use with Tenacre students when they create items in class. After each participant created a design on an iPad, the group moved to the laser cutter to watch it cut all the different pieces in minutes. Seeing the laser cutter in action proved to be as fascinating for the parents as it is for Tenacre students! The group also got to see the ShopBot, another new piece of equipment used to create larger pieces, including the set components for the spring musical. Inspired by the evening’s activities, the group had myriad ideas for other potential projects at Tenacre. There was great enthusiasm for what’s happening at Tenacre now, what we will be able to do in the future with new space, and a hint of envy that the students get to do this exciting work at school regularly!

Photos from Recent Events

MakeCreateLearn event 4.24.24: One-on-one work with Director of Design Technology Dave Hamilton
MakeCreateLearn event 4.24.24: Using Adobe Illustrator to design the trivets
MakeCreateLearn event 4.24.24: Tech instructor Lauren Howard (middle) helps with the design process
MakeCreateLearn event 4.24.24: Watching the laser cutter in action
MakeCreateLearn event 4.24.24: Working on the design process
MakeCreateLearn event 4.24.24: Teachers are always available to help!
MakeCreateLearn event 4.24.24: Director of Design Technology Dave Hamilton demonstrates

Strategic Plan Timeline

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Planning for the Future

For the past two years, Tenacre has been deeply involved in a strategic planning process, positioning the school to take a major step forward in realizing the vision set forth in our Strategic Plan. Curriculum, program, and individual student development are at the heart of our plans. Investment in our campus will help us advance a series of exciting new initiatives that we think are vital to honoring Tenacre’s enduring mission to nurture and challenge each student, every day. The goal of the Strategic Plan is to advance Tenacre in three core areas: our program, place and spaces, and people.

This is an exciting moment for Tenacre as we prepare the east side of campus for three facility enhancements. Olsen+Lewis Architects designed our new spaces and Erland Construction is the general contractor overseeing our projects. We expect the work to be done in three phases.
Phase I: March–April 2024

Relocating Appledore is the first step of the construction projects. It will take 4–6 weeks to move Appledore forward approximately 175 feet closer to Benvenue Street. Renovation of Appledore to become home to Admissions, Development and Communications offices will begin after it is settled in its new location.
Phase II: April 2024–March 2025

Once Appledore is relocated, we will begin construction of a new 9,000-square foot building that will become home to technology, art, and design classes. The new building will include a maker-space and a technology classroom; three spaces for art instruction; a woodshop; and a flexible space to accommodate multiple uses. The building will be constructed on three levels.
Phase III: Coming soon!

The third phase of construction will be to renovate and transform the first floor of Leesway, part of the main academic building, into a core learning hub for students. Work on Leesway will begin after Appledore renovations are completed and the relevant administrative departments have moved.