Embracing Wonder: Cultivating Learning for Life
Dear Hollywood Schoolhouse Community,
We are thrilled to introduce our new strategic plan, “Embracing Wonder: Cultivating Learning For Life,” which will guide Hollywood Schoolhouse over the next five years. As previously communicated, strategic visioning is important because it guides our direction and helps us prioritize initiatives that matter most to our students’ success. This plan represents a year of dedicated work, collaboration, and invaluable input from our entire school community.
With the expert guidance of our partners at Future Design School and the dedicated efforts of our board task force, we have crafted a vision that reflects our shared commitment to excellence and innovation in education. Throughout this extensive process, we engaged with all members of our community—students, parents, faculty, staff, and the board of trustees—to gather diverse perspectives and ensure that our strategic direction is both inclusive and forward-thinking.
“Embracing Wonder: Cultivating Learning For Life” is not just a plan; it is a promise to foster an environment where curiosity is encouraged, learning is lifelong, and each student’s potential is nurtured. This plan provides detailed insights into the specific initiatives and goals we will pursue to bring this vision to life.
We are incredibly proud of this collaborative effort and excited about the future it envisions for Hollywood Schoolhouse. Thank you for your ongoing support and commitment to our community. Together, we will continue to create an educational experience that prepares our students for a dynamic and ever-changing world.
Warmly,
Ilise Faye HEAD OF SCHOOL
Michael Heid BOARD CHAIR
Vision - Why we do it
To embrace the wonder of childhood as we cultivate curious, critical, and compassionate thinkers within a diverse and inclusive community.
Mission - What we do
We know, value, and encourage each child so our students emerge academically strong, artistically proud, physically active, and socially grounded.
Our Values
Foster Belonging
Build Knowledge
Cultivate Curiosity
Enrich Character
Our Commitments:
We are committed to:
Nurturing, supporting, and inspiring every student
Advancing academic achievement within an inquiry-based program
Measuring success not only by our graduates’ confidence, poise, and academic strength, but by the truly exceptional citizens they become
HSH adopts an Inquiry-Based Learning approach. Within organized units of study, teachers leverage the natural curiosity of children. Student questions and wonderings drive the learning process, and educators help them develop a deep understanding of a topic with focus and purpose. A critical component is then the application of their knowledge to real-world issues and challenges so that students become deep thinkers and problem solvers.
A big shout out to our engaged community for sharing your insights with us!
Through deep interviews, thoughtful survey responses, and dynamic focus groups, we have gathered the gems of your ideas to shape our plan. Our community is exceptionally happy, and through your feedback we have discovered fantastic opportunities to take our work to the next level.
We are thrilled to weave your ideas into our strategic plan and are committed to making our shared dreams come true over the next five years. Our future is bright and full of excitement!
Here’s a glimpse into the great feedback we received:
Students Educators
Parents
97% report having a trusted adult at the school that they can go to for advice 97% of teachers say they’re happy in their role
96% of students report being happy at HSH
95% of staff have a trusted peer whom they feel safe going to for advice
99% of parents believe their children can be themselves at HSH
98% are happy with the experience their child is getting
93% feel they have a strong relationship with their teachers
feel supported by their colleagues
feel staff have their child’s best interest at heart
The Journey to Our Future
EXPLORING THE PRESENT LISTENING TO OUR COMMUNITY
We embarked on an insightful journey, reviewing every aspect of our school—pedagogy, assessment, physical space, funding, and more—to understand where we stand.
ENVISIONING TOGETHER
Our Board, Strategic Planning Task Force, staff and faculty gathered in collaborative sessions, sharing stories of our achievements, identifying challenges, and dreaming of new possibilities.
Through an extensive consultation process, including one-on-one interviews, anonymous surveys, and interactive focus groups, we captured the voices and ideas of our community.
This imaginative and thorough process has paved the way for a vibrant and promising future for our school
UNEARTHING INSIGHTS
Our dedicated Strategic Planning Task Force sifted through the community’s feedback, uncovering key themes to shape our future.
DESIGNING THE PLAN CRAFTING OUR GOALS
In focused sessions, the Strategic Planning Task Force transformed these themes into clear strategic goals, setting a visionary path for Hollywood Schoolhouse.
We drafted our strategic plan, enriched by reviews from key community members and the Strategic Planning Task Force, ensuring it resonated with our collective vision.
BUILDING THE BLUEPRINT
Our leadership team then crafted a detailed operational plan, outlining the steps needed to bring our strategic goals to life and guide us toward our envisioned future.
Our Strategic Pillars
Advancing Academics while Maintaining Wonder of Childhood Pillar One:
• Foster Belonging•
continuing commitment to belonging pillar one: Continuing Commitment to Belonging Pillar Two:
PILLAR ONE:
Advancing Academics while Maintaining the Wonder of Childhood
We will advance our academic program by continuing to integrate inquirybased learning, where students’ questions drive the exploration of topics, experiments, and hands-on activities; while simultaneously building their foundational and life skills as they achieve readiness for secondary school.
Our path to success:
Invest in ongoing professional development to ensure a thorough understanding of inquiry-based learning theory and its practical application.
Deepen and amplify inquiry-based learning across all grades allowing students to pursue their own curiosities, passions and interests.
Continue to invest in, and support the implementation of research-backed literacy and math programming.
Assess student strategic thinking, creativity and problem-solving skills and report on ongoing growth.
Support our diverse learners in small group instruction to support students in growth areas and challenge more advanced learners.
Create time for collaboration between teachers and students, across subjects and grade levels.
I would describe HSH as an open, diverse school. HSH is an incredible place and my home away from home. The teachers are loving and I’ve made MANY strong relationships with them.
- Student
PILLAR TW0:
Continuing Commitment to Belonging
Our path to success:
Ongoing commitment to continuous learning about child-centered belonging and inclusion.
Augment existing student programming in order to enhance cultural competence, enrich our curriculum with diverse perspectives, and expand community engagement.
Conduct consistent pulse checks with students, staff, and parents to stay aligned with their evolving needs.
Continuously take action as identified to ensure a sense of community belonging is always prioritized.
Implement ongoing diversity and inclusion training for all staff based on identified needs.
We always – ALWAYS – feel warm and welcomed. Literally every day, staff greets arriving students, creating such a powerful sense of community, nay FAMILY. It’s wonderful.
- Parent
We aspire to set a new standard in educational equit y by enhancing our curriculum, community engagement, and continuous programming emphasizing diversity and inclusion.
PILLAR THREE:
Ensuring Sustainability through Operational Excellence
We will enhance operational excellence by enhancing financial planning, maximizing facility use, investing in staff development, increasing philanthropy and ensuring leadership succession is established for long-term success.
Our path to success:
Develop a multi-year financial strategy that supports sustainable growth and addresses potential risks.
Create a plan for optimizing space allocation that supports both current needs, future expansion and aligns with our values.
Ensure performance management aligns with all aspirational goals and that all staff are mission aligned.
Develop and keep an operational leadership succession plan that is updated on an ongoing basis, including identification of potential leaders, mentoring programs, and leadership training.
Cultivate a culture of philanthropy.
Ensure a Board leadership succession plan exists and that governance continues to be a focus.
Although it’s a small campus, the positive energy from staff, parents, and children make HSH feel so much bigger. It is a great environment.
- Staff
Experience the wonder
