Photo courtesy Redeemer Episcopal Day School
Onward and Upward
Redeemer Episcopal Day School adds a middle grades program
The 2026-27 school year will mark an academic milestone for Redeemer Episcopal Day School in Midlothian: the introduction of a middle school program, starting with the addition of sixth grade.
Previously, REDS consisted only of preschool and kindergarten through fifth grade. The expansion, which fifth grade will be looped into, offers an extensive curriculum grounded in four cornerstones: strong academics, community and service, creative minds, and leadership for the future.
“We have extremely high expectations for students,” says Sandra Guyer, lead middle school teacher. “We want them to learn. We want them to also learn how to be good humans.”
Middle school math and language courses at REDS have been built around a workshop model, so students will work independently and collaboratively to build communication and problem-solving skills. A rotational social studies and science course combines research, analysis and historical context in a hands-on fashion. The arts are implemented into nearly every aspect of the curriculum, alongside a robust outdoor education program that takes students into the campus’ natural wooded areas and along the James River. “If we’re going to learn about nature, let’s be there,” Guyer says.
A new course called Students in Action will put the institution’s longstanding emphasis on stewardship into practice through community service, leadership and physical education via service projects within the church and school, along with regular visits to the neighboring Spring Arbor Cottage assisted living facility. The goal, Guyer says, is developing a spirit of service into students’ identities before they need to start counting their high school volunteer hours.
Digital literacy is another part of REDS’ picture for middle schoolers, with a course that teaches them to use technology efficiently, effectively and sparingly. For lower school students, however, screentime remains minimal; for kindergarteners and first graders, it’s nonexistent.
In addition, Associate Head of School Lisa Zambito says, school faculty aims to make REDS a safe place to experiment. “We want to give our middle schoolers opportunities to try on all the hats and not pick one lane and have to stay,” she says. “Because that’s what middle school is all about, right?”
A ministry of Redeemer Episcopal Church, REDS started as a preschool and has grown steadily since pioneering its lower-grades program in 2020. Julia Dorsey, head of school, says the end goal is a full middle-school program through eighth grade by the 2028-29 school year. The plans, including a two-phase building project to accommodate the expansions, are well underway.
“We want to build a school the students want to come into every day,” Guyer says. “School should be fun. School should be effective. It should be all the right things.” —Audrey Polverari
Photo courtesy Lynnhaven School
A Refuge Renewed
Lynnhaven School is moving forward after a leadership shakeup
After a three-year sojourn in an office park on Parham Road, Lynnhaven School returned to its original campus in the vibrant green fields of Varina in 2025. The change in location is a symbolic move, as well: Over the past 18 months, the independent eighth-12th grade school has also experienced financial difficulties, changes in leadership, and a review of its mission and curriculum.
“There was a lot of freedom, but the responsibility wasn’t there,” says Jonathan Harris, the school’s founder and president of its board of trustees. “There’s a responsibility you have not to overstep the mission of the school.”
In early 2025, after learning that Lynnhaven was on tenuous financial footing, the decision was made to remove the head of school and replace the board of trustees. The new leadership team hired a bankruptcy attorney to help them assess and reorganize, and then met with families to explore the feasibility of the school.
Although the school filed for bankruptcy last summer, it opened on schedule in the fall with senior faculty member and math teacher Bernadette Carter acting as interim head of school. A collaboration with Glendale Community Bible Church and its senior pastor, Palmer Sweeney, enabled Lynnhaven to return to its first home, shared with the church’s campus.
Parents were kept informed throughout the transition period, and over 90% returned for the current school year. Harris notes that, while enrollment was down at the Parham Road location, the school has now received its highest-ever number of inquiries and is welcoming its largest incoming class for 2026-27.
The new board of trustees launched a national, yearlong search for a replacement leader. The incoming head of school, Daniela Fenwrick, was introduced to the Lynnhaven community in January and will begin her tenure this fall. Formerly the director of Sprout Schools in the Richmond region, Fenwrick also brings experience in family engagement and parental empowerment. “She is who Lynnhaven needs in this moment, because parent trust was broken,” Harris says.
Rebuilding trust is key to Lynnhaven’s legacy. The institution employs a progressive education model that emphasizes experiential learning and prioritizes diversity, joy and students’ independence. “We trust one another, and we believe that every student has a story,” Harris says. “We want to be sure that we dignify the student and dignify the parents.”
Founded in 2010 as Lynnhaven Academy, the school is named for Harris’ late sister, Jennifer Lynn Harris. Although the pair shared a love of learning, they were frustrated by traditional schooling and dreamed of building a safe, joyful and hands-on educational refuge. Harris combined their vision with his experience as a teacher and administrator when planning the school. “Kids at Lynnhaven need a school that will meet them where they are,” he says.
Through a partnership with the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Social Work, two graduate students will be on campus two to three days per week to support students’ mental health, which Harris says aligns with a larger focus in the independent and private school landscape on youth mental wellness.
As part of the renewal of its mission, Lynnhaven has added eighth grade, sports teams and a wellness class with outdoor activities for the 2026-27 school year. The institution is also continuing its dual enrollment program, now with Iowa’s Briar Cliff University, and has shifted its art program from part-time to a required class. A chicken coop is even in the works to teach students animal husbandry.
“We realigned our curriculum, realigned our values, realigned what’s important,” Harris says. —Kelsey Robinson
Staying Put
A new lease allows Good Shepherd Episcopal School to focus on another decade of nature programming
Kathleen Tappen became the head of Good Shepherd Episcopal School last September. During her first few months, she made it a priority to strengthen the independent school’s relationship with the Church of the Good Shepherd, which founded it in 1971.
The school and the church had clashed before her arrival due to “philosophical differences,” Tappen says, leaving the renewal briefly in doubt. But in May, the institutions signed a 10-year lease that allows the school to remain at the church, located in Forest Hill.
“It was just a matter of us getting to a place where we understood each other,” Tappen says. “That they’re not against anything we’re doing teaching-wise, and we’re not against anything they’re doing from a religious standpoint.”
Keeping the location was critical, Tappen says, because nature is right outside the door.
Eighth graders have removed invasive plants with Reedy Creek Coalition volunteers and planted native trees at the Owl Orchard Community Garden. Children in The Nature Preschool walk just a few blocks to Forest Hill Park every day, and the James River is also within walking distance.
Post-COVID, parents and teachers have a growing interest in nature programming, Tappen says. Some preschoolers arrive at Good Shepherd already spending most of their time outdoors, while other families are hoping for less blue light and more sunlight.
Whatever the reason, The Nature Preschool’s co-director Corey Delaney says the 10-year lease provides the stability needed to meet the community where they are.
Good Shepherd uses nature as a space to take the small risks that Delaney says are necessary for children’s development. “Pulling a large fallen branch to place across a stream to help classmates who are hesitant to jump develops problem-solving skills [and] teamwork,” she says.
In this structure, children are taught to see the environment as more than a mere resource to consume. “A child who has been given the opportunity to quietly commune with the life found under a rock builds empathy that extends beyond their time in the park with us,” Delaney says. —Mia Debelevich
Skills for Life
Rudlin Torah Academy seeks to prepare students for the future with a new executive functioning coach
With the recent national decline in cognitive skills among adolescents, the staff at Rudlin Torah Academy are taking a unique approach to improve what’s known as executive functioning — students’ ability to plan, focus and regulate behavior.
Beginning this fall, the co-ed Hebrew day school will introduce an executive functioning coach to their program, according to Rabbi Elisha Paul, head of school at RTA. “There’s a large research base that says these types of skills help students succeed when they become their own independent managers of their time.”
Students will work with Mary Margaret Ryan, the director of coaching at New Agenda coaching, who will use different approaches according to their grade level and specific needs. Those who need extra support can work in small groups with an additional coach from New Agenda to develop active studying and listening strategies, regulate stress, and organize their classroom materials. After observing students’ progress, Ryan will tailor individualized approaches.
She will then collaborate with RTA students and teachers each month to engage them in hands-on learning rather than exclusively using digital tools, Paul explains. Upper elementary and middle school students will use old-school planners to teach them organization and improve their executive functioning.
“As they cross things off, it gives them that hit of dopamine,” Ryan says. “That dopamine is feeding their brain and giving them the energy and empowering them to continue to meet that goal.”
Faculty and staff have begun professional training to help students implement these strategies in the classroom, Ryan says. The new programming emphasizes the importance of employees modeling consistent protocols for students.
“These are things they’re going to need for life,” Paul says. “More and more, the people skills, the organizational skills are going to become increasingly important for people to master as they’re going through education and getting into the job market.” —Skye Hathaway
