History of the Organization

SHED originated in September of 1984 as a program run by the Town of Andover located in the Shawsheen School.  It started with 18 Kindergarten- aged children.

By its 2nd year, SHED Incorporated, became a private, non-profit organization (overseen by a Board of Directors) and became licensed by the Office for Children.  It increased to 38 children, the limit in that space.

In 1988, the Shawsheen School needed the space SHED was occupying.  SHED purchased and placed a portable structure on the premises of Shawsheen School; the Town of Andover obtained a loan for the program which SHED repaid by 1994. Enrollment increased to 76 Kindergarten- aged children.

In 1991, SHED opened Kid’s Club, a program for 1st – 6th graders, which was again housed in the Shawsheen School.  The opening enrollment was 38 which rapidly grew to 55 then to 80 by the following year.

In 1992, Kid’s Club began running Before School programs in all the elementary schools.

In 1995, with Shawsheen School again needing the space, Kid’s Club relocated to the Korean Church on Route 133.  The enrollment was at 120 with 80 on a waiting list. Sign up for the Kindergarten program had become so competitive that parents were arriving the day before the registration and sleeping overnight on the playground! 
 
SHED began researching options for expansion.  There were few choices.  Phillips Academy offered a collaboration and a solution. 

In October of 1997, SHED began a renovation/building project on Phillips Academy Campus.  SHED renovated an old laundry building for the Kindergarten program and built a new facility for Kid’s Club. The project was complete by June of 1998 when SHED opened its first summer camp program, Camp Adventure, with 50 children.

Currently, the SHED Kindergarten program, located in the renovated laundry building, has 55 children enrolled in both the morning and the afternoon programs. Kid’s Club, in a facility dedicated school-age programming, has expanded to include 7th and 8th graders and has 167 children enrolled per day; the Before School programs have a total of 80 children enrolled at all 6 elementary schools. In addition, there are now 3 Summer Programs:  Summer Adventure, 50 children; Team Adventure for grades 6-8 with 15 children; and a Jr. Summer Adventure for Pre-Ks with 13 children. 

In March of 2002, SHED was accredited by the National School Age Care Alliance making it one of only 9 in Massachusetts and one of 325 nationally to achieve accreditation for the highest quality school-age programming.

To make up for losing some of the SHED daytime Kindergarten enrollment to Full-Day Kindergarten offered by the public schools, SHED piloted a new program in September of 2003 called “Springboard to Kindergarten”.  It was designed as a “readiness” program for children who turn 5 in July or August and who need “another year to grow” before they go to Kindergarten.  It also provides a readiness year for those children who miss the September 1st enrollment date for Kindergarten but are too mature to attend yet another year at a preschool.  There were 14 children enrolled in the first year; the program currently (2009-10) has 2 classrooms with a total of 28 children.