NEWS
Back to School Message
The new school year is approaching and students will soon be back in the classroom with exciting summer experiences to share and new subjects and topics to learn. Here's a back-to-school message from Dr. Beebe, the principal of New Hope School.
Dear New Hope School Families,
As principal of New Hope School, it is my pleasure to welcome you to the 2017-2018 school year, my 14th year with this learning community. We are all excited to have students back in our classrooms. It is our mission to teach our students God-centered universal values and service to others as the basis for personal integrity, harmony in the family, and peace in the world. We look forward to partnering with you in the coming year to achieve this.
As we embark on the new school year, I want to take a moment to reflect on what we achieved last year. As usual, our students did very well on their standardized Terra Nova tests, ranking well above the national averages in all grade levels. In addition, New Hope was recommended for accreditation by the visiting team of the Middle States Association—Committee on Elementary and Secondary Schools (MSA-CESS), which observed our school’s activities last March. We expect to receive their final decision sometime this fall.
We look forward to building on these successes and making even more progress this year. This year, our key goals are to continue to enhance students’ reading levels and helping them to develop their social-emotional relationship skills. We have a number of action plans in place in support of these goals. More information on that will be coming soon.
Each child is a unique individual. We pride ourselves on the opportunities we offer to help every one of our students succeed. These opportunities are included in our academic programming, from core subjects to electives and after school activities that help them develop their strengths, interests and talents in many areas. We are always looking towards the future—and preparing them for what comes next in their lives.
This work is not easy. But New Hope School is a community of professionals. We all—teachers, administrators, and support staff—are collaborating to create a safe, supportive, welcoming learning community where all students are treated fairly and have the opportunity to reach their full potential.
Families and other community members play a critical role as partners in supporting both your students at home and our work in the school. We look forward to working with you throughout the year to make important decisions that impact both your child as an individual and the school as a whole. As a start to this partnership, we invite you to attend our Back-to-School-Night on Friday, September 22, 6:30-8:30 pm.
To stay up-to-date on what’s happening throughout the year, visit this (revamped) website often, as well as our Facebook page, and TeacherEase, where you can check up on your child’s schoolwork.
New Hope School is a wonderful learning community. I feel so privileged to be a part of it. This is a very special place, and my colleagues and I appreciate the trust that you’ve shown us by sending your children here every day. We will do our best to ensure they have a fulfilling, happy and safe year.
Please do not hesitate to contact me at 973-768-7594 if you have any questions or concerns.
I am looking forward to a great school year.
Sincerely,
Robert Beebe, Ed.D.
Principal
New Hope School
Awaiting Accreditation
Last spring in March 2017, our school was visited by the Middle States Association for Schools and Colleges. This visit by an accreditation team was a resounding success! Read all about it here.
Last spring in March 2017, our school was visited by the Middle States Association for Schools and Colleges. This visit by an accreditation team was a resounding success!
After spending four days at the school visiting classrooms and interviewing our teachers as well as some of our students and parents, the team recommended our school for accreditation!
We expect to have the Association’s final decision sometime this fall.
Achieving accreditation will bring the school to a new level as it moves forward in its mission to raise God’s sons and daughters—our students—to become healthy and productive world citizens. It will validate, both to ourselves, our shareholders, and to prospective families, that New Hope School does in fact prepare its students well, both academically and in their character, for their next steps in high school, university, and beyond.
New Hope School calls itself a “Peace Academy.” More than anything, it seeks to help students to discover their true selves as God’s children, meaning that, each in their own way, they are meant to resemble God’s nature of love and concern for others. Our greatest hope is that our graduates, whatever their cultural backgrounds or religious beliefs, will go on to use their talents, knowledge, and skills to build a more peaceful world based on God’s love.
This event represents a culmination of a two-year process of self-examination on the part of New Hope School in preparation for a visit by the accreditation team.
Our school, started in the home of Jeanne Carroll in the fall of 1996, has traversed a long course of growth and development, moving to its current location in Clifton, graduating its first 8th grade class soon after, adopting a challenging Core Knowledge curriculum that raised the level of students’ academic achievement, and, most recently, seeking to enhance its after school program.
These accomplishments would not have been possible without the selfless investment of our school community—our Board, staff, and families—over the years. I am deeply grateful for their input, bringing the school to the point where it is today.