December Newsletter

As we enter the month of December, we hope that your family remains safe and healthy. With another COVID variant possibly approaching, please continue to take precautions for the protection of your family and your child’s school.

We wish to thank all of you who so generously donated various food items during our annual Food Drive in November. Last Tuesday one 7th and one 8th grade student packed up these items and we delivered them to St. Peter’s Haven Food Pantry. These were used to help needy families in the Clifton area during Thanksgiving and beyond.

Appropriately, our virtue for the month of December is Generosity. December is the month of holidays, whether it be Hanukkah, Christmas, or Kwanzaa. It is a time when we turn our hearts towards the needs of others. Reflecting on generosity, we look beyond what is due and just to what is unexpected and will enhance the life and well-being of another. At New Hope, traditionally it has been a time when our choir will go to sing for the Mayor of Clifton and his staff at City Hall as well as at the nearby senior citizens center. After a year’s hiatus due to COVID, this year we hope to renew this tradition.

As you know, in November we launched our fourth annual Read-a-Thon, our 99Pledges fundraiser. With your support, New Hope School raised a total of $3,188 with 49% of families participating. On behalf of our staff and the entire school, I wish to extend my heartfelt appreciation to all of you who gave in support of this year’s fall fundraiser.

If your child is in 3rd grade or above, we hope you will support his/her involvement in our annual Spelling Bee, which will be held the morning of Thursday, December 23rd. We will be choosing ten finalists who will then compete in January for the right to represent our school at the regional spelling bee at Bergen Community College in March.

This year, while keeping a close watch on the COVID situation, we are hoping to bring back our annual Winter Concert on Tuesday, December 21st, from 7:00 to 8:30 pm. This year’s “Christmas Spectacular” will include performances from each of our classes plus winners of an essay contest we are holding on the topic Serving Brings Peace.

Wishing you Happy Holidays and a very Happy New Year!

“Be generous with kindly words, especially about those who are absent.”

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe