New City School

Summertime is a great time for buddy activities: 4th, 5th, and 6th Graders attending recently joined 4/5s campers to make beautiful sand art! ⏳🌈✨ The buddies layered vibrant colors of sand into their jars, sharing laughs and smiles as they worked together. It was wonderful to see our older campers guiding the younger ones as they carefully designed their own unique masterpieces!

Today we celebrate Juneteenth, a nationally recognized commemoration recognizing the day in 1865 when news of the Emancipation Proclamation and the end of the Civil War reached Texas, and to symbolically commemorate the end of slavery in the United States. In honor of this national holiday, New City School and New City School Summer Camp are closed today, Friday, June 19.

Juneteenth presents us with an opportunity for reflection and conversation about how we can work to strengthen the bonds of our communities by addressing racial injustice and all systems of inequality. That is work that we at New City School will continue to do, as we strive to be an anti-racist and anti-bias institution and community.

We encourage you to take a look at the resources compiled by our Director of Diversity, Equity, and Community, including both educational resources as well as area events recognizing Juneteenth—while this list is not exhaustive, we hope that you find these resources useful for self-reflection as well as for talking to children and peers: newcityschool.org/juneteenth

It was wonderful to have so many families and friends join us for the third annual New City School Pride Celebration this weekend! 🏳️‍🌈 We had a great time spreading the word that New City School is a place where each person can be who they are—no holding back—and where we all learn from and about each other.

It has been such a joy to see our Pride Celebration grow over these past three years, and to see the support from not only New City families, alumni, faculty, and staff, but also our neighbors, many of whom came outside to wave and cheer (or turn on the bubble machines! 🫧) as the mini-parade walked through our beautiful historic neighborhood. Thank you all for being a part of our community! 💕

1st Grade Campers wrapped up a fantastic first week of by making paper "s'mores" and enjoying a tissue-paper "campfire" during today's Morning Meeting 🏕️ Campers' adventures this week also included making maps of imaginary islands, playing charades, and splashing through the sprinklers on the playground!

Children in New City Kindergarten teacher Ghada's Storybook Adventures Camp spent the day exploring colors through activities inspired by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle's "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?", including experimenting with mixing primary-colored water to create secondary colors and embarking on a color-based scavenger hunt around school 🎨🐻

It may have started out raining and pouring, but the first day of has been far from boring! ☔️🌞 Campers enjoyed plenty of indoor and outdoor activities as they dug in the dirt with Nature Explorers, made pancakes during Cooking Camp, planned out panels during Graphic Novels Galore, practiced strategies in Chess Camp, played games like dodgeball and gaga ball with Sports & Games Madness, and so much more 🪏🥞♟️🔵 The summer fun has just begun—stay tuned to see what else our campers are up to!

Only a few more days until begins! 😎☀️

Our counselors have been busy this week preparing for campers to arrive on Monday. Orientation sessions covered health and safety with School Nurse Carrie; responsive classroom practices with Division Heads Janine and Justin; and anti-bias training with Director of Diversity, Equity & Community Jonelle and New City trustee Jess. Counselors have also been hard at work decorating their classroom spaces!

We’ve loved welcoming our brand-new counselors and seeing so many familiar faces return—including a fantastic group of New City alumni! It’s been a great week getting ready for a fun-filled summer behind the big red doors, and we're excited to see campers soon!

Thank you to everyone who joined us at the Senior Send-Off & Reunion for New City's Class of 2020 last week! It was a joy to celebrate these students and all that they’ve accomplished beyond the big red doors.

The Class of 2020 not only enjoyed a reunion but also a belated Red Doors Ceremony, which they missed due to pandemic-related limitations. A recent college graduate herself, New City alumna and one of our amazing 3rd Grade teachers, Meg Corbett '14, served as the Red Doors speaker for the attendees and offered inspiring advice as the Class of 2020 embarks on their next chapter. This was truly a full-circle moment: in May 2020, Meg delivered a video message honoring their graduation from New City. We were thrilled to have her speak to these graduates in person (at last!).

The evening was also a special opportunity for families to reconnect. Parents enjoyed catching up with one another and celebrating how far their children have come, just as the graduates enjoyed reuniting with classmates and friends they hadn't seen in many years.

Seeing our alumni return as high school graduates ready for their next adventures—whether they're off to college, a gap year, entering the workforce, or pursuing something entirely unique—reminds us why our community is so special. Congratulations, best wishes, and we look forward to celebrating many more of your accomplishments in the years to come. 🎓🥳

Congratulations to New City School's Class of 2026! We are so proud of each and every one of you, and we can't wait to see where your journey will take you next 🎓🎉