Our Story

New Beginnings Family Academy (NBFA) is a public charter school for students in grades Pre-K through 6th, located in Bridgeport, CT. Our mission is to provide students with a meaningful, high-quality education through experience-based learning that helps them develop essential social, emotional, and critical-thinking skills. This gives all children the necessary foundation to achieve their full potential at every stage of life.

NBFA’s research-based and culturally responsive curriculum ensures a solid grasp of essential literacy and numeracy foundational skills, critical thinking and problem-solving, and rigorous preparation for challenging secondary education.

We are a school with high social-emotional learning capacity. NBFA’s Emotionally Responsive Practice (ERP) model attends to the whole child, not just academics. Our diverse team of certified teachers and leaders is comprised of empathic individuals who believe in the transformative power of high-quality education and the potential of EVERY child, regardless of demographics. Selected through a blind lottery, NBFA’s hardworking, inquisitive students come from every neighborhood in Bridgeport and reflect the various ethnicities and cultures that make up Park City. Their families contribute greatly to the school’s climate and student outcomes.

History

For over 20 years, NBFA has positively impacted the lives of Bridgeport students. In 2002, we became Bridgeport’s first elementary charter school, with 156 students in grades K-3. Growing a grade each year and expanding down to include Pre-K, NBFA now enrolls nearly 500 students through grade 6. The vast majority of NBFA graduates gain admission into elite private and competitive public high schools. These include Hopkins, St. Luke’s, Greens Farms Academy, Fairfield Prep and others.

Today, NBFA alumnus are giving back to their communities and making the world a better place in nearly every industry - as teachers, healthcare workers, firefighters, law enforcement, entrepreneurs, municipal and state employees, homemakers and more.

Values

NBFA’s student-centered approach is steeped in child development and project-based learning that encourages children to make meaning of the world around them. NBFA looks to bring about enduring change in the lives of its students by preparing each one for long-term success academically, socially and emotionally.

Our core values include:

Empathy - the ability to understand the feelings of others. At NBFA, we show empathy when we recognize that others have different perspectives and emotions than our own.

Responsibility - completing the task at hand to the best of one’s ability and making good decisions even when no one is looking. At NBFA, we show responsibility when we accept the positive or negative consequences of our actions.

Pride – reasonable and justifiable self-respect. At NBFA, we show pride by appreciating and having a high regard for ourself, our classmates, our work, our school and our community.