About Us
It’s Never Too Early to Start Learning
At New Light Baptist School of Excellence, we are preparing children for school and life! We're known as a STEAM child care that also teaches life skills and relational dynamics. Your child will receive a Christian preschool education that's both developmentally appropriate and tailored to meet you and your their needs. We continue this same level of quality through kindergarten.
Mission
Our school strives to be a holistic model for education and training in equipping children to exemplify excellence in:
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Spirit • Mind • Body
Christian concepts with STEAM lessons
Our school and childcare program uses high-quality lessons, textbooks and activities built on a foundation of academic excellence and Christian character training. We follow the highly acclaimed A Beka Program to help us meet our educational goals.
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Your child's day will be a mix of lively, fun, and interesting learning experiences that integrate hands-on STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Art Math) activities—creating a foundation that is rich, memorable, and very rewarding.
A history of bringing light
Bishop Rudolph B. Lewis became Pastor of New Light Baptist Church in August 1979. When he was first introduced to the New Light Community, he knew that this was the place that God had called him to be. Bishop Lewis saw first-hand some of the many problems the New Light community was faced with:
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Crime / drug activity in the neighborhood
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Lack of public facilities for water, sewer, streets, and lights
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Lack of community activities
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53% of the neighborhood properties were undeveloped
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39% of the residential housing units were substandard
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36% of the residents were elderly
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33% of the homes were female-headed household
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24% were handicapped/disabled
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16% of the houses were uninhabitable
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8% vacancy rate
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Bishop Lewis chose not to be a spectator but to get involved and be an agent for change. The demand for help was great but the resources were few so Bishop Lewis’ vision for helping the community was to develop support groups that would extend beyond the walls of New Light Baptist Church. One of the support groups he established was the New Light Baptist School of Excellence.
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In August 1989, New Light Baptist School of Excellence was created, under the leadership of Elder Lewis, as the first African-American private Religious Exempt Christian Day Care in Virginia Beach to utilize the Abeka Curriculum.
Today, New Light Baptist School of Excellence is still standing and has not wavered from its focus on keeping that mission. With the Grace of God and the support from our church, we have survived “the economic test of times” in spite of the downturn, the banks' stringent standards on lending, and the numerous closings of private schools universally.
Bishop Lewis transitioned on October 16, 2018. However, the New Light Baptist School of Excellence continues to carry out his vision.