Nativity Prep’s Story
Nativity opened its doors in the Fall of 2000 to twelve 5th- and 6th-grade boys. Executive Director Barry Hynes, former teacher at Nativity Mission School in New York, and founder of Nativity Preparatory School of Boston, responded to the request of a sponsoring foundation to start a tuition-free school in New Bedford for boys from families who would otherwise not have been able to afford private school.
He recruited a principal with teaching experience at NP Boston and, with three mission-driven teachers committed to working six days (and many evenings) a week as classroom teachers, coaches, janitors, advisors, and office staff, worked to adapt the Nativity model to New Bedford. This model of highly committed, young, enthusiastic teachers remains a pillar of the school’s success today.
Having expanded dramatically in its first years of operation, Nativity now boasts an annual enrollment of approximately 55 students total in grades 5-8. Nativity Prep graduates have gone on to many local high schools, including Greater New Bedford Regional Voc-Tech High School and Bishop Stang, and have also ventured farther afield to schools such as Deerfield Academy, Groton School, St. Paul’s School, Tabor Academy, and St. Andrew’s School.
