Our mission is to create a unique learning environment that unveils the innate greatness within, strengthens the foundation of ethics and inspires benevolent action in the world.
Our vision is a place where an imaginative and dynamic environment awakens the thirst for knowledge and brings to life the principles of Neo-Humanist Education.
The first New Day School preschool program featuring yoga, meditation and Neo-Humanist principles began in the basement of a co-housing “yoga house” in Northeast Portland in 1976 with just 6 students.
In 1979, New Day School became a registered non-profit and was established in its current 1825 SE Clinton location.
Didi Ananda Krisnapriya, New Day’s director since 2001, arrived with a vision to redefine the school’s Neo-humanist pedagogy and expand its practical application of Neo-humanist philosophy to all areas of the school’s environment. New Day began to increase the organic garden area and a fruit orchard was grown in and near the play yard. This initiative quickly grew into a hands-on, year-round garden curriculum for the children which includes lessons on seasonal cycles, the growth and uses of medicinal herbs, apiculture, plant biology, worm composting, and many other lessons of organic gardening techniques and permaculture.
In 2003, a beautiful cob structure was built in the garden as part of a citywide alternative building initiative and soon after four rainwater catchment systems (called rain gardens) were constructed which help with cleaning rainwater pollutants and sediment from polluted stormwater runoff. Another project included the construction of a large composting system which connected the student’s daily meals to the cycle of food waste and to further compliment the school’s vegan, garden-to-plate meal program.
In 2008, New Day purchased the Mahávidyá building and later transformed its very large parking lot into a green space with the help of depave whose purpose is to remove pavement in order to create urban greenspaces. The new gardens and land more than doubled the New Day School campus to just under one acre.
The school’s campus currently includes three buildings, two used for project activities and a third residential building that houses teachers and volunteers.
In 2018 New Day School embarked on a renovation project of two of its three buildings with the intention of transforming them into healthy environments with advanced energy efficiency, superior air quality and thermal comfort. With our projects complete, in 2020, New Day School became the first netzero preschool in the state of Oregon.
Ray Wood | Maitri Ersson | Atandra Didi | Didi Anandakrsnapriya | Didi Jayagiita
Born and raised in Mumbai(India), Didi Atandra’s educational background and work has been in the field of Commerce and Economics before becoming an Ananda Marga missionary in 1992. Didi Atandra’s missionary work involved teaching Ananda Marga yoga, meditation, holistic living as well as doing relief work and supervising & teaching in Neo-Humanist schools and children’s homes in Northern and Southern parts of India. She came to the US in 1997 as a missionary teaching Ananda Marga meditative practices. In 2001 she was assigned to help Didi Ananda Krsnapriya at New Day School(NDS). Since then she has worked at NDS in various capacities like full time volunteer, office secretary, bookkeeper, enrollment coordinator and Assistant Director. In 2011 she completed the OAEYC Director Certificate Program in Early Childhood Field. She has a passion for vegetarian cooking that she loves to share with the New Day School community. She is a talented henna artist and has a keen interest in learning history, languages and philosophy. Her familiarity with many Indian languages and her extensive travels has brought her closer to many traditions and customs around the world.
Fourteen years ago, a happy accident found Teacher Benjamin subbing at New Day, where he discovered a wonderful, rhythmic, nurturing environment where the most active period of human development could be observed and influenced in real time. Expanding upon his studies in Psychology, and influenced by the creative humanistic sensibilities of Waldorf education, Benjamin has found his own inner growth accelerated tremendously through the synthesis of the multitude of human qualities into a dynamic mindful and artistic practice of enriching the formative experience of new beings starting their journey through life. Helping the children find positive motivations to lay the foundations for their own self-knowledge and inter-reliance is the trickiest and most rewarding puzzle he's ever encountered.
Also known as “Didi” which means elder sister, she has been a yogic nun and meditation teacher for 40 years. Didi has served as teacher and director of Neo-Humanist Schools all over the world, including Ghana, South Africa, Denmark, Australia and Jamaica. With 40 years in education, she is known to bring the joy of yoga, meditation, gardening, singing, art and aesthetics to the classroom. As a mentor to her teachers, Didi encourages lifelong learning and integrated personal development in all her staff. Didi has been inspired by healthy living practice and the yogic lifestyle since she was a young girl and decided to dedicate her life to the practice of self-realization and service as a nun in 1978. Didi has served as director of New Day School as well as chair of the school’s Board of Directors for more than 20 years.
Teacher Jayagiita is a musician, yogi, scientist, teacher and passionate nature lover. She brings these passions to the classroom and NHE Curriculum, teaching the children yoga and meditation, offering original music, and sharing her enthusiasm for nature and sustainable practices. She recently received her Master Trainer Certificate in Early Childhood Education and uses her classroom experience to support the teachers and classrooms, provides training in early childhood development and education, as well as provides training in Neo-Humanist philosophy and curriculum. Didi Jayagiita found fulfillment in the practices of yoga and the yogic lifestyle and dedicated her service as a nun in 2014. When school’s not in session, she can be found teaching weekly yoga classes, singing kiirtan, and enjoying long walks in nature.
Marcia’s light-hearted smile and playfulness brightens any room with sunshine, joy and lightness. Marcia brings to early child development her extensive background in the healing arts and caregiving. She is a loyal playmate and enjoys exploring the art of play to foster imagination, curiosity and fun. The New Day School’s gardens fondly remind Marcia of her childhood in Portugal where she was constantly surrounded by nature as a little girl. Outside of New Day School she spends time spreading love and hugs, visiting the sick and elderly, connecting with nature, and providing energetic healing sessions.
I am very excited to be at New Day School because we share values such as sustainability, yoga, and meditation. I have many years of experience as a teacher and facilitator in early childhood education in NYC. I hold a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and a Master of Education. My NYC preschool experiences use learning through play as the vehicle for educating the whole child with regards to social/emotional, physical, speech, self-help, and cognitive development. I am new to the West Coast! I fell in love with Oregon while vacationing in 2017. I enjoy relaxing by seeing all the beautiful landscapes that Oregon has to offer.
“Our entire family feels so blessed and so lucky to be a part of the New Day School community. Our daughter is a happy, emotionally-attuned, thoughtful, plant and flower loving child thanks to her three formative years as a student. We cannot wait for our son to be old enough.”