Small enough that every child who wants a place on the team has one.
Crusader basketball and cheerleading, a spring musical in the gym, eight clubs that meet after the bell, and a student government elected by grades 4 through 8. Nobody sits on a bench here waiting to be picked. Our mission is to strengthen the body with organized physical activity as surely as it is to teach the mind, and there are more roles than there are children to fill them.
“The enthusiasm is contagious, and everyone involved is excited to be a part of it.”
Our teams play in the parish gym, coached by parents who know your child’s name.
Crusader basketball runs through the CYO league for boys and girls in grades 3 to 8, and the cheerleading squad takes girls from Grade 2 up. Physical education is part of the week for every grade, PreK through 8, not an elective for the athletic few.
Registration for the 2026–2027 season is open. Register by September 15, and return medical clearance and physical forms to the School Nurse.
Coaches Aggie McCombs and Janel Campisano run practice Mondays and Wednesdays from 3:15 to 4:15 PM, dropping to once a week after January. It does not interfere with the performing arts.
Organized physical activity is written into our mission, so PE is on the schedule from PreK–3 to Grade 8 — and the gym is open to alumni long after they leave.
Our choir sings at the Friday school Mass and took second place at the High Notes Festival in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
Grades 2–8 · Thursdays after school until 4:15 PM · Mrs. SielskiThree months of rehearsal, and then the whole school comes to watch.
The program is open to students in grades 3 through 8 and highlights acting, singing and dancing. Students meet after school for two to two and a half hours, three days a week, through January, February and March, and the production goes up at the end of March or early in April.
It could not run without parent volunteers who sew costumes, build sets, chaperone rehearsals and work wherever they are needed through tech week. By opening night it is less a cast than a performing arts family.
Eight clubs, and every one of them run by a teacher your child already has.
Clubs meet after the last bell, in the same rooms the day was taught in. There is no tryout for most of them, and a child in Kindergarten has somewhere to be on a Thursday just as an eighth grader does.
Student Government
Grades 4–8A liaison between the students and the administration, and the group behind service drives like the collections for Grains of Hope. Four officers are elected school‑wide — President, Vice‑President, Secretary and Treasurer — and each class from Grade 4 to Grade 8 elects a representative and an alternate to carry suggestions both ways.
National Junior Honor Society
From Grade 6Invitations go out at the end of Grade 6 to students holding a 95% cumulative average across Language Arts, Reading, Math, Science, Social Studies and Religion, with a clean disciplinary record. Faculty review each application for leadership, character and service, and members hold their grades and give ten hours of service back to the school.
Chess Club
All welcomeA game that has been around 1500 years, and still the best training there is for thinking ahead and staying calm under pressure. Every move can change the outcome.
The Paraclete
Middle schoolThe school newspaper, published quarterly. The team writes and lays out every issue, interviews faculty and classmates, runs student polls, and covers school functions and games.
Photography Club
Grades 5–8Composition, portraits, macro, landscape and editing, across several camera formats. Cameras are provided, so no child is kept out for want of equipment. Fifteen places.
Choir
Grades 2–8Vocal warm‑ups and a wide range of music for anyone who wants to sing. The choir leads the singing at the Friday school Mass and competes each spring.
Board Game Club
Grades 2–5Classic board games in the second grade classroom, and the easiest way for a younger child to make a friend outside their own class.
Craft Club
Grades K & 1The youngest children get an after‑school club of their own, making things with their hands on certain Thursdays through the year.
The teams, the clubs and the musical all sit inside a week built around the Mass.
Morning prayers open the day at 8:10. On Friday the school walks next door for the 8:30 Mass, where our students serve at the altar, read and sing. On Tuesday they spend the holy half hour in front of the Blessed Sacrament. Altar servers from Grade 4 up also serve parish Masses on the weekend.
Holy Spirit Parish offers daily Mass at 8:30 every weekday morning in the church at 318 Newark‑Pompton Turnpike, a short walk from our door at 330. Parents drop off at 8:00 and are in the pews by 8:30 if they want to be.
Students train from Grade 4 and serve both the school Mass and parish Masses on the weekend, alongside servers from the parish.
Parish youth ministry →Competitions, dress‑up days, and a carnival with the pastor.
STEM Jr. Solar Car Race
Second and third place at Morris Catholic High School, in a race sponsored by Picatinny Arsenal.
Disney Day and dress‑up days
Our First Grade closed the year with a Disney Day. Every grade has its own small traditions like it.
The last carnival with Fr. Cesar
Eighth graders spend a final afternoon together with the pastor before graduation and the Quo Vadis retreat.
Practice, rehearsal, or child care until you get here.
AM and PM child care runs on site, so a club that ends at four and a parent who finishes at five are not a problem. Uniform lists, the lunch calendar and the parent–student handbook all live with the parent resources.