Sustainability

“Sustainability is a journey for each of us. Who better to help lead us on this journey than our children?" - NCCL Faculty

Teaching children to love and respect the earth and its inhabitants has always been important at NCCL. We have been educating our students about environmental issues for over 40 years.

Field trips into the community and time spent observing, studying, and appreciating nature are all regular parts of our curriculum. Children see themselves as part of a connected world and are taught that they have an impact on everything around them. Empowering children with the tools and knowledge to make a difference in their school, community, and world is a huge part of who we are. Our kids are passionate advocates for what they believe and we support their efforts to make a difference.

Here are just a few examples of the many things NCCL children have done through the years:

  • Children and teachers in our school worked together to prepare our grounds and apply to be a certified wildlife habitat.

  • Our youngest children wrote a letter to the city to ask for more waste receptacles in a nearby park after finding so much trash.

  • One group protested when a favorite tree was going to be chopped down and each class in the school volunteers to clean our local park each month.

  • Our children work hard to reduce, reuse, and recycle every day.

  • Our largest yearly outreach event, NCCL Kids’ Greenfest, is designed to teach children and families practical ways they can make a difference to help our community and ultimately the planet.

The Pollinator Corridor and Meadow Garden at Phillips Park

In partnership with Discover and the Delaware Center for Horticulture, on September 8, 2022 each student at NCCL School helped to plant a pollinator meadow garden at Phillips Park!


It all began in 2021 when NCCL School received a grant from Trees Forever to create a "Pollinator Corridor" from school to neighboring Phillips Park. The hope of the project was not only to offer a contiguous habitat and forage to vulnerable native species but to create opportunities for our students to engage with their greater community.


In a workshop last winter, students in grades 5-8 researched native perennials and the hundreds of insects that depend on them, and then designed a landscape plan and picked the native plants to help support local pollinators and wildlife.


Last spring, Group 3 students and teachers began removing invasive plants along B Street, making way for native plants that habitat and provide food sources for local wildlife. In April, Newark Parks & Recreation officially approved our plans for the Phillips Park Meadow and future B Street plantings. The City of Newark, Delaware cleared the future meadow area of honeysuckle, poison ivy, and other weeds and invasives in preparation for bringing our student's vision to life! Parents then mulched the entire planting area at summer workdays, and the stage was set for our day of planting.


Discover Bank heard about this exciting project, and provided the plants, tools, and friendly volunteers that made our day of planting such a success. With the expertise of the Delaware Center for Horticulture, yesterday our students planted over 2,000 plant plugs! The new, 2,000 sq ft meadow is located along the wood's edge, across from the play set in Phillips Park. Be sure to check it out next time you are in the neighborhood, and we will be sure to share photos once things begin to bloom next spring!


We are so grateful to Discover Bank, the Delaware Center for Horticulture, Newark Department of Parks & Recreation, the City of Newark, Trees Forever, and our parent community for making this incredible project possible for our school and our students. We cannot wait to watch birds, insects, and other wildlife enjoy the meadow for many years to come.