No Child Left |ndoors

With growing research pointing to the importance of outdoor learning, Radcliffe Creek School began the No Child Left Indoors (NCLI) initiative. In partnership with the Robert F. Schumann Foundation, the NCLI initiative ensures every student is offered at least one extraordinary off-campus field experience every trimester.

No Child Left Indoors Initiative
The Radcliffe Way Taken to a Whole New Level

Completed Trips

Milburn Orchard (1-4)
Camping in Cape Henlopen State Park - 2 days, 1 night (5&6)
Harriet Tubman Museum and Nature Trail (3&4)
Echo Hill and Betterton Beach (3&4)
History Study in Gettysburg - 2 days, 1 night (7&8)
Hagley Museum, Gardens, and Powder Yard (5&6)
Farm Visit at Red Acres Hydroponics & Farm-to-Table Meal at Farmer's Table Restaurant (1-3)
Orienteering and Hiking at Tuckahoe State Park (6-8)
CBF Trip to Port Isobel - 3 days, 2 nights (7&8)
CBEC Bay Critters Ecology Trip (1-3)
Canoeing on the Sassafras River (5&6)
Watermarks Colonial Life Walk and Bay Ecology Boat Trip (3&4)
Camp Tockwogh - 2 days, 1 night (5&6)

Our new outdoor learning program—the No Child Left Indoors (NCLI) Initiative—launched during the 2023-24 school year thanks to generous support from the Robert F. Schumann Foundation. The impact of NCLI has already been felt deeply in our students, and our teachers have witnessed the transformative power of infusing the outdoors into our programming across all disciplines.

The very foundation of The Radcliffe Way is based upon creating a learning environment so interactive that students, while deeply immersed in our hands-on, multi-sensory lessons, become so excited, they forget they are learning. There is no better classroom to engage all of the senses than our natural world, where students can taste the salt of the ocean on their lips while hearing about local ecosystems or build tents with peers while practicing important social skills.

RCS teachers have already witnessed our students, some of whom may lack confidence inside a classroom, suddenly jump out of their shells while in the outdoors: typically shy students have been heard enthusiastically sharing their insights about NCLI, and students who struggle with social skills have taken on leadership roles to help their peers on the outdoor experiences.

NCLI brings every Radcliffe Creek School student on an outdoor experience every trimester, which means each student at RCS gets the chance to experience environmental education trips and immersive outdoor experiences at least three times a year. These trips are designed to link up with some part of their learning experience in the classroom. As one student phrased it, “I saw the Battle of Gettysburg in a whole new way, after walking the fields myself.” It is through these unique experiences in nature--where students can smell the fresh air and dig their hands in the dirt--that they are invited to leave their screens behind and create their own personal connection with the Earth and with one another.

As a part of NCLI, speakers are brought in to discuss important environmental topics with the RCS community, student service projects are organized to clean up local parks, and upgrades are made on the school campus to help RCS become a greener school. Celebrations are planned around Earth Week, when the entire school community comes together to mulch our play areas, garden beds, and wetland trails, plant around our outdoor classroom and make our natural areas a more inspiring place to learn.