New Covenant Christian School

New Covenant Christian School
Location
New Covenant Christian School
Coordinates	Coordinates: 39°29′22″N 76°18′50″W / 39.48944°N 76.31389°W / 39.48944; -76.31389
Information
Website	www.newcovenantchristianschool.org

New Covenant Christian School (NCCS) is a private, classical Christian school with campuses in Bel Air and Abingdon, Maryland. It is composed of the Grammar School (Pre-K-6) and the Upper School (grades 7-12).

Location

The Grammar School is located at 128 Saint Mary’s Church Road in Abingdon, Maryland. (This is also the address of New Covenant Presbyterian Church, although the school has its own wing of the building.) NCCS is a ministry of New Covenant Presbyterian Church (NCCS).^[1] The Upper School is located approximately five minutes from the Grammar School at 1515 Emmorton Road, Bel Air, Maryland. (This is also the address of Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd (LCGS). LCGS's only affiliation with NCCS is as host.)

School identity

The mascot of the school is the New Covenant Knight. The school colors are burgundy and navy blue.

A motto among the teachers and staff is "Sharpening minds, shepherding hearts, shaping lives." The mission statement of New Covenant Christian School is: "We exist to glorify God by assisting parents in training their children to be Biblically-minded servant-leaders through a Reformed, Christ-centered, classical education."^[2]

Student body

There are 121 students in the Grammar School and 63 in the Upper School. The class sizes are regulated, so they will reach no more than 18 students in kindergarten through third grades, 20 in fourth through sixth grades, and no more than 22 students in upper school classes.

Although the school is a ministry of New Covenant Presbyterian Church, it includes students from over 47 different churches.

All students at NCCS are required to wear daily school uniforms they are khaki pants and nccs shirt for males in upperschool and navy blue pants and nccs shirt. for females they wear skirts that are at the knee and nccs shirts. Once a week, on chapel days, students wear more formal uniforms.

House system

A house system was instated in the Upper School in September, 2011. The system is modeled after older European schools. The Upper School is broken into four houses, all named after influential historical figures: Athanasius House, Augustine House, Calvin House, and Luther House. Each is led by an 11th or 12th grade student who serves as the House Captain. It is the Captain’s job to manage house operations along with the House Delegate, who is elected by the members of the house. The Captains and Delegates make up the Student Leadership Council (SLC), which works with faculty and administration to plan, organize, and manage many Upper School activities, such as social events, service projects, and competitions.

History

The school was founded in 1999. At the start, only kindergarten and first grade were offered. Each year since then, NCCS has added one grade level. The school celebrated its first graduating class in 2010.

The school follows the classical model of education which is based on the structures of ancient and medieval education systems. Under this model, students progress through the trivium: grammar, logic, and rhetoric stages.

In kindergarten through second grade, teachers focus primarily on phonic/scholastic, introduction to mathematics, and proper behavior lessons.

By third grade and through sixth, the students progress through the grammar phase. This phase is built around the fact that in these years, children’s brains are developing in such a way that they are able to easily memorize information. Therefore, in third through sixth grades at NCCS, lessons include subjects such as multiplication, land formations, countries and capitals, names and dates of important people and events in history, and English and Latin vocabulary.

Grades seven through nine make up the logic phase (or dialectic phase). This phase is built around the fact that in these years, children naturally begin to question the world around them. The lessons in the logic years focus on reasoning skills: identifying relationships between facts and ideas, discerning fact from fallacy, etc. Essentially, the learning of facts continues from the grammar years and analytical skills are added to those facts.

The rhetoric phase is completed in grades ten through twelve. This phase is all about application. Students make practical use of the knowledge and skills they acquired in the grammar and logic phases. They are taught to creatively, eloquently, and effectively express themselves in writing and speech. There is also significant focus on debate in this phase.

Administration

Jean Armstrong, who was the principal when the doors opened in 1999, is still the principal of the Grammar School. She spent several years teaching fourth and fifth grade at NCCS but eventually returned to the primary position of principal. She graduated from UMBC with a bachelor's degree in Elementary Education and Psychology. She also has a Master's Equivalency with a background in Applied Behavioral Science and Administration and Supervision. Armstrong spent years teaching in Baltimore City Schools. During her time teaching in the city, she earned her Advanced Professional Certificate from the Maryland State Department of Education.^[3]

Athletics

NCCS athletic teams compete against other local public and private schools.

The school's sports teams include:

• Girls' varsity and junior varsity volleyball
• Girls' varsity and junior varsity soccer
• Girls' varsity basketball
• Boys' varsity and junior varsity soccer
• Boys' varsity and junior varsity basketball^[4]

The NCCS sports teams also include students of New Covenant Christian Academy, the home school organization affiliated with New Covenant Presbyterian Church.

Notes