Plenty of room to move around now – that’s what sixth grader Jasmine likes about her new classroom space.

The Newark Center for Creative Learning, located on Phillips Avenue in Newark, recently increased their classroom space by 20 percent with a 1,000-square-foot addition.

The additional classroom space houses the fifth and sixth grade classes. There are 24 students currently in these two grades.

”Before we could sit only with our knees squished together and it was hard to move around.” Jasmine said. “We can stretch out now and it makes it easier to study.”

Funding for the $200,000 construction project came from the Longwood and Welfare Foundations.

Builder Randy Olney, of Olney Construction, Newark, and designer Susan Schwab, of Architectural Interiors, Wilmington, worked with the teachers to design the type of space suitable to their needs.

From the outside you won’t see the new addition because it was built inside the U-shaped structure, replacing some playground space.

Construction took place over the summer months from June to the opening of school this fall.

Sixth grade teacher, Marilynn Magnani, who has been at the school since it began 32 years ago, said they made do with the old situation, but the additional space allows more flexibility.

”Our science and math classes are more efficient,” Magnani said. “We can do more in-depth projects and not have to put everything away all the time.”

”No more shared space,” she added.

Expansion of the building does not mean expansion of the student body.

”We plan to keep the number of students small,” Paula Hines, Spanish teacher and school administrator, said, “so we can provide individual attention to focus on students’ strengths and needs.”

NCCL is a small, parent-cooperative school with an enrollment of 91 students, from ages five to 14 years, with a student-teacher ration of 11 to one.

Founded in 1971, the Center was originally housed in an old fraternity house on the corner of West Park and Indian Road. That building was razed and a new church as since been built there. In the spring 1975, the new school building on Phillips Ave. was opened. “We might have a new building, and we’ve moved around,” David Scott, parent and chair of the public relations committee said, “but we still maintain the dedication of the staff and parents.”

”We once had a reputation of being a hippy school.” Scott said, referring to the flexible child-centered, activity based curriculum.

”People think that if you don’t have desks, you’re not going to fit into the corporate world,” he noted.

”The school has been here for over 30 years, run by dedicated people, with two teachers here since the beginning,” Scott said. “It’s such a positive mark to the school, it’s endurance, the belief in the parents and the staff of this type of school as an alternative for their kids.”