Natchaug School

Natchaug is a public school open to students from kindergarten through fifth grade, after which they move on to Windham Middle School. In the 2021-22 school year there were 278 enrolled students in grades K-5.[2] With 26 classroom teachers, the school has a student-teacher ratio of about 11:1.[2] Natchaug also has a Family Resource Center and before- and after-school programs for its students.[3]

As of the 2021-22 school year, Hispanic/Latinx children made up about three fourths of the student body. About one sixth of the students were non-Hispanic white, and smaller numbers of students were Asian, Black, American Indian, multiracial or of other backgrounds.[2] Of the educators at the school, about 81% were white and 16% Hispanic.[6] About three fourths of the school's students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch,[2] so, overall, the students' families are poorer than the average for all Connecticut public schools (43% qualify for the lunch program).[7]

Natchaug has had bilingual education programs for Spanish-speakers in place since the 1980s,[8][9] in accordance with state legislation.[10] Currently about half of Natchaug students are classified as English Language Learners, in comparison to 9% of all public school students statewide.[2][11]

In Windham School District overall, 31% of students are English Learners.[11] The school district started dual-language programs in 2018-19, with the aim of promoting bilingualism among primarily Spanish-speaking children and primarily English-speaking children.[12]

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on children's emotional well being, Natchaug's teachers have begun using a puppet-based model for helping students learn to recognize and manage feelings.[13] The program is based on cognitive behavioral therapy principles, and Natchaug staff have worked with the University of Connecticut's school of puppetry to develop lessons in short puppeteered films. Students also get kits to make their own puppets.[13]

Old Natchaug School, c. 1910

Natchaug School was originally for students from elementary through high school. The school was initially a large wooden building, completed in 1864 to replace the old stone schoolhouse that had served the students on the east side of Willimantic since 1831.[14] The school was described admiringly in an 1889 history of Windham:

It was built in 1864, – and it has a seating capacity of about six hundred, with an average attendance of about five hundred. The building is in excellent repair and is in an ample yard, ornamented with shade trees. The furniture of the school buildings is nearly all modern and of an excellent model. ... The school libraries contain 1,000 or more volumes. Globes, maps and books are there in commendable numbers for the use of the primary and grammar grades.[15]

In the late 1870s, pupils included several visiting students from China, who had been sent by the Qing dynasty as the educational mission of its Self-Strengthening Movement.[16] The visiting students were Chang Yau Kung, Won Bing Chung, and Sung Mun Wai.[17] Natchaug High School was a part of the school until 1897, when a new, separate building was constructed for secondary school.[1][18]

In 1914, the original wooden school was torn down to make way for the current brick structure.[1]

The school was closed for 18 months (June 2012 to January 2014) due to roof damage. During that time, students attended elementary school classes at Windham Middle School.[19]

• Wilbur Cross, literary critic and 71st governor of Connecticut[1]
• William Sprague, Congregationalist clergyman[27]
• Isaiah Oggins, American-born spy for the Soviet Union[28]
• Sung Mun Wai (宋文翙), participant in the 1870s Chinese Educational Mission and Vice Admiral in the Chinese Navy[16][29]
• George Ernest Waldo, U.S. Representative from New York (1905–09)