St. Mary’s School in Estevan is developing a more natural outdoor area for pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten students, in an effort to meet changing requirements from the Saskatchewan Ministry of Education.
Principal David Murphy said the school has a lot of old, plastic structures for the children to use. While they have been well-used over the years, they are starting to break down.
The new outdoor area will still have swings and other traditional playground equipment. The school hopes the swing set will be in the shape of Noah’s Arc. It would be an expensive purchase, but Murphy believes the young children would love it.
There will be a lot of non-traditional amenities as well.
“One will be a hill that the kids can roll down and things like that,” Murphy told the Mercury. “It won’t be a large hill, because we’re limited for area.”
There will also be a smooth, cement area where the kids can ride their tricycles and pull their wagons, an outdoor seating circle for classrooms that will be divided into three areas to represent the Holy Trinity, and a sandbox covered by a teepee to celebrate First Nations cultures.
“We’re going to make use of an old canoe that’s been in the area, and we’re going to have a bridge that docks to this canoe so the kids can climb this bridge and walk into the canoe, and then they’ll be able to pretend they’re actually canoeing down the rivers of Saskatchewan,” said Murphy.
A metal fence on the school’s west side will eventually be removed, and replaced by bushes that will provide a barrier, so the students don’t run into the street. Once the bushes are high enough, the fence will be taken away, which will add to the esthetics of the site.
The area will also have naturally-looking containers to hold sand, gravel and water for children to play with; pea gravel to help with the drainage; an outdoor work table; an inner circle with a cross in the middle to represent the school’s Catholic faith; rocks that list the fruits of the Holy Spirit; white boards for students to use; and a triangle-shaped shed for storage.
Murphy said the estimated cost of all the equipment and additions will be $20,000 or $21,000. Due to the cost, he expects it will take three years to complete.
“All of this money is going to have to be through grants or fundraising,” said Murphy. “We just don’t have that kind of money to throw into something like the outdoor classrooms. I would love to do it, but most of the budget goes directly to student necessities throughout the school.”
Some money is already in place, and they have some commitments for volunteer work, but not enough to start work on the outdoor area.
He would like to see the concrete pad, the bushes and the shed completed first. Once they are finished, they can move forward with the other components.
While the project is for the youngest students at the school, Murphy said everyone at the school will benefit, and it will also be good for the community. He will be applying for support through the Community Initiatives Fund.
“A lot of kids do go in there on the weekend and play with the plastic structures, and they enjoy it a lot,” said Murphy.
