The Red Deer Lake School Council is working toward achieving a fundraising goal that would build a new structure for students to play.
The new playground will be physically accessible for all students and incorporates elements attractive to children on the autism spectrum and with other sensory disorders, said committee chair Lindsay Flynn.
“It’s kind of a three-facet project that is really exciting, not only for our school, but for the community as well,” she said. “If you look in Foothills County and even in the City of Calgary, there’s very few truly accessible playgrounds when you look at it from all these lenses.”
Flynn, who has also been a school council member for five years, said that the idea for an additional playground space that was inclusive and accessible began when it became obvious that the existing space was not enough to accommodate the existing student population, as well students with mobility concerns and other challenges.
“Our capacity at our school for the playground is not meeting the demand of how many kids we have,” said Flynn, who is also a special education teacher.
She explained that students would be put on a schedule for when they could use the playground, often alternating recesses. She said pandemic protocol cohorting has exacerbated this issue.
Educators noticed that some children who were not scheduled to play on the play structure had difficulty initiating their participation in other activities.
“We would notice that there are some kids walking around by themselves when it wasn’t their time on the playground and we thought if some of these kids could play whenever they wanted to play, they could be a lot more successful socially,” Flynn said.
The standalone structure will meet up with existing concrete on the site, Flynn said, and will be surfaced with pour-in-place rubber surfacing, made from melted, recycled tires, that provides a flat and even surface safe for individuals using a wheelchair or other mobility devices.
A "buddy bus” that allows space for one wheelchair and two other individuals to bounce and rock, as well as accessible stairs that lead to a slide, a gazebo with various play panels at appropriate sitting height and free-standing musical instruments are just some of the elements Flynn said are exciting about the project.
"This is going to be fantastic for the school," said Red Deer Lake principal Derek Markides.
"I think the big movement here is that these are some things that we probably didn't consider 10 years ago. And the inclusivity of that playground serves all students and is a great opportunity for all the kids in the local area."
The project has been made possible, in part, by the Government of Alberta Community Facilities Enhancement Project Grant, which is a matching program, Flynn explained. The group was given half of the total cost of the playground through this government grant, with the agreement that they would contribute the other half.
“That was huge. I think we wouldn’t be as close to making this a reality so quickly, if it wasn’t for that grant,” she said.
The rest of the money will come from casino funds, school-level fundraising done by the school council and money raised through a personal donation campaign that was launched in the community on Sept. 27, according to Flynn.
“The feedback has been absolutely incredible, and I think it shows the support for the project. We have raised $30,000 in the last six weeks from personal and corporate donations all connected to the people in our school community,” Flynn said.
The plan is to keep the fundraiser going until at least Christmas. For more information about the project, visit rdlschoolcouncil.ca or to donate, visit the group’s GoFundMe page.
“There’s so many studies that show the importance of play," Flynn said. "But, if we don’t set up our play structures to allow everyone to play, we’re doing the kids a disservice.”
The playground is set to be built beginning in May 2022, with the plan to have a grand opening before the end of the school year.
