Sir Wilfrid Laurier's Green Dream

Aperçu:

**Sir Wilfrid Laurier Public School** is a small JK-6 community school in Brampton, Ontario with fewer than 300 students. Our school has a varied student population representing a multitude of languages, cultures and religions. We have a local Parenting and Family Literacy Centre for pre-school aged children and their caregivers as well. **Right now the schoolyard is dismal and bereft of life**. The air quality is poor, and the yard is windswept and suffers from poor drainage conditions, due to the runoff from the asphalt of our neighboring properties. The most distinguishing visual characteristics of the yard are: - **The overwhelming amount of asphalt in very poor condition.** - **The view of the rear of a strip mall, a busy city street with industrial buildings and a community center parking lot.** For many of our students, who do not have a backyard of their own, this is the only local area they have to play outdoors. The poor conditions in the yard mean that kids are often limited to standing around on the asphalt pad during recess and lunchtime. **Our Vision** Our School Council has been working on a plan to create a beautiful, inspiring and green play space for the children of our school and the surrounding neighborhood. We intend for this area to encourage: - **Safe physical activity.** - **Positive social interaction.** - **Guardianship of the environment.** We also want to show our kids by example that we **CAN** all make a difference to our local environment and that **together, we can do GREAT THINGS.** The parents on council have been working in conjunction with teachers, community members and board and city employees to share ideas, pool resources and donate time and materials to this cause. **But we could really use an injection of funds to help us achieve our vision.** **Elements of the Plan** - **Small, green, rolling berms (hills)** to provide fun places for the children to run and play. The berms are also intended to provide a visual screen from the surrounding industrial scape and assist in keeping excess drainage from neighboring properties from entering the central area of the schoolyard. - **Trees, trees and more trees** to clean the air and soil, absorb excess water, provide windbreak and create shady areas for kids to play. - **Shrubs and perennial plants** that will assist with drainage issues, delineate play areas and provide a more welcoming environment. - **Woodland alleys of trees** for the children to run through, with logs to run along and jump over. - **Outdoor classrooms** with rock seating areas so children and teachers feel the area is an extension of the school itself and theirs to take care of. - A "**Sound Garden**" of drums and other outdoor musical instruments to encourage cooperative creativity. - A **living maze** of low shrubs to stimulate physical and mental activity. - **Benches and seating areas** shaded by trees to provide protection from the sun's rays and positive places for the kids to interact. Please see the current photos of the yard and the computerized images of what we plan to accomplish. We think you'll agree that our "**Green Dream**" project is deserving of your vote!