A learning dream comes true
Woodland Primary thrilled to open outdoor classroom in Grand Falls-Windsor
It has been a long time coming.
Excitement is in the air at a primary school in Grand FallsWindsor after the grand opening of their outdoor classroom. The idea classroom started in 2018 and followed the process of meeting with the town, reviewing guidelines, funding solicitations, grant applications and so on, says Woodland Primary School principal Nancy Barry.
“Thank goodness we had a great crew,” she says of help from staff and the school council. “We had great sponsors from businesses and organizations.”
The school was the recipient of the Canadian Tire Jumpstart Grant, and they also received help from TD Bank Friends of the Environment Foundation, Rotary Club of Grand FallsWindsor, Hunts Concrete, Kent, Central Wellness Coalition, the Town of Grand FallsWindsor, Woodland Primary School Council, the NLESD, and Ed Leyte, who’s grandchildren attend the school.
Once the funds were in place, they began reaching out to get the work done, which also had a lot of guidelines from the Newfoundland and Labrador School District. The process, weather and COVID-19 pandemic hindered the process.
“Everything went on hold because you couldn’t get products … people were remote, there was no communication, we were simply working from a virtual standpoint,” Barry says of the pandemic.
The idea of the outdoor classroom was revisited last year, and after more setbacks, including a vandalized shed on the property and installing cameras, the outdoor classroom is now fully stocked and in use.
They worked Sundays and evenings and had a lot of help to get it all done.
“We had a grandfather who actually made the sandboxes and music walls and brought them here and installed them,” Barry says of Leyte.
“Michelle (Cole, school secretary) has been instrumental …The school council was so good. They brought their husbands, their mothers and fathers with wheelbarrows and shovels and paint.”
The project, which Barry thinks will continue to grow, includes a shaded structure, vegetable gardens, sandboxes, music walls, mud kitchen, picnic area, trails, a boggy area and a big open space in the middle to use all their outdoor games – all within a fenced-in area to keep children safe.
The school district also supplied an accessible merrygo-round, xylophone and sandbox.
The purpose, Barry said, is to get children outside and make learning to play together a priority.
“You want them … to be problem solvers, you want them to work together, you want them to be critical thinkers, you want them to explore and create and investigate,” Barry says.
A lot of the curriculum now lends itself to outdoor investigation and exploration.
“Children love to play and, contrary to what a lot of people think, that’s how they learn,” Barry says.
Teachers and students alike are enjoying the unique classroom.
Ahana Rahul, a Grade 2 student, says her three favourite areas are the music wall, jungle gym and trail.
“We have an afternoon routine about going to different places,” she says of the areas around the school in which they play. “Sometimes we go to the field or to the parking lot which is at the other side of the school.”
They go outside to play just about every day.
“Unless it’s raining,” Rahul says, adding it’s better than inside the classroom.
“There’s many more things to do … and fresh air.”
Barry says it’s wonderful to see this vision come to fruition before she retires after 31 years in education.
“I really did want to see it come to some kind of wrap up,” Barry says. “I’m not saying it’s not going to continue, it really will, but I’m happy that I’m leaving a place where they can go out and be a child. That’s what they are and you only get that time once in your life.
“We have children now bearing the weight of the adult world. More than ever we see children coming to school with the weight of the world literally on their shoulders. They need to play. It’s really therapy if you think about it.”