Blog  October 12, 2011

2011–12 school ground greening kicks off!

Newly planted trees and rocks for sitting on the Victory PS school ground

The first deadline for the 2011–12 Toyota Evergreen Learning Grounds funding program has now passed, and so far the school year is off to a great start! We are happy to announce that schools in Vancouver, Guelph, New Glasgow and Barrie are just a few who have been awarded funding.

Funds are still available, so be sure to get your application in for one of the three remaining 2011–12 intake dates: December 2, March 16 or June 1.

One of the first projects to be supported this year is Victory Public School in Guelph, ON. In addition to being awarded funding through the school ground greening program, the school’s Greening Committee developed an impressive fundraising campaign. Using a well-designed educational pamphlet (PDF, 1.4 MB) and donation card, they enabled members of the community to donate funds and volunteer their time or resources to various aspects of the plan.

These newly planted trees will help alleviate playground flooding issues and provide a shaded place to sit.

The project involves developing four different areas of the schoolyard, including a shaded, soft-surface playground, stabilization of a hill on the grounds, which is currently used as a look-out, seating in a space for dramatic play and socialization and new trees and seating to create a corridor between the school and surrounding neighbourhood.

Because this is a long-term project, the school will implement it over several phases. The funding for this year will be used to build two rain gardens that will create shade and habitat, alleviating various existing school ground problems that are a result of excess drainage from the rooftop, such as mud, compaction and erosion.

The school has also received donations of old (not chemically treated) hydro poles from Ontario Hydro that will be cut and used as seating around the school grounds––a great example of how to incorporate recycled materials into the design of a functional and creative play space for students and the community!

Congratulations and good luck to Victory Public School and our other 2011–12 grant recipients! Don’t forget, there’s still time to apply for funding of your school ground greening project this year. You can find all the details on our website.