Meeting with the Vancouver School Board representative

Today we met with VSB's Grounds Maintenance Supervisor and found out
some very interesting information.

• Sand play areas are supposed to be covered in order to keep out the neighbourhood cats, but an open long-jump pit is absolutely fine and will even be replenished with a fresh load of sand every year by the VSB.
• We are allowed to use logs for climbing ( and sitting ) as long as we comply with the requirements for a safe landing surface.
• We may create a water play area, which collects water from a rainstorm, as long as we make sure the water drains away within a reasonable amount of time.
• We can't designate any area as "soccer field", because each bump in the surface then becomes a liability issue. Higher perimeter fencing can be installed in order to prevent the balls from landing on the street, but no permanent "goals" may be installed.
• The VSB gets regular requests from ( construction ) companies who want to donate their time and expertise to the building of school playground elements. VSB employees are required to do the grounds preparation, but they allow play elements to be installed by the community.
• For any garden, or planted area, to be approved we need to prepare a solid maintenance plan. Support from the new principal and from teachers is a key requirement. Garden care would need to be part of the curriculum.

It seems that some of the rules regarding the use of logs, sand, water and rocks
have loosened considerably, which would give us the option of creating an
"adventure" type play landscape. We could explore the possibility of integrating
traditional playground elements, such as monkey bars and slides into this kind
of playscape.

An outdoor classroom

Depending on the feedback we get from the school's teachers, we may want
to include an outdoor classroom in our design.

The above three projects were done in the Netherlands by Paul van Eerd of

http://www.burobuitenruimte.nl/



                              http://www.greenstonedesign.co.uk/

Water in the playground

This is what our current water play area looks like. The kids LOVE it!
They dig trenches in the gravel, build dams and form lakes.
Is there anything young kids like better than to play with sand and water?
Above the red umbrella you see our sandbox. It's safely locked up and
in its entire five years of existence I don't think it's EVER been opened.
For a while the lid was used as a trampoline, but now it's sagging sadly.

We're dreaming about something a little more sophisticated

Garden City Park in Richmond

Urbanite - repurposed concrete slab

Budgets for school gardens don't usually allow for the purchase of landscaping
materials the conventional way, so we're always looking for waste materials that
can get the job done. Urbanite, or broken up concrete slab, is such a resource.
We like it because it's free, it would otherwise go to the landfill, it's versatile and
durable.

Mortared wall

South False Creek

 

Utrecht Botanical Garden - Netherlands

 









Music in the playground

With music programs playing such an important role at Hastings Elementary,
wouldn't it be wonderful to bring the music to the playground?
Freenotes is a European company which is producing some fabulous outdoor
instruments.

 

A place to sit

Benches are important elements for any outdoor gathering space and school
playgrounds are no exception. Kids enjoy having a place to sit and chat, and so
do the adults when they visit the playground at the end of the school day.

Bank Inzicht is a dutch website with a wonderful collection of images of outdoor
public benches. The following photo's are examples which would work well in a
school setting. They are all made with reclaimed materials. Bricks and concrete
pavers are ubiquitous in Holland and are readily available for free or at very little
cost. I don't think that's the case here, but we may be able to think of different
materials which we could use in the same way.

 

Ofcourse we do have trees here.

It doesn't get any simpler than this!

Use-of-space diagrams

A group of six enthousiastic parents met one morning to brainstorm ideas for
the use of space on the West side of the school. Much was said about the
need for one and perhaps two designated soccer fields, with a level
surface and a high back fence for preventing balls being kicked onto the
road. We also made a wish list for all the  other elements we would like our
new playground to have.

• Monkey bars
• Slide
• Spinners
• Flower garden
• Edible fruit garden
• Art
• Music
• Sand
• Water
• Loose materials
• Logs and rocks
• Outdoor classroom
• Bicycle racks
• Shrubs

After this first meeting a couple of parents got together in order to draw some
use-of-space diagrams. These will be a starting point for an exchange of ideas
by all of the partners in this project - parents, teachers, administators and support
staff, students, neighbours and the Vancouver School Board (VSB).


Diagram #1



Diagram #2



Diagram #3

Coastal cedar climber

Garden City Park in Richmond and Oppenheimer Park in Vancouver,
both have these cool looking wood climbers. They're made by Warren Brubacher's Coastal Cedar Creations, of Squamish BC, from "waste wood" salvaged from logging sites.
Both playgrounds were designed by the local landscape architecture firm space2place.

Garden City Park Playground  in Richmond, BC

Kids need to climb

These rocks, made of a light fibreglass reinforced concrete mix, offer kids a
high perch and many different ways of climbing up. They look good in a more
naturalistic looking playground setting.



The old playground has to go.

The Vancouver School Board has put our school on notice - in two years time
the old primary playground,for Kindergarten up to grade 3, will be demolished.
Apparently the "BigToys" play structures can no longer be repaired.
It's time for the parents, students and teachers of Hastings school to come up with
a plan for renovation AND for the funds to carry the plan to fruition.
It's going to be a big job, but it will also be a great opportunity to dream about
creating something very special. Everybody loves playgrounds, so it should
be fun to gather together all of our community's creative energies and to see what
we can dream up....