For three weeks in September, students at Deep Cove Elementary in North Saanich regularly gathered around a fenced area in front of their school to watch a brand new playground being built piece by piece, wondering how much wood chips were used to cover the ground and all that digger dagger.
On Wednesday afternoon, Oct. 2, they came out swinging, spinning and sliding into a new and inclusive playground, completed five months since the school was awarded a provincial grant in May.
"We formed a playground committee involving students, parents, and staff," Philip Jungen, school principal, said. "We went from consulting, to design, demolition, manufacturing, and then to installation in an incredible five months."
Deep Cove wanted a modern playground that showcased the school values of inclucivity, health and well-being, connection and relationship building with friends.
"It was really fun to get to go into the classroom, talk to the kids about their vision for the space, what they love about playgrounds and what they wanted to see here – lots of must haves," Ashley Ferris, playground designer, said. "The students really put in elements of play into this one; they chose everything from top to bottom."
The gradeschoolers picked different hues of blue as the colour theme for the playground. They also chose the styles of slides, climbers and custom panels that incorporated Deep Cove and Saanich special words.
The new playground is larger than the old playground occupying 3,300 square feet of space, providing for a much more varied, advanced playground experience where children from different grades can come and play.
