Cold Lake Elementary School (CLES) students will have more room to play, after the approval of a $118,000 loan from the Northern Lights Public Schools (NLPS) board.
Cold Lake Elementary School (CLES) students will have more room to play, after the approval of a $118,000 loan from the Northern Lights Public Schools (NLPS) board.
A jump in enrolment from 300 to just shy of 500 students had the CLES playground committee reach out to NLPS for help funding a third structure at the school.
Each playground will be focused on a specific age group. The current structure is from before the new school was built, and is geared towards students aged five to 12.
"The original one we left in tact when we demolished the old school was the newer playground at the time. Now, we're looking at putting in two others," noted Paula Elock, secretary treasurer for NLPS.
Chaemrie Smith is a preschool teacher at the Cold Lake Elementary School preschool program, and is also a member of the playground committee. She said the problem with the current playground is kids under the age of five have difficulties using it.
"It requires a lot of upper body strength. They (kids under the age of five) need equipment that meets their needs so they can build their skills so they can learn and grow," Smith explained.
The need for additional play areas started with the construction of the new school. An existing wooden play structure was removed in order to make room, leaving the school's current play structure for the time being.
"We started with the committee, and started making some plans in terms of what the new play spaces would need to look like and what we were looking for," Smith expressed.
The playground committee began brainstorming options for play spaces, keeping in mind that the play areas were for all to enjoy.
"It's meeting the needs of all of the children that are using the facilities here at the school. It's taking into account that this is one of the larger playgrounds in the north end of Cold Lake for children to access," said Smith.
The committee already has a playground on the way. It will be installed at the end of June, and ready for kids in the fall. With the new cash in-hand for their third playground, they will start looking at structure options. They're hoping to start installation on this playground once the second one is installed and ready for students.
But, the committee won't stop there. Through fundraising efforts they're wanting to build a fourth play area.
Smith said, "It's physical activity; children aren't spending enough time outside, so we need to provide them opportunities that encourage them to come outside and have fun."
