Two years of work by local volunteers culminated in a grand opening of Dunstable School’s new outdoor classroom last Wednesday, Sept. 7.
A sizeable crowd of students and parents gathered for a ribbon-cutting at one of the new outdoor structures that evening, which served double duty as a meet-the-teacher night and a “welcome back” barbecue.
“We had a wonderful evening and it’s wonderful to see such a crowd,” said Dunstable School principal Tammy Tkachuk, who also teaches Grade 5-6.
“We’re very excited that we have these outdoor classrooms as a place to do our art, to do our science, to do a lot of our writing and our learning.”
Tkachuk also took note of the other aspects of the outdoor classroom project: three outdoor musical instruments, the dozens of trees planted around the schoolyard and the raised garden, on the west side of the school.
“I know that the kids have already been eating out of the garden the fruits and vegetables that were planted in the spring. So it really does add a lot to our school, and it’s really thanks to the work of a lot of the people who are there,” she said.
Tracy DeZaeyer and Krista Schole were credited for spearheading the project, though it actually took the efforts of many local residents, the contributions of many local businesses and grant money from the province to complete the outdoor classroom.
“Our project has taken two years of work to get this all completed,” said Schole. “We have many people to thank in this venture. So many community members and businesses and volunteers have stepped up for us.”
Schole said members of the Dunstable School Council took the project on when it was brought to their attention that the students had no shade, no windbreak and nowhere in the schoolyard to really sit and eat food.
“So we thought they would benefit from a structure that they could … utilize year-round,” she said.
“Little did we know when we started how big this project would become. It started out with a couple of trees and it grew and it grew.”
One of the reasons the project grew in leaps and bounds from there was because they told the students and staff to come back with suggestions for what they wanted, Schole said.
“The kids came back with pictures and ideas and the teachers did the same,” she said.
Schole said they received donations from a number of sources; for instance, the Barrhead Rotary Club and Communities for Children funded the three outdoor musical instruments, and a TD Friends of the Environment grant helped purchase the trees and picnic tables.
They also received money and the use of equipment from sources like the County of Barrhead, the Pembina West Co-op, the Busby Lions, the Busby Fire Department and other businesses in Barrhead, Morinville and Legal.
They also applied for a Community Facility Enhancement Program (CFEP) matching grant from the province, which was delivered by Barrhead-Morinville-Westlock MLA Glenn van Dijken.
To raise the necessary funds to match the grant, they held two murder mystery fundraisers where local residents took on various roles, plus pancake breakfasts.
Two concrete cement pads were poured in the fall of 2015 and trees were planted around the yard during one weekend where it poured rain on the second day.
“We were muddy and disgusting, but we planted so many trees and had so much fun,” said Schole.
Busby Fish and Game also came out to the school to work with the students in building birdhouses, which the kids enjoyed, Schole said.
Schole said the whole outdoor classroom project consists of two outdoor structures, eight picnic tables, two raised garden beds, 115 trees, one sea can and three outdoor musical instruments.
Schole noted that Dunstable is a vibrant school community with about 70 students from preschool to Grade 6 and they really pride themselves “on being community-oriented and to make this school feel like a family.
“We firmly believe that by doing this, we brought the community back to Dunstable, which was our major goal,” she said.
County of Barrhead Coun. Doug Drozd also presented a certificate of appreciation during the ceremony.
“The community and the county is very proud of your accomplishments,” he said.
