Three years of hard work, fundraising and community cooperation has resulted in a new playground at English Bluff Elementary.
Representatives from Delta School District and City of Delta joined with teachers, students and PAC members to open the playground with a ribbon cutting under sunny skies in Tsawwassen Tuesday afternoon.
PAC chair Andrea Vance said the project is one of Delta School District’s first nature-based playgrounds.
“So that means we didn’t just take an old structure out and put a new one in and walk away with a shiny new toy, we really re-developed an entire outdoor play space,” Vance said. “It has elements for imagination for all ages, all abilities, all different styles of play. The whole idea is we created places that kids can use their imagination. It’s not here is a slide where you climb up and slide down, it’s what can you do with this using your imagination, creativity and utilizing the entire play space, how we can spread out the play and make it part of the school.”
She said the existing playground is still in place, but is on its last legs.
“It was estimated to have three to five years left, so we actually refurbished it as part of this project,” she said. “Hopefully we can get a few more years out of that structure.”
Vance said the PAC worked with the school, school district and the City of Delta to gain support for the initiative.
The overall project cost $138,000, of which the City of Delta matched PAC raised funds up to $45,000. Westshore Terminals donated $20,000 while many other local businesses donated thousands of dollars or services.
“There was a lot of bake sales, carnivals and spell-a-thons,” said Vance. “For quite a few years most of the funds raised here went to the playground. The students have been involved with this from day one and it’s still ongoing. It will almost never be finished and that is the beauty of what we have done here because it can evolve over the years. This today is less of an unveiling but more of a community coming together and recognizing what has been done, which is pretty special.”
Principal Michelle Smith said the playground is a result of a tremendous effort by the community.
“I’m very proud to be the principal of this school because this school is the kind of school that comes together in a spirit of community,” said Smith.
School board chair Laura Dixon said partnerships make projects like this possible.
“I have always viewed playgrounds as an extension of our classrooms,” said Dixon. “It’s where social learning takes place, where students learn through play how to be citizens, how to share and collaborate. This play space has a special vision to promote physical literacy and integration with the natural surroundings and has already brought many moments of joy for you all here at English Bluff.”
