Students, staff and special guests celebrated the official opening of a new accessible playground at Jarvis Traditional Elementary last Friday (Jan. 13).
In use for several weeks, the universally accessible playground was made possible after the North Delta school received a $165,000 grant through the provincial government’s Playground Equipment Program (PEP).
At the ceremony, it was reiterated that play areas are important in supporting students’ physical literacy and a valuable addition to the entire community, according to a district news release.
The province’s PEP last year saw $5 million invested in 30 playgrounds for 24 school districts throughout the province.
Each school district received $165,000 towards building a school's new accessible playground.
Richardson Elementary in North Delta was the one school in Delta announced in 2022 to get funding.
The province the previous September had another PEP announcement, which included Jarvis Traditional Elementary.
For those Delta schools that have not been getting funding from the province for new playgrounds, school parent advisory councils have been working with the City of Delta on funding opportunities.
Because some PACs have been struggling to fundraise compared to others, the city a few years ago worked out a revised program with the school district.
The previous funding model required PACs to raise significant portions of the money for playgrounds and then submit applications for financial contributions from both the City of Delta and the Delta School District.
Delta staff now work with the school district, which provides a prioritized list of playground replacement. Delta will provide 50 per cent of the annual funding towards publicly accessible school district playground replacements to a maximum of $75,000.
The district developed its prioritized list of playground equipment needing replacement to ensure that the district will not have to remove serviceable playground equipment within the confines of a larger playground space. The replacement of individual pieces of equipment is instead undertaken.
Five years ago, the school board voted in favour of a motion for the district begin exploring “stable and equitable funding” for school playground equipment.
Trustees at the time agreed to have staff prepare a report on the issue, saying the role of school PACs was never intended to fundraise for such a huge expense and that many are struggling to raise that kind of money.
