Vision

Our vision for Canada is one where students and staff promote environmental stewardship among the school community (i.e., students, teachers, staff, parents, community at large). Our students and staff wish to support a healthy ecosystem and reestablish a natural habitat in our schoolyard. Our hope is to enhance health and educational outcomes of students by providing naturalized spaces to learn and play, and supporting engagement in growing, harvesting (and eating) vegetables and fruits.​

Action

Our school was built in 2014 and is integrated into a multi-phase subdivision development. A sub-committee of the parent council has been supporting the implementation of a broad schoolyard greening plan to address a lack of shade, windbreak and natural habitat on the school grounds. This project is a part of a larger schoolyard greening initiative. We have already planted trees and shrubs, and installed an outdoor classroom. For this project, we wished to complete a pollinator garden that was started last year. In the Fall of 2018, staff and students planted native seeds in the pollinator garden as well as hostas in small garden bed close to our pollinator garden and our vegetable/fruit accessible garden beds. Members of Eco-Team have created pollinator garden signs which will be added to the garden. Several staff and students spread ten yards of mulch to our garden beds in order to retain moisture and to control weeds.

Reflection & Celebration

We are excited to be adding a tall grass garden as well as bee houses to our school yard this year. Students in various classes have been learning about the needs of plants. The Erin Seed Lending Library sent our teachers a variety of native fruit, vegetable and annual seeds. Students have planted the seeds in their classroom and have started to transplant them in our accessible stock garden tubs and surrounding garden beds (e.g., pumpkin seeds). The plants will be ready to harvest in the Fall of 2019.

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