Vision

PROJECT PLANNING PROCESS OUTLINE

Project Story – WHAT
-Create habitat for animals and plants
-Create more natural play spaces for kids
-Increase the biodiversity of plants on our grounds
-Involve our local community more in our existing school food garden

Project Story – WHY
-We have so much grass and unused space
-Field floods every winter (unusable)
-Lack of shade on school grounds
-Outdoor classroom design was never completed/planted as intended
-Very few wild animals on/around school grounds
-Want to include more local indigenous plants (from spindle whorl – created by local FN artist as a call to action for our school)
-Need more outdoor spaces for kids to play and learn
-School food garden goes wild over summer (food waste, weeds)
-Could be getting a lot more yield out of the school garden

Project Story – HOW
What we actually want to do to increase the BIODIVERSITY of our school grounds!

GOAL #1
Create more habitat for animals & natural play spaces for kids

-Plant trees!!
-Establish a no-mow meadow (with border)
-Add logs, boulders, step-stone paths
-Plant indigenous plants
-Make bug boxes
-Build bird houses
-CR Code signage for trees and plants
-Future possibility: Add more benches to enjoy outdoor spaces
-Future possibility: Make a pond or stream
-Future possibility: Create walking trails around field perimeter

GOAL #2
Revitalize the existing school food garden to increase Involvement of the the local community

-Create a seed library/exchange
-Families adopt class garden plots for summer (eat, weed, replant for September)
-Plant indigenous food/medicine plants
-CR Code signage for plants (ripeness, SENĆOŦEN audio clip- local FN language)
-Division signs for each garden plot
-Ensure all plots are used
-Future possibility: expand garden to create community plots

Action

What we have completed or will complete by the end of the school year (as of May 24, 2025)…..

– established a student climate action team and had them draw their visions on maps of the school grounds for future reference
-raised awareness of our project plan and vision among staff, students, district staff, and the Parent Advisory Council
-presented our vision and plan at our school district’s Climate Action Changemakers Event (April 22)
– purchased local indigenous plants to plant in our outdoor classroom and existing food garden (trees, shrubs, ground cover plants)
– formally applied to the school district to create a “no-mow meadow” around our outdoor classroom which will, in the future include a natural border of large boulders and logs to also enhance this natural play space
– formally applied to the school district to have permission and support to plant our trees and shrubs
– worked with teaching staff to ensure all garden plots in the existing school garden are in use and functional
– collaborated with local high school to have wooden signs made for each division’s garden plot to enhance ownership and pride in the school food garden garden
– gathered materials for creating a “little seed library exchange” to install on the fence of our school food garden as a way to involve the wider community in our food garden (will be made by end of June)
– formally applied to the school district to have our “little seed library exchange” installed properly
– created prototypes for our information signs/cards for both food plants and indigenous plants to help make both our food garden and our outdoor classroom more of a teaching/learning space
-have floated the idea to teaching staff to have families “adopt” class garden plots over the summer so they can harvest food, manage weed growth, and help replant for students for the fall harvest season (will follow up in June)

Some of our action items are a work in progress and now we have a full list of items to keep working on with our Climate Action Team next year!