Vision

Northbrae Public School is looking to create a garden and green space in our urban kindergarten playground. Almost all of the students attending Northbrae live in apartment buildings within walking distance of the school. Many families and community members use the school’s playgrounds for leisure activities after school hours. Our students come from various backgrounds, yet the majority are either newcomers to Canada, many who are refugees, and students who are experiencing financial insecurity as well as food insecurity. Due to the urban nature of apartment living, our students in this community do not have many opportunities for gardening and growing plants. We would like to provide our students with educational opportunities to learn about our impact on the environment, ways we can live more sustainably, and providing the joy that comes with growing something they have planted themselves.

Action

Our plan is to create various gardens in our kindergarten yard which is currently bare of plants. We want to create an area with raised beds/containers intended for growing vegetables. Our hope is that we can look at the growing cycle from seed to edible product and create opportunities for inquiry, investigation, and exploration. We run a breakfast club and snack program at the school, and we would use produce to help feed students through those programs. We would also like to enhance the kindergarten playground with more greenery.

Reflection & Celebration

The opportunity to make our school more vibrant with enriching learning activities is something both staff and students would love to see. Due to that fact that many of our students are not able to grow plants and their own food is a loss in learning. We want to provide students every opportunity to enhance their learning through rich learning experiences such as this grant would provide.