St. Anthony Catholic School on Booth Street in Centretown will officially reveal its new schoolyard Friday after over a decade’s hard work to transform the “hazardous” grounds into a green oasis.
For years, the school struggled with a barren yard that was made strictly of asphalt. The school and community described it as not only visually unappealing, but dangerous for children to run and play on with a higher risk of “knock and bump” accidents.
A similar challenge has faced Glashan Public School, the students, staff and parents at which have worked to improve their school’s outdoor space at the corner of Kent and Catherine streets.
Out of 27 schools, St. Anthony was deemed the winner of the “Ugliest School Yard Contest” by the Canadian Biodiversity Institute and Earth Day Ottawa in 1998. It received $5,000 to spend on plants and materials to begin transforming the school grounds.
But members of the school community needed much more financial support for the yard makeover of their dreams.
Last year, St. Anthony won a $100,000 grant from the Aviva Community Fund, an insurance company that annually awards money to charitable community projects across Canada.
With this grant and other recent fundraising efforts, the asphalt has been replaced with a water permeable, child-friendly surface that allows rainwater to drain into the soil rather than the sewer system.
The yard is also now adorned with trees that were donated by the City of Ottawa and Evergreen Canada to better protect children from exposure of the sun’s harmful rays.
Guests are invited to the public ceremony at which principal Paul McGuire is to formally unveil the yard and thank a list of community partners and key stakeholders for their support, including the City of Ottawa, Aviva, the Ottawa Catholic School Board, TD Friends of the Environment Foundation, the Community Foundation, Evergreen Canada, architect Kaja Cerveny and Thunderbolt Contractors.