Students at a northwest Calgary school celebrated the grand opening of their new inclusive playground on Thursday afternoon, three years after the school’s playground committee was initiated.
The Hidden Valley School playground was renovated over the summer after community members spent the last three years raising money for the initiative through 50/50 draws, casinos and other initiatives. The playground was demolished in early July and construction was finished in the beginning of August, just in time for the new school year.
According to the school’s website, 56 per cent of the money raised was acquired through grants and 20 per cent was raised through fundraising initiatives from the school’s parent society. Around 15 per cent of the money was from in-kind contributions and the remaining nine per cent were direct donations.
Hidden Valley School also collaborated with Parks Foundation Calgary for accounting, direct donation and charitable tax receipt assistance.
Sarah Parchewsky, Hidden Valley School’s playground coordinator, said the renovation costs were high because of the playground’s large size. The school already had $40,000 saved for playground renovations three years ago, but it wasn’t enough to cover all of the costs.
The goal was to have a space for anyone to come and enjoy, especially those with disabilities, she said.
“Our playground … The surface area is really huge, so we know that it was going to cost a significant amount of money and it was going to require a significant amount of fundraising,” she told LiveWire Calgary.
“It’s something that I’m very passionate about because it’s a space free of socioeconomic barriers for the people in our community. When our school was going to build [an inclusive playground], I automatically said that I’ll champion it.
“We have a lot of rental housing in our community, so this is a place that anyone can come and enjoy, not just children but adults as well.”
Michelle Chastko, Hidden Valley School’s principal, said she is thankful for the school council, teachers and students who supported the playground project over the past three years.
“The goal was to ensure that any student at any time, any person or community at any time, can access each of these pieces of equipment and enjoy them just like everybody else,” Chastko said.
“We are just so fortunate because our playground is such a hub in our community, and knowing that it’s here for not just this, this group of students, but far into the future, knowing that we’ve built something that future students can come and enjoy. We’re very happy about that.”
