Exterior Committee: June Update

The mandate of the Exterior Committee is to support outdoor play and learning that complements the holistic approach of the school. We’ll do this through improvements to the school ground, as well as supporting the creation of off-site outdoor opportunities such as visits to nearby natural areas, participating in local community gardens, and field trips that may include farms and natural areas.

Short Term (until September)
The Exterior Committee in the short term is focusing its work on helping prepare for the school opening in September. The primary areas of work between now and September are:

  • Creating recommended clothing lists to support outdoor school activities to help parents plan for the fall (see details below)
  • Creating a map of natural assets within walking distance of the school.
  • Supporting the Kindergarten teachers with planning materials and storage to support outdoor play and learning
  • Building an online forum to collect and share committee ideas for improving the school ground.
  • Exploring partnerships with urban/organic farms, community/neighbourhood gardens, and other organizations in developing outdoor experiences.

Long Term – Improving the School Grounds
The plans for the improving the school ground are being held at the brainstorming stage until September.The reason for this is that introducing any new features to the school or even entering a design process needs participation and support from the Roden school community (parents and teachers) as well as the principal.

The process will be very important and thus our first steps towards making more permanent improvements to the school ground will be outreach to the Roden community in the fall and the formation of a joint Exterior Space committee.

In the meantime, background research is being done to document past work on the school ground, past designs, potential design ideas, the roadmap to working with the TDSB and a list of potential partners and contributors.

Ideas, questions or you’d like to join the Exterior Committee?
Send an email to: exterior at wholechildschool.ca