The Indus School Accessible Playground grand opening was a hit among children on Sept. 11.
The project Manager, and the Assistant Principal of Indus School, Colin McDonald said the new accessible playground was built by volunteers who spent their summer donating their time to the project.
“We were very fortunate. We ended up having tremendously more volunteers than we anticipated. It just goes to show the strength of the community coming together to make the playground project happen,” McDonald said.
“The community went above and beyond, it’s a tremendous community here in Indus, and they put an overwhelming effort into making this project a reality,” McDonald said.
He added, the best part of the Indus School Accessible Playground project was building the playground with the parents and gradians.
“That was a great community building activity,” he said.
The previous playground was at the end of its lifespan, McDonald added, it was not accessible for all students.
The playground now has a large play structure with an accessibility ramp, large swings, and the surface of the playground is rubber opposed to gravel, ensuring students can move easily with no mobility restrictions.
“This playground was necessary because we wanted very single student in the Indus community to be included in all activities here at the school.
“We felt that providing access through this play ground was the way to do it,” McDonald said.
The new playground has been extremely successful among the students, which has made all facility proud of their efforts to the project.
“I’m not sure if there have been children on any other square foot of the play area other the playground,” McDonald added, “The green space has been underutilized.”
Indus School Principal M.G. Wyper said every day since the playground has opened it has been crowded by students in every grade.
“Students have been enjoying it which is fantastic because if anyone knows about seven, eight, and nine students will know they don’t usually play, they usually just hang out,” Wyper said.
He added, “It’s great to see them active and having fun.”
