Ardmore School prepares for outdoor classroom

The Parent Advisory Association at the Ardmore School is pleased and a little surprised by how quickly the community responded to their request for help moving two sea cans and a shed.

Sheryl Kalinsky is the vice-president of the association. She said she put the request for help out on social media hoping someone would step up.

“I just didn’t expect it to be such a quick turnaround,” said Kalinsky. “Twenty-four hours later and Kudo Energy is here with their 45-ton picker moving the sea cans.”

Kalinsky said there were a number of companies who responded to the request, but Kudo Energy was the quickest.

The sea cans and shed needed to be moved to make space for the outdoor classroom the Parent Advisory Association hopes to break ground on this spring.

“Groundwork is really expensive, so this is the best-case scenario for the least amount of groundwork that we would need to do. It’s close to the school, it’s close to the playground. We want the community to be able to enjoy it too so parents can sit underneath the gazebo with their babies or whoever while their children play,” said Kalinsky.

The total cost of the project is expected to be in the neighbourhood of $50,000, but the association is looking for ways to save money on the project because of increases to the cost of building materials.

“We started this whole process before COVID happened. We had a bunch of quotes come in and lined up and ready to go for spring of 2020. And then things kind of stopped.

“So now we’re in a new process, getting new quotes and realizing prices have gone up, especially lumber has doubled in cost,” said Kalinsky, noting that a number of the grants they had applied for are on hold until at least 2021 because of the pandemic.

Laura Bennett, is also part of the Parent Advisory Association and said they are still absolutely trying to fundraise through things like their duck race and by working casinos, as well as reaching out to the community for donations.

Another parent involved in the project, Monika Iverson said part of the reason they wanted to build the outdoor classroom is to provide shade for the students and the community members who use the playground.

“Our school ground has no shade. The trees are quite small. So it’s one thing the school was lacking was a place the kids could go outside and do work as a class and have some seating, be protected from the wind, the rain, and the sun,” said Iverson.