Mount Pleasant Elementary School hosted a ribbon-cutting and recognition ceremony to commemorate its newly completed playground on Friday, October 4, 2024.
Roughly 250 elementary school children attend the school and, for kids Grade four and under, their previous playground structure had been shut down and roped off for several years, leaving them with limited activities for their breaks.
“Our equipment was around 25 years old and was going to be coming up on failing inspection,” said Kristy Pollard, Chair of the Mount Pleasant School Parent Council. “Parts of it were broken and no longer safe to play on and because it was so old, we actually discovered there were no replacement parts for it either.”
In December 2021, the parent council took it upon themselves to start fundraising in an effort to replace and install new equipment for the youngsters, and in what ended up being just under three years of continuous fundraising, they were able to far surpass their original goal with a total of around $150,000.
Today, the children of Mount Pleasant Elementary School now not only have a brand new large playground structure, but an entirely upgraded outdoor space including:
- Newly laid asphalt and sod around the playground structure
- Two outdoor classrooms equipped with five picnic tables and a chalkboard in each area
- A Gaga pit and upgraded surface under the pit for better drainage
- A Large sandbox
- Two team benches around the ball diamond
- Edging around the long jump pit and mulched area beside the primary classrooms (to contain the dirt and mulch)
- Asphalt painting for a basketball court and a basketball key, four square games, hopscotch games, alphabet dragon, long jump pit lines, triple hoop games and a roadway around the playground structure
- A mesh bag for all 11 classrooms with sports equipment for recess play and/or classroom outdoor activities, and
- Sponsorship plaque and garden
“In the end, it wasn’t just the physical playground structure that we did, but the whole yard was pretty much updated so there’s tons of things for the students to do outside before school, after school and during recess time, and it now gets used every single day” said Pollard. “Every time we put in a new element, you could just see the excitement on the kid’s faces as they came into school and that’s what it’s all about, for them to enjoy.”
Pollard said none of it would be possible without the generous support of the community.
“Our sponsors ended up donating $70,700 and we also received some grants but then the rest was done through parent council fundraisers,” she said. “We were just constantly asking for money and I was floored that people were still generous enough to donate and buy tickets for raffles and everything else we did. Because we did everything in stages I don’t think any of us realized how much we raised until we tallied everything together. It just shows what a great community we live in.”
As a thank you, community organizations, sponsors, school board representatives and trustees were all invited to attend the recognition ceremony.
“Mayor David Bailey and the County Town Crier were there, we had school officials, parent council members, and we invited all of our sponsors to come out as well,” said Pollard. “As a thank, you we gave all the kids and our sponsors bracelets that say ‘once a Mustang, always a Mustang’ and instead of a thank you card, we also gave them a calendar where each classroom is a different month, and parent council and staff was also one month. We did pictures of every class on different parts of the equipment and in different parts of the playground, so that way, every month for the next year, they’ll be able to see what their sponsorship was donated to.”
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
