PLAYbook receives CST grant!

The Orchard Garden is part of an exciting initiative called PLAYbook, a project to develop a guidebook of approved schoolyard design ideas for Parent Advisory Committees. Partners for PLAYbook include UBC's School of Landscape Architecture (Kris Fox, Susan Herrington), Pediatrics & Public Health, Faculty of Medicine (Mariana Brussoni), the Faculty of Education (Susan Gerofsky, Julia Ostertag), and the Vancouver School Board. Recently, we received a $5,000 grant from CST's Inspiring Minds Learning Projects grant (see proposal here). Thank you to everyone who voted for our project - we appreciate all of your support! Here are some of the photos with our giant cheque - taken at The UBC Orchard Garden.

The grant application required a very concise description of our project, so here it is:

Parent Advisory Committees (PACs) fundraise for, plan, design, and build many of the features on school grounds but it’s difficult to create the best play structure or outdoor learning environment without access to innovative ideas approved by the Vancouver School Board (VSB) for construction.

The PLAYbook will help PACs transform Vancouver school grounds for over 55,000 students. As a “How-To Guidebook," PLAYbook will offer a selection of leading research and best innovative ideas for school grounds in the following areas: landscape architecture, sustainable design, economic and phasing strategies, child development, injury prevention, and outdoor educational opportunities. 

The PLAYbook will be developed by a team of design professionals, health, and education researchers at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in close collaboration and consultation with parents, teachers, kids, the VSB, and community partners.

The user-friendly, locally-adapted, menu-based PLAYbook of school ground design guidelines will be available in hard copy and online to help parent groups create the best outdoor play and learning environments for public schools in Vancouver and beyond.