As kids rushed into school last week, some may have noticed a few changes that occurred over the summer. In Standard, students would not have even cleared the doors before seeing something new.
This year the school is boasting a brand new playground, which to some students may well be the coolest change they’ve seen.
“Last year we had a parent council committee that went ahead and got government grants. At the end of June we had work crews ripping out the old playground and installing the new, so kids could spend all summer testing it,” said Janice Reagan, with Standard School.
The old playground was built in stages over the years. The old pieces of equipment were built 35 years ago and many were from 20 years ago.
“It always looks nice to see a new playground in the yard. Parts of it were here for at least 35 years. That’s how long we hung on to our old equipment. It was time for a change,” said Reagan.
An added feature of the playground is that if/when the time arises and the school shuts down in favour of a new school to serve a large chunk of Wheatland County, much of the equipment can be reinstalled elsewhere.
“It’s installed on moveable tracking. A lot of the equipment can be moved to a new location, but parts of it will stay in the community,” said Reagan.
For staff, the school welcomed its new associate principal, Amy Van Vliet. The position had been previously been vacant. In addition, the school welcomed a new caretaking staff.
There are few changes this year inside the school. Everything is on hold until the future of the consolidated Wheatland East K-12 school is certain.
“All major things are kind of on hold and everything is status quo until the government has made its decision about Golden Hill’s application for a stand alone school,” said Reagan.
There are about 20 new students to the school this year, bringing the total to 200 students.
For now the school is working as normal, though many students are undoubtedly looking wistfully at the new playground from their desks, just waiting for recess to begin.