Our goal for our playground revitalization is to create a safe, active and inclusive playground at Lucy McCormick Senior School. Our school supports 73 students with developmental and physical disabilities ranging in age from 12 to 21. We would like to be able to offer our exceptional population of students with a safe space to explore, learn and be active.
At Lucy McCormick school all our students have varying levels of abilities and needs. We offer an individualized curriculum focusing on motor skills, communication, social skills, daily living skills and functional academics. Unfortunately, we are lacking in basic playground facilities. As a result our students are not able to fully experience the importance of play and movement which is essential to enhance their growth and learning. For our students an engaging outside facility is not simply about the enjoyment of the outdoors, it critical in helping them reach their learning goals in the areas of fine and gross motor skills, motor planning skills, socialization skills and functional/adaptive life skills. It offers a vital opportunity for our students to develop communication skills by selecting preferred activities and interacting with others. Currently there is little available to our students as most of the existing equipment is broken or has been removed as it presented a safety risk.
Also we are aiming to create fully accessible track with sensory ramps and walkways that will meet the needs of both our mobile students and those that use wheelchairs. New rubber playground surfacing that is wheelchair accessible would provide a safe surface for our students who are medically fragile, have seizure disorders as well as a comfortable spot for outdoor floor play.
All our students are encouraged to be as active as possible while they are here because many of them become quite sedentary as they grow older. With your help, we hope to be able to build our dream playground for our very unique and deserving group of students.
If you have any questions please do not hesitate in getting in touch,
Krista.Graham@tdsb.on.ca —Playground Committee Chair
Thomas.Widstrand@tdsb.on.ca —Vice Principal Lucy McCormick