Community Open House and Grand Opening Celebration
YMCA Outdoor Classroom
The YMCA of Oakville, in partnership with the Halton Catholic District School Board (HCDSB), hosted a joint community open house and official grand opening of their new outdoor classrooms at St. Bernadette School in Oakville on October 24.
The two new outdoor classrooms were designed to meet the developmental needs and learning of children by incorporating a variety of natural play structures that inspire experiential learning, creativity, greater physical activity and multi-sensory learning.
Did you know?
Outdoor classrooms are part of a growing trend in Canada with more schools and child care centres dedicating infrastructure to open air learning.
To date, the YMCA of Oakville has completed six outdoor classrooms at child care centres in Oakville, with some winning awards for design. There are two more outdoor classrooms scheduled for 2018. The Halton District School Board has a long-term plan to convert all of their kindergarten places into outdoor classrooms, with many completed to date.