CHSS outdoor classroom project in the final stretch
October 2, 2020
GUELPH, Ontario – College Heights Secondary School is weeks away from seeing the completion of its next phase in a multi-phase landscaping project.
The project has been evolving for a number of years.
In 2018, CHSS was chosen as the winner for Skills Ontario’s Landscape Community Involvement Project. For their project submission, students in the SHSM Green Industries and Construction teamed up to plan, collaborate, and support each other while working on a multi-phased landscaping project. That multi-phased project at the school included community garden beds on the school grounds as well as gazebos, benches and additional plantings.
In being named the successful school in the landscaping category, CHSS won a truckload of paving stones from Permacon, and is now using those materials in the next phase of the landscaping project – the outdoor classroom.
The school is working with Allscapes All Seasons, a Guelph-based company specializing in landscape design, installation and construction.
The classes involved in the outdoor classroom project include grade 11 and 12 students in the SHSM Horticulture and Landscaping and Construction programs, with teachers Shelley Peterson and Carol Beatson.
Jenn and Autumn from Allscapes were at the school on Sept. 29, working away on the project, and said the CHSS students who have been working with them on the project have been a great help.
The school anticipates the project will be complete in the next three to four weeks. When it is complete the outdoor classroom will feature different areas for instruction, a chalkboard and benches. CHSS classes will be able to rotate through and use the space as an extension of the school.