What was once a long strip of asphalt pavement is now a place students at the Kingston school can enjoy.

Mulberry Waldorf and community volunteers worked tirelessly for hours on Saturday afternoon to break up thick asphalt outside the school.

“As an urban school we are always striving to find ways that our students can get outside,” says Peelu Hira, the administrative head of Mulberry Waldorf School.

Hira says the new green area that will be completed in the fall will provide more space for students to play during recess.

“By de-paving all of this very thick asphalt, we are allowing water to run into the water table. We will have a beautiful rain garden at the end of our playground space in the future,” says Hira.

The Red Squirrel Conservation Service and Mulberry Walford School created a partnership in order to transform the outdoor school grounds. They had a mutual understanding that the act of de-paving not only allows for a better space for children to play in but is also good for the environment.

“By removing permeable surfaces and replacing it with grass and green space you are allowing water to enter the ground naturally, as it’s supposed to, and slowly enter the water systems,” says John Jobin, the water projects coordinator at Red Squirrel Conservation. “This can help with flooding in the spring.”

Once the asphalt is removed, students will have the chance to help work in the garden, which will be placed on the grounds this fall.

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