School takes class outside into winter months

Cold days are in store for the province but a Winnipeg school is warming up their students with musical and physical education.

In the fall, several schools with Louis Riel School Division (LRSD) have been propping up tents to make way for additional classroom spaces. The large white tents standing in school fields are similar to ones at weddings or Festival du Voyageur.

École St. Germain, École Sage Creek School and École Van Belleghem all use the tents for their learning. 

"If you’re driving down Lakewood Boulevard and you see this white tent set up on the grounds at École Van Belleghem thank Amarbeer Bhandari, LRSD Director of Facilities, Maintenance and Transportation Supply LRSD and her team for negotiating the use of this tent for outdoor physical education and music activities during the winter months," Audrey Gordon, Southdale MLA says.

Working with the City of Winnipeg, LRSD's Amarbeer Bhandari, LRSD Director of Facilities, Maintenance and Transportation arranged the ability for schools to use tents as a learning space. 

"The City of Winnipeg has graciously agreed to let LRSD set up the tents on their property at no additional cost and has expedited the permit process," LRSD says in a news release.

The tents are to allow for students to have some lessons requiring extra space for physical education and music activities during the winter.

The Holy Family Centre, St. Timothy Parish and The Park Theatre additionally offered their spaces to the division to help give more learning options.

"The 2020-2021 school year has truly been unlike any other, but LRSD students, staff and families have remained resilient through innovative ideas, caring and collaboration. Thank you to Amarbeer and the Infrastructure and Custodial Requirements Taskforce team for their hard work and ingenuity," LRSD says.

The school division says they have also hired more staff and reassigned some staff members to keep up with cleaning measures.