Southwood School in Schanzenfeld has a new play structure to replace the approximately 25 to 30-year-old structure that stood there before.

Principal Linda Dyck says it will be a great addition for students and the surrounding community.

"In Winkler, you can drive to a park very quickly, but here there is none, so we wanted to create a space that could easily be accessed by the community in the evenings and on the weekends as well."

She adds, the school works a lot on giving students the opportunity to explore and ask questions.

"Kids have a very natural sense of wonderment, and we really just want to foster that in them," so to reflect this, the structure is designed to complement nature and foster a simpler type of play.

"Kids, they will gravitate towards hills. If there's a very big play structure and a hill right beside it, the kids will gravitate towards the hill," she notes.

Dyck adds, Wenona Thiessen, from the Parent Advisory Council, and Marilyn Hart, of the Play Space Committee, filled out a number of applications for grants that made the structure completion possible.

"We received grants from Co-op Community Spaces, Enbridge, [and] I could name a number of companies where we got grants from that [have] really helped us to go through many of our phases quickly."

She says the school is also looking to start planning for a walking path and outdoor classrooms sometime in the spring.

"I know [at] our school, our teachers love outdoor education and they do a lot of outdoor education with our students. So all of these elements that we're including are all to help foster that type of learning in our area."