Tiffany Chen is perched atop one of the tallest structures in the playground at Toronto’s Rose Avenue Junior Public School. But the fifth grader isn’t there to play.

She clutches a clipboard, studies her surroundings and answers a survey, checking off boxes about the presence of features such as bike racks, fields, gardens and pavement markings for games such as hopscotch.

She and some of her classmates are participating in a unique project looking into whether Ontario’s schoolyards promote activity, learning and a connection with nature, and the variation between those in higher-income communities versus lower-income.

Feedback from the students, and others across the province, is key to the success of this project, dubbed Schoolyards Count. It’s believed to be the first assessment of its kind and is being spearheaded by a Wilfrid Laurier University researcher and Ophea (Ontario Physical and Health Education Association), which provides resources to gym and health teachers.

Researchers are asking teachers, students, parent councils and interested citizens to spend about an hour auditing the quality and condition of schoolyard features. They hope at least one-fifth of Ontario’s roughly 5,000 schools participate. They’re also seeking data from the province on average family income per school.

“Schoolyards matter,” explained Chris Markham, executive director of Ophea, during the launch of the project, which was recently held at the school. “Not only does a well-designed and a well-equipped schoolyard promote physical activity, it also contributes to improvements in all aspects of student well-being. Research demonstrates that the built environment is essential to boosting long-term health and learning of kids.”

According to the 2018 ParticipACTION Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth, just 35 per cent of 5-to-17-year-olds in Canada get the recommended 60-minutes of daily moderate to vigorous activity. Meanwhile, it notes, there’s mounting evidence showing physical activity not only boosts physical health, but also improves thinking and learning, emotional regulation and self-control, problem-solving abilities, stress management and the ability to cope with anxiety and depressive symptoms.

The project’s lead researcher Kelly Gallagher-Mackay, an educational policy expert and assistant professor at Wilfrid Laurier, says the goal is to release an interim report in the fall, and a full report next year. So far there’s no commitment from school boards or government to change things, but she says “often a push for change comes from outside.”

“Good research, particularly if it builds on the work of those working in the sector … has the power to shine a light on important issues and shape policy agendas for those responsible for implementation,” she says. “We’re more likely to be successful in doing that if we engage the public, which is a huge benefit of citizen-science. We don’t only get more and better data, we help arm communities with facts to support change at every level.”

The Toronto District School Board looks forward to seeing the report, says spokesperson Ryan Bird, adding, “We think the audit can be a useful tool to help guide discussions about improvements that can be made to school grounds.”

The board already has data on school ground components, such as tree inventory and accessibility; current photos of many playing fields; and site plans that include sports fields, running tracks and baseball diamonds. Plus, it’s in the middle of creating a new high-tech computerized mapping system of its properties, which will allow it to analyze and run reports on site features.

“We work with a very large number of schools every year to make all sorts of improvements, big and small,” says Bird, adding the TDSB works on 100 fields a year, has a tree planting program and is improving bike parking. “What will be more powerful in the future is getting to a place where we can look more holistically at our school grounds. So we think the Schoolyards Count audit is taking us down that path.”

Back at Rose Avenue Junior Public School, Gallagher-Mackay says the fact kids spend half their waking hours during the week in school means “we need to ensure they have equitable, rich opportunities for active, outdoor play and daily doses of everyday nature.”

As she speaks, children are busy filling out the survey and wandering around the playground, occasionally hopping on and off structures.

Ten-year-old Nithies Magendran says he doesn’t like the field’s artificial turf — he says real grass is better and hurts less when you fall.

“There should be more nature. There’s a lot of cement. The field is fake grass. We need more (real) grass.”

The survey also asks about how schools fund improvements and maintenance of their schoolyard.

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“It will also allow us to look at important questions of potential inequality in schoolyards if, as many worry, uncontrolled parent fundraising is giving some schools an unfair advantage,” says Gallagher-Mackay.

Ministry of Education guidelines allow fundraising for things that complement, but don’t replace, public funding, such as schoolyard improvement projects, which include playground equipment, shade structures and gardens. Fundraising is a staple at many schools as noted in a report by the advocacy group People for Education, which found that in 2018 the top 10 per cent of fundraising elementary schools raised 37 times the amount raised by the bottom 10 per cent.

“A lot of schools do fundraise for playgrounds,” says Gallagher-Mackay. “We are curious to know if the concern (is warranted) ... that fundraising is leading rich kids to have better playgrounds. That doesn’t seem like a good outcome. I think all children need to have access to really rich opportunities for outdoor play that is stimulating.”

Rose Avenue Junior Public School isn’t in a high-income area. This inner-city school is nestled amidst highrise rental towers in densely-populated St. James Town, which is home to many new immigrants. The playground was funded by the TDSB and a significant charitable donation from Manulife.

Gallagher-Mackay describes it as a “beautiful and very well-used schoolyard that offers lots of opportunities for outdoor play and education.” It includes sophisticated play structures, and lower-cost elements such as tires, boulders and logs, which get kids jumping around. And, it has gardens and trees.

But some schools aren’t so lucky, she says. There aren’t policies on what kinds of features schoolyards should include, which has led to variation across the province. She says some school administrators are reluctant to have certain play structures because insurance providers worry about the possibility of physical injury.

She calls it “risk management gone crazy,” noting “injuries are typically very minor, they’re not that frequent and the long-term health risks of inactivity are far more severe.”

It’s a sentiment echoed, in part, by Outdoor Play Canada, which is a network of organizations that promotes play.

“Access to active play in nature and outdoors — with its risks — is essential for healthy child development,” reads its position statement on active outdoor play. “We recommend increasing children’s opportunities for self-directed play outdoors in all settings — at home, at school, in child care, the community and nature.”

The students of Rose Avenue Junior Public School have plenty of ideas on how to improve their yard and boost activity.

Alina Hashemi suggests a tire swing; Zynah Irshad recommends a tunnel slide; Arqam Shaikh votes for a treehouse.

And Tiffany, still seated atop a play structure, pipes up to say a zipline would be a great addition.