The Friends Of St. Alphonsus Society

The Friends of St. Alphonsus Society works to support St. Alphonsus School and its many initiatives. These include sourcing funding for items not funded through the educational system including school and community activities, playground development, etc.

St. Alphonsus Catholic Elementary and Junior High School is located near central Edmonton home to some of the highest needs residents throughout Edmonton. The school is not just a neighbourhood school, but a hub of the community providing a center for a variety of community services and programs. Currently more than 450 students attend St. Alphonsus.

Our school is home to students with a wide variety of backgrounds and cultures including:
• FNMI: 65 students
• Refugees: 31 Students (26 from various African countries, mainly Eritrea)
• ESL Students: 147 (Students with 5 or less years of English Language Instruction)
• Foreign Language Students: 290 (Students whose language at home or first Language is something other than English)
• Main Ethnic groups: Philippines, Vietnamese, FNMI, in roughly equal numbers.

The school is located in the Parkdale neighbourhood home to more than 3, 300 residents. Average incomes in this community are more than 35% lower than the City of Edmonton average. People in the community focus on their day to day needs and as such focusing on extra activities such as fundraising for a new playground is just not feasible. While they are all well intended and hearts are in the right place, trying to achieve a lofty goal of a new school playground is challenging at best.

The existing park is old, outdated and becoming a safety hazard to the public. A replacement is absolutely necessary. The school itself is a high priority for the Edmonton Catholic School District and as such the Friends of St. Alphonsus want to redevelop the playground and allow our site to continue to be a central and focal point of the community.

The Friends of St. Alphonsus Society is proposing to redevelop the St. Alphonsus School playground. These facilities are located at St. Alphonsus School at 11624-81 Street. The current play area at the park is in the same location for the new proposed play area as this area is nestled in a sage place with good sight lines.
Parkdale Community is a mature community with the history of the community dating all the way back to 1907. The park play area was first constructed in 1990’s, and since then the play area has remained the same. The Parkdale area is a quiet community and is accessible to all parts of the city with available transit.
The Society will be taking into consideration all users of the park and their individual needs in making an enjoyable experience for all. This includes the school, the community and community groups such as the SmartChoice Daycare (onsite), YONA (Youth Orchestra of Northern Alberta) who will use the playground in the evenings as well as the All In For Youth (AIFY) after school program. This component of the after-school program is operated by Big Brothers /Big Sisters.
The project will be completed in conjunction with the Edmonton Catholic School District and guided by a Professional Landscape Architect from Urban Systems Ltd.
We see this project as an opportunity to revitalize this community and encourage community involvement.
A preliminary list of equipment to be incorporated into the upgraded playground includes but is not limited to the follow:
• Custom Designed Play Structure
• Space Shuttle
• Stand n’ Spin
• Bucket Spinners
• Tyke Seesaw
• S Surf Board Spring Mount
• Tri Panel Pal
• Rubber Surfacing
The equipment selected for the playground will be finalized through further consultation with children, residents and other stakeholders in the community in addition to the equipment suppliers and landscape architect.