Students at Grassy Plains School can expect a new playground with accessibility features for children with disabilities following the announcement of $105,000 in funding from the provincial government.

It鈥檚 part of a program that鈥檚 meant to take fundraising pressure off of parents through $5 million in annual spending.

Natasha Toth, the principal of Grassy Plains School, welcomed the news, saying that kids at the Southside school will love having a new set-up to replace their aging equipment.

鈥淕rassy doesn鈥檛 have a lot of funds,鈥� said Toth. 鈥淲e鈥檙e glad to get any kind of grants.鈥�

Although there aren鈥檛 currently any children requiring accessible playground equipment, she welcomed the news that the new playground would be suited to children with disabilities.

鈥淚t鈥檚 good to know that we鈥檒l have something that can accommodate everybody,鈥� she said.

She added that since the school had just learned about the grant, it was too early to go into details about plans.

The school district said the announced funding would help address a lack of funding at the local level.

鈥淲e鈥檙e pleased that the Ministry of Education is recognizing the challenge of local fundraising efforts to replacing aging playgrounds,鈥� said school district facilities manager Tim Bancroft in an email.

He added that specific plans hadn鈥檛 been confirmed, but that accessible playgrounds feature a paved or solid surface so that wheelchairs can approach the edge of the play area.

The playground will likely include equipment designed to hold and secure children with physical challenges, he said.

Grassy Plains is among 25 schools receiving $105,000 for accessible equipment, while 26 schools are receiving $90,000 for standard play.

The provincial government said in a statement that up to $5 million would be available annually for investments in playgrounds.

The money is meant to relieve parent advisory councils that often attempt to pay for new equipment through bake sales, bottle drives and other fundraising efforts, according to Minister of Education Rob Fleming.

鈥淲e鈥檙e delivering this fund to help parents, and provide access to communities that don鈥檛 have the fundraising capacity to buy the play equipment students need,鈥� Fleming said in a statement.