Green-blue schoolyards ensure that schoolchildren spend more time outdoors and get more exercise. This can be beneficial for concentration and calm. During hot weather, the greenery provides cooling and shade. Attention is also paid to the collection and drainage of rainwater. This means fewer puddles around the school and in the neighbourhood during heavy rainfall.

These six schools will receive grants

A total of 36 Rotterdam primary schools submitted a grant application for such a green-blue schoolyard. Schools could score points based on their motivation and location. Schools in neighbourhoods with little greenery, where flooding occurs regularly, for example, had a greater chance of receiving a grant. The schools will receive between €49,000 and €80,000. Construction of the six new green-blue schoolyards is expected to start in 2020.

The following six schools have received the grant:

  • Augustinusschool (Oude Westen)
  • Valentijnschool (Bospolder-Tussendijken)
  • Christophoorschool (Zuidwijk)
  • PCBS De Rank (Rozenburg)
  • De Margriet (Blijdorp)
  • Oscar Romeroschool (Crooswijk)

Valentijnschool pleased with grant

Martin Krijgsman, deputy head of the Valentijnschool in Bospolder-Tussendijken, is pleased with the grant awarded. “Our current schoolyard is essentially one large concrete slab. We would really like to have more greenery and water, so that children from our school and the neighbourhood can play there more comfortably. We would also be able to teach more lessons in the schoolyard, such as nature, mathematics and technology lessons using, for example, the water facilities. In short, it is a great opportunity to give inquiry-based and design-based learning in the surroundings a boost.”

For the Valentijnschool, a new green-blue schoolyard is also highly desirable for another reason: during heavy rainfall, some of the toilets currently overflow. Better drainage as part of the new schoolyard should also resolve this issue. In the coming period, Krijgsman will speak on behalf of the Valentijnschool with the municipality, experts such as ‘the vegetable garden man’, the Speeldernis nature playground and local residents to arrive at a good design. “In 2020, we hope to have completed the design and be able to start construction.”

Green-blue schoolyard of cbs De Ark in the Het Nieuwe Westen neighbourhood of Rotterdam.

Also for the neighbourhood

A condition for receiving the grant is that the schoolyard remains accessible to children from the neighbourhood after school hours. They therefore benefit as well; schoolyards are often the only larger play areas in a neighbourhood. The grant is intended, among other things, for the design, construction and management of the schoolyard, as well as for organising activities for local children. The municipality is currently investigating whether there will be a second grant round.

Alderman Bert Wijbenga: “It is wonderful that these schools can use our grant to make their schoolyards resilient to water and greener. In Rotterdam, alongside the urban and paved environment, there is increasingly more room for beautiful greenery. I wish the schools every success and enjoyment in carrying out the work, and I look forward to admiring the results later.”

Green-blue schoolyard of obs Delfshaven, Palet location, in Rotterdam.

More information

The grant for green-blue schoolyards is part of Rotterdam Goes Green and Rotterdam Climate Response. Through the Rotterdam Goes Green programme, the municipality aims to create 20 hectares of additional greenery in the city over the coming years, in cooperation with businesses, residents and, for example, housing associations. The Rotterdam Climate Response programme aims to make the city climate-resilient.