‘It looks lonely’: Riverview, N.B., school community seeks inclusive playground

A group of parents and teachers in Riverview, New Brunswick team-up to get an accessible playground built.

Staff and parents at Riverview East School, in Riverview, N.B., can’t help but get a little emotional when they think about some of the kids who can’t use the playground.

A committee was formed last fall to try and raise money to build a new inclusive playground right next to the current one.

Right now, a handful of the students who use wheelchairs, walkers, canes or just struggle with balance can’t play with their friends because the playground is rocky and uneven in places.

“It looks lonely,” said Grade 1 teacher Brittany Beaman. “They’re either wheeling around or just sort of wandering around sitting on the curb and it’s lonely.”

During lunchtime and recess, some of those kids who can’t play inside the fence walk or wheel around the adjacent bus loop and that breaks Beaman’s heart.

“And then you see the kids in the playground calling out into the bus loop to say, ‘Hey, come join us,’ and they can’t,” said Beaman.

The committee needs $260,000 to build the Eagles Landing, an inclusive space where all the kids at the K-5 school can play together with no physical restrictions.

A new playground would be built right next to the existing one and all students would be welcome to use it, no matter their ability.

Liam Gillespie is Riverview East’s resource coordinator and works with the school’s 25 priority one students – kids with physical, mental or behaviour issues that need a little more support.

He said the playground is great, but there are a few problems.

“We have some students that have walkers and wheelchairs that can’t actually access the playground where all of their friends are located,” said Gillespie. “Our playground is a nice playground but if we don’t have something for everyone to do then we’re not doing our job.”

According to the Anglophone East School District, playgrounds are not part of the school design from the province’s allocation when schools are built and each school community must raise money to get their own playgrounds.

“Many of our schools currently have committees formed to upgrade or revamp their current playgrounds to ensure they are fully accessible and/or have some equipment that everyone can access and use,” said district spokesperson Stephanie Patterson.

Matt Wilson has a daughter in Grade 3 and has been trying to raise money through social media.

He felt compelled to try a personal campaign when he saw two girls playing in the bus loop and it had a big impact on him.

“We can do better than this,” said Wilson. “These poor kids that I saw playing in that bus loop during recess and all the other kids were playing on the playground, I was just like, this is not right. It’s 2025 and we should be able to involve them so they don’t feel put out.”

Wilson said he couldn’t imagine what was going through the girls’ head.

“With their disability alone as it is they have those challenges and not being able to play with their friends and have to watch them play. Even if it makes 30 people’s lives better, we should be able to put people together and not be so separated,” said Wilson.

Several successful fundraisers have gotten their total up to close to $20,000, still a long way to go, but Gillespie and the rest of the staff are optimistic about the creation of a new space.

“It would be amazing. We’ve had so many people come together to work together to create the different opportunities to raise money to be able to support these students. It would mean the world to us,” said Gillespie.

Beaman, who has a child at the school, said Riverview East is one big family.

“It would be a game changer to have all of the kids together,” said Beaman. “It makes us emotional sometimes to talk about it.”

If all the necessary funding can be secured the hope is construction on the Eagle’s Landing will begin sometime during the 2026/2027 school year.

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