Ray Shepherd Elementary Grandfriends program featured in film series by Okanagan College

The award-winning G is for Grandfriend program at Surrey’s Ray Shepherd Elementary is being highlighted in a new film series by Okanagan College to inform future early childhood educators on different ways students can learn outside of the classroom.

Titled Intergenerational Learning: Enriching the Lives of Children and Seniors, the 15-minute documentary is one of eight films on unique learning programs across Canada. The film is part of the college’s Outdoor Pedagogy Research Project: From Colleges to Communities, produced with research partners at Bow Valley College, New Brunswick Community College and Saskatchewan Polytechnic, and with funding from the Lawson Foundation.

“We’re just delighted that our story is being told,” said kindergarten teacher Ellen Petersson. “Hopefully we’re able to inspire people to work with elders in their communities and really honour the value of seniors and how important those relationships are, not just for the seniors but also the kids.”

Petersson said Dr. Beverlie Dietze, the director of learning and teaching at Okanagan College, reached out to her last spring after hearing about the G is for Grandfriend program. Dietze’s work specializes in researching the impact of outdoor play on early childhood development, and as the project lead researcher for the series, the program was a great fit for the college’s film series.

The documentary follows Petersson’s kindergarten class and Grandfriend Don, a 91-year-old retired physician who meets the students in a forest near the school every day to participate in engaging, educational activities. The film explores the benefits of intergenerational relationships for both children and seniors, and how including elders in learning opportunities inside or outside of the classroom can make a meaningful, positive difference in the lives of students.

“So many of our children don’t have grandparents who live close by, and as more and more refugees come here, they have grandparents that are thousands of miles away, so getting seniors in the community involved with these kindergarteners is important,” said Surrey Board of Education Trustee Laurae McNally, who often joins the class outdoors.

“The program is wonderful, they’re able to transfer and adapt their learning skills in the classroom to the forest. Not only do they learn to appreciate our environment, but they practise their social skills with the grandfriends and new students. It’s fascinating to watch.”

Ray Shepherd staff and students attended the premiere at the school in November, to a raucous ovation from Petersson’s excited students. Petersson said she hopes people who watch the film will see the value in including of seniors in learning activities and the benefits of alternative classrooms for students.

“This program has brought the greatest joy in my career at this stage,” she said. “It’s thanks to COVID – there’s not a lot of things that we can thank COVID for – but it pushed us outside and it gave us that permission to try something new.”