Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Susie Pickering

Oak Lane Day School

137 Stenton Ave, Blue Bell, PA 19422

Phone: 610-825-1055

Fax: 610-825-9288

Email: spickering@oaklanedayschool.org

Oak Lane Day School Community Service Cleanup at Smith Memorial Playground

The weather was perfect and the kids excited as the kindergarten through sixth grades of Oak Lane boarded yellow school buses and set out for Smith Memorial Playground in East Fairmount Park. One of nine yearly community service projects, the trip's purpose is to lend a hand with gardening, raking, and general cleanup on the grounds surrounding the facilities.

With rakes and gardening gloves, enthusiasm and pleasure in the gorgeous day, the Oak Lane students and their teachers filled bag after bag with trash and natural debris. The children had to rely on each other to get their allotted areas free of sticks, weeds, and trash and to tote the awkward, heavy bags to the designated trash pick up spot. Stalwartly resisting the lure of the extraordinary playground equipment, the students kept to their jobs until their areas were tidy. In fact, they did so well they received words of appreciation from visiting parents who thanked them for helping keep the Playground clean.

Once the cleanup was complete and they were fortified with a snack, the Oak Lane kids were set free to enjoy the truly awesome facility which includes a huge spider web climber, spinning jungle gyms, and giant saucer swings on which one can lounge in swaying motion and watch the trees and sky above. The Ann Newman Giant Wooden Slide for which the Playground is famous was also put to very good use. Although they certainly relished their “reward” for the work done, Oak Lane Day School children are accustomed to taking community service projects seriously. The projects themselves are carefully chosen to create positive change in the lives of people in need, the lives of animals, and, in this case, the environment.

Oak Lane Day School Information

An independent elementary school, founded in 1916 and located in Blue Bell, Oak Lane Day School serves a diverse population of boys and girls. Oak Lane honors each child's unique individuality while fostering intellectual, creative, academic, and personal growth within a diverse community of active, engaged learners. Small class sizes and an atmosphere that encourages children to develop their academic and social skills are priorities at Oak Lane, where learning is a meaningful and joyous pursuit. Oak Lane's country-like property of 30 acres along Butler Pike and Stenton Avenue boasts a stream, pond, woods, meadows, and specimen trees as well as athletic fields and playgrounds.

Oak Lane Day School is accredited by the Pennsylvania Association of Independent Schools (PAIS), and is a member of the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) and the Association of Delaware Valley Independent Schools (ADVIS).