AstraZeneca team day at Stanmore Public School

Team members from AstraZeneca Australia got a taste of the Kitchen Garden Program recently when they participated in a team day at Sydney’s Stanmore Public School.

The 25 AstraZeneca staff were taking part in a team building activity that allowed them to gain hands-on experience of the Kitchen Garden Program.

The afternoon included a kitchen-garden-inspired afternoon tea, a tour of the Stanmore Public School garden led by Year 6 students, and a range of garden activities.

Out in the garden, AstraZeneca’s staff members met the school’s chickens, tried their hand at doing a soil pH test, made seed spheres and planted seedlings. They also took part in a students versus adults herb taste test, and were very impressed by the students’ knowledge of the different herbs.

The team day was prompted by AstraZeneca’s partnership with the Foundation on the Secondary Years Kitchen Garden Project. The three-year project will develop and pilot a package of kitchen garden program support, professional development and resources tailored to, and shaped by, the needs of Australian secondary schools. 

The day at Stanmore PS was an opportunity to engage AstraZeneca staff in the work of the Foundation, and to have some fun together in the kitchen and garden. There was lots of positive feedback from AstraZeneca’s staff:

“It was great to see how proud the children were of their school and the great life skills they were learning. We had fun!”

“It was wonderful to see it (the Kitchen Garden Program) in action.”

“Very impressed with the food education taking place at Stanmore PS.”

“Neat to see the kids can make a pizza at Year 6 and realise pizzas don’t always come from a pizza shop.”

“It was a great experience to see the work of the Foundation in action, a truly valuable initiative.”

A big thank you to Stanmore Public School’s Dimitra, Kitchen Specialist, and Fiona, Garden Specialist, for hosting the day.

Scroll through the photo gallery above for more photos from the day.

• To find out more about the Secondary Years Kitchen Garden Project, contact our Secondary Years Project Officer Maria Pokorny on 0415 741 536 or maria.pokorny@kitchengardenfoundation.org.au