Exceeding expectations in early childhood

The Kitchen Garden Program for Early Childhood not only offers children wonderful play-based, hands-on learning, it can set services apart – both for prospective families and in assessments. 

In Australia, childcare services are assessed and rated against the National Quality Standards (NQS), which measures the quality of early childhood education and care in Australia. It is the aim of early childhood services to exceed the national standards in all seven quality areas. Two early childhood centres talk to us about how participating in the Kitchen Garden Program has helped them achieve the “Rated Exceeding National Quality Standards” rating, as well as bringing extra community and cultural engagement elements to their centres.

Waverley Meadows Preschool took up the program as a way of tackling concerns about children’s eating habits and their knowledge and understanding about health and nutrition, and particularly fresh foods. Healthy Food Leader Sarah Stoddart says: “This was an issue that educators had been working on addressing for quite a while but felt they hadn’t had the support or knowledge to be able to plan for purposeful, meaningful and intentional learning experiences across all age groups at the centre.” 

The program became a key improvement item on the centre’s Quality Improvement Plan. They consulted with the Foundation’s Early Years Project Officer, Natasha Grogan, on getting started through to talking about the position of the garden and weed management, and families got involved with working bees to refurbish garden beds. In establishing the program lots of work was done with the children – revisiting healthy eating and the elements of establishing a vegetable garden. The children’s learning and progression was recorded orally, adding technology to the project, and Sarah says their kitchen garden program fits nicely with their established “nature kindergarten”, augmenting connections about the natural environment. 

Sarah happily reports, “Our centre was recently assessed as a part of the National Rating and Assessment process and we were awarded the rating of ‘exceeding’ in all seven quality areas”, asserting that work with the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program for Early Childhood definitely assisted in Quality Area 2: Children’s Health and Safety. “Our assessor noted the meaningful engagement with families and the community through the introduction of the garden and how this was assisting educators to increase children’s understanding of healthy eating, gardening, harvesting and sustainability practices through the educational program.”  

The program is a working toolbox that is constantly opened and expanded upon in every room, every day. It reminds us to “never underestimate the palate of a child” and to support the cautious eater into becoming a curious eater.

–Julie Lemmon, Clarendon Children’s Centre

Clarendon Children’s Centre in South Melbourne recently achieved an “Exceeding” in the NQS rating and has also submitted and been interviewed for an “Excellent” rating. The centre’s Food Education Leader Julie Lemmon says, “We used our work with the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program in both presentations, including many examples of cooking experiences with children of all ages. Our assessors were very keen to hear about these experiences and for us to share our ideas of how the program supports high quality practice at our centre.”

And the good work doesn’t stop at the service gate, with Julie saying that parents frequently share how their children have benefited from the gardening and cooking experiences provided as part of the program: “Parents recognise that knowledge gained in these early years is invaluable and supports children’s lifelong skills and positive attitudes to food and eating.” 

The program also offers opportunities for wider cultural learning and engagement. As well as parent and carer cooking experiences (in person and via Zoom), the children from Clarendon Children’s Centre are spreading the word and connecting with community through excursions to the South Melbourne Market to shop for fresh produce and other ingredients for kitchen garden recipes: “The children share their plans and experiences with our friendly market traders who are now becoming very familiar with the program too!” reports Julie.

The children are also learning about other cultures with recipes from around the world and employing complementary learning such as counting to ten in other languages and looking up flags and capital cities on world maps. Julie explains that Indigenous perspectives are embedded in the learning programs at the centre too: “Our veggie garden includes native edible plants that we can use in cooking experiences with children of all ages, including: Lemon Myrtle Scones, Warrigal Greens Damper and Warrigal Greens Fritters.”

For delicious recipes like these, such as Wattle Seed Damper, Saltbush Sodabread and Warrigal Greens and Ricotta Fritters, and more, members can visit the Shared Table.

To find out more about the Kitchen Garden Program for Early Childhood, get in touch with Early Childhood Officer, Natasha Grogan at natasha.grogan@kitchengardenfoundation.org.au. And find out more about Natasha and her approach to pleasurable food education with this Q&A.