Grow to your full potential with Trellis

Whether you’ve just planted the first seeds, or your plot is established and flourishing, every Kitchen Garden Program can benefit from a bit of extra support. That’s where our online self-assessment tool Trellis can help.

One of the questions we hear regularly from schools and services running the Kitchen Garden Program is ‘Are we doing it right’? Trellis takes out the guesswork. The baseline questionnaire takes around 15 minutes to complete, and at the end, participants receive an individualised summary offering support, resources and information tailored to their unique needs. The Foundation follows up with all participants annually to check in on progress and provide new relevant materials to help you stay on track.

Trellis is a great tool that enabled me to think deeply about our school's garden and kitchen, and also confirmed that we are on the right path to providing our students with a fabulous Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program. At the end we were given a report of our progress with links to resources to help us better improve and enhance our students experience. I completed the assessment feeling inspired, proud and confident that we are doing a great job.
– Clancey McKenzie, Garden Specialist, Surfside Primary School

Trellis is also a useful reporting tool, giving educational leaders a snapshot of how your program is tracking, drawing attention to areas that may need more support, and highlighting program successes to be celebrated with your community – future-proofing your program so it can thrive for years to come.

We see the opportunity for more educators to be able to increase their skills and knowledge as a direct result of the ‘Trellis’ tool and therefore embed the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program into the daily classroom programs. This in return will ensure all children enjoy the opportunity to have meaningful teachable moments that are genuine and sustainable throughout their daily learning.
– Kate Hall, Director of South Melbourne Child Care Co-operative

According to Kate Hall, Director of South Melbourne Child Care Co-operative, resources provided through Trellis have helped motivate and encourage her team. “The Trellis tool has directly supported and further inspired our practices to benefit our entire centre community,” she says. “As an ‘Exceeding’ rated service, Trellis supports our critical reflection practices and ensures this is a seamless and authentic ongoing process.”

If there’s a specific area or you would like to focus on or grow within your Kitchen Garden Program, Trellis can provide suitable Foundation resources to help achieve your goals. “Over the years, we have had an educator who is passionate in delivering the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program and since 2020, we have further extended the program with the comprehensive learning resources and connection with the valuable kitchen garden community network to embed Aboriginal perspectives,” explains Kate. “As a result, we now have a Leadership Team of three educators and our chef to ensure embedding this program further and extending the benefits of the program to create an Aboriginal-inspired menu, cooking experiences, and a bush tucker garden.”

Much like a trellis in the garden supports and scaffolds, the Foundation’s online self-assessment tool Trellis has been developed to guide your kitchen garden program to grows to its full potential. It’s just one more tool in the shed, available to all Kitchen Garden Program members.

Trellis is available to all Kitchen Garden Program Members. Keen to give it a go? Head over to the Shared Table to complete your Trellis assessment now (you can save your progress, or consult with your kitchen garden colleagues, and come back to complete the assessment at your own pace any time).

If you would like to discuss upgrading to a Program membership, or if you have a question about Trellis, please don’t hesitate to contact our Support Team on 13000 SAKGF (13000 72543) or support@kitchengardenfoundation.org.au