Kitchen garden concept bears fruit

A simple idea to plant a vine outside a classroom at Junction Park State School has sprouted into a flourishing, learning-focused kitchen garden.

When one of the school’s parents - Soraya Del Castillo - was approached by a teacher with the idea to grow a vine on a security grill outside a prep classroom, she was inspired.

That seed of an idea soon grew into a plan to install four raised veggie garden beds on the concrete outside the classroom.

A group of parents fundraised the money for the garden, which was installed in mid 2013 and multiplied rapidly.

“The following year an epic working bee saw the space radically changed, with asphalt being removed to make way for orchard trees,” Soraya said.

The school community named their new oasis the ‘Yummy Garden’, and with further funding raised through grants an outdoor learning space called the ‘Yum Shack’ was built.

A group of parents also established a ‘Green Team’ to help water and maintain the garden.

In 2015 Junction Park SS, which is in the Brisbane suburb of Annerley, joined the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program - becoming part of the network of over 800 schools across Australia.

Soraya, who became the school’s Kitchen Garden Program Coordinator and Kitchen Garden Specialist, said the school joined the Program as they recognised that increased use of the garden and kitchen required a curriculum-focused approach.

She said the school had successfully integrated the Program into its curriculum, with students learning science, maths, literacy and more in the kitchen and garden.

“Classroom learnings are repeated in the garden and kitchen and vice-versa, such as procedural text in recipes, and maths in measurements, sorting and patterning,” Soraya said.

As well as being a great way to teach the curriculum through hands-on activities, Soraya said the Kitchen Garden Program has also improved the students’ leadership and communication skills.

“The Program teaches the students teamwork and decision-making skills, respect, courtesy, care, resilience and fortitude,” Soraya said.

“One of my big things is giving the children the ability to make real decisions and be really active in the Program … many teachings are child-led.”

Soraya said students also gain valuable life skills through the cooking and gardening knowledge they learn in the Program.

Students love being outside in the garden, learning how to grow their own food, and are completely thrilled to harvest their fresh produce.

In the kitchen they learn how to safely use a knife to cut food, how to prepare meals such as fresh pasta and, importantly, how to clean up and wash dishes!

A vibrant Instagram account showing the smiling faces of the proud students in the kitchen and garden - jpss_kitchengardenproject - has become a popular way for the school community to be part of the Program.

“It means that some of our working families can still see what their children, or their friends’ children, have been doing in the kitchen and garden,” Soraya said.

She said the Instagram account also receives great feedback from the wider community, and is especially valuable when they take part in events such as National Tree Day.

“It feels alive, like you’re part of something,” she said.

The school’s Kitchen Garden Program is going from strength to strength and they have plans to refurbish the tuckshop they have been using for kitchen classes into a teaching kitchen.

“The Program has brought a food revolution to our school,” she said.

This story originally appeared in the May 2016 edition of Education Matters Primary magazine.