Professional Development Webinar

As we entered into the new COVID-19 environment, the Foundation team had to press pause on our face-to-face professional development. This training is pivotal for educators to learn new skills, see other kitchen garden programs in action and most importantly network with their peers. 

Like much of the world, we took to Zoom. We kicked off this new way of learning by inviting the kitchen garden community from Greater Melbourne and Mitchell Shire to get together as they went into the second round of isolation. This was to ensure they were across the resources and support available to them.

On a chilly winter afternoon, a quick session of Carrot Yoga with Jane Grylls from Winters Flat Primary School helped kick things off. The Support and Delivery Team then walked attendees through the eight KGP at home collections on the Shared Table, each consisting of themed resources to support educators to work through the COVID-19 educational environment. It was a real deep dive into how educators could get the most out of these resources and adapt the content to multiple settings, whether that be learning remotely or in the classroom with increased hygiene measures in mind.

We were inspired by our engaging guest speaker Angel Munro, a Kitchen Specialist from Murrumbeena Primary School who lives and breathes pleasurable food education. Angel shared how she designed her kitchen garden classes with a key focus on what’s happening in nature and particularly Murrumbeena’s abundant kitchen garden. “We wanted to make sure that nature was still the starting point, but we wanted to make it accessible so students could still see these things in their own environment and community at home,” explained Angel. Murrumbeena had brassicas growing in the school garden and Angel themed activities around this wintery vegetable family. Students made paper moth decoys to ward off unwanted cabbage moths, then in the kitchen they designed a menu around these crops for their families, including a simple broccoli penne pasta recipe which Angel supplied as a guide.

The webinar finished with a Q&A, where attendees gained valuable insight from each other. We heard about the trials faced within an online learning environment and were encouraged by the successes in using the new resource collections. It was a chance for fellow educators to connect, swap stories and ideas as well as bask in some encouragement on a job well done!

We would like to thank those that attended our first webinar, we value your passion, insights and generosity.

We will continue to offer a variety of professional development webinars. If you are part of the kitchen garden community, keep an eye on your inboxes and the Foundation’s social media for updates.

Remember our Support Team is always available on 13000 SAKGF (13000 72543) to offer advice on your kitchen garden program, or information on becoming a member.

We would also like to thank our Professional Development partner Saputo for making this possible.