Secondary students grow in kitchen gardens too

It’s not only primary schools that can reap the rewards of a kitchen garden program, now secondary schools can also help their students grow in kitchen gardens.

The Foundation’s Kitchen Garden Classroom membership opens up a world of curriculum-linked resources for secondary schools looking for ways to integrate kitchen and garden activities into Years 7-10.

Gardens and kitchen spaces can complement education in many learning areas across these year levels, such as Science, English, Health and Physical Education and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures.

The Foundation has resources that can help secondary teachers engage students in science – for example by studying how much soil temperature affects the number of days it takes for a seed to germinate, or how soil temperature relates to air temperature. The English curriculum can be integrated by investigating food labelling, or using cuisines of the world as prompts for creative or expositive writing. And Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures can be studied through cooking recipes inspired by indigenous ingredients and knowledge, such as Bush Tomato Sauce and Wattleseed Damper.

One of the most effective ways schools use the kitchen and garden spaces is as ‘laboratories’ in which students can conduct experiments or investigations. Students may use the garden and kitchen areas to collect data, test processes and designs, or take action on sustainability initiatives. They can also undertake community or team challenges such as catering for special events, hosting career focus days and engaging in leadership experiences.   

As well as being able to access resources and recipes, schools who join the Kitchen Garden Classroom can also find advice on how to get a kitchen garden off the ground by starting small, join an online community of thousands of like-minded educators and access the expertise of the Kitchen Garden Foundation team through face-to- face and online training, phone and email support.

The Foundation is also busy writing the Kitchen Garden Syllabus for Secondary (Years 7-10), which is due for publication in mid-2016. The Syllabus will provide schools with everything they need to run a food tech elective that follows the food education philosophy of the Foundation – hands-on, enjoyable, seasonal, delicious cooking!

Find out more:

• For a taste of the resources available to secondary schools head to our homepage, scroll down and search for Resources for secondary schools, Recipes for secondary schools and Festival of Foods .
• Find out how to take the first steps towards delivering pleasurable food education in this free Starter Pack
• Join the Kitchen Garden Classroom
• Sign up to our mailing list to find out when the Secondary Syllabus is released
• Any questions? Call the Support Line on 13000 SAKGF (72543).