Meet the 2025 Kitchen Garden Kickstart Grant schools

Back for our fifth year in a row, meet the 2025 Kitchen Garden Kickstart grant recipients, generously funded by our partner General Mills Australia.

This year, over 380 schools submitted expressions of interest! We had record applications from schools in NSW, followed by VIC and QLD. It was also great to see a major increase in applications from WA this year. Thank you to everyone who spent time and effort on their applications.

Twelve schools have been selected to receive the Kitchen Garden Kickstart Grant to deliver health and wellbeing benefits to their students and community through pleasurable food education and the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program. Each school receives a two-year start-up membership and a $5000 infrastructure grant to kickstart their vision for kitchen and garden classes. This year’s schools are putting their funds towards new garden beds, irrigations, cupboards, portable trolleys and pots and pans – whatever they need to help establish their program and watch it grow!

Let’s hear it for the incredible schools about to kickstart their kitchen garden journey.

Cairns State Special School, QLD 

Cairns State Special School has 129 students from P-12, and with various gardening activities for their senior students. They are motivated to begin a Kitchen Garden Program for their primary students to ensure students have access to positive food education throughout all their learning years.
   
Their grant will be put towards transforming an underutilised garden area into a tropical Kitchen Garden Program. This garden will be constructed with their unique Far North Queensland environment in mind and will be designed for a range of ages, abilities and sensory needs.

 
Moil Primary School, NT 

Moil Primary School has a vibrant, diverse community where 85% of students speak English as a second language. Moil Primary School proudly host Intensive English Classes to support new arrivals to Australia, fostering a strong sense of inclusion and cultural exchange. 
 
With their Kitchen Garden Kickstart grant, Moil Primary School will be able to bring their exciting vision for a Kitchen Garden Program to life. They plan to grow Asian and cross-cultural foods reflecting the 35 nationalities within their community. Their grant will also enable them to transform a disused and tired canteen space to deepen student connections with food, culture and sustainability.  

“Food has the power to unite communities, and by strengthening our existing food programs, we can provide students with valuable life skills, cultural connections, and a deeper appreciation for fresh, nutritious food.” 

Nawarddeken Academy Mamadawerre School, NT 

Located in West Arnhem Land, the Nawarddeken Academy offers a unique model of bicultural, community-driven education in remote Indigenous communities. The Nawarddeken Academy was established at the request of local Indigenous Elders, who desperately wanted children to access full-time education in their home communities. Nawarddeken Academy Mamadawerre School is very remote and for half of the year only accessible by charter plane. Food is flown in once a fortnight, so learning how to grow and cook nutritious food is important to the whole community.  

With their grant, the school will establish raised garden beds with the assistance of the Warddeken Rangers. The Kitchen Garden Program will become a part of the students' daily routine, contributing to their understanding of healthy living and eating, involving parents and Elders, sharing knowledge, and celebrating traditional and modern methods of food cultivation.  

Eimeo Road State School, QLD 

Eimeo Road State School has grand plans for a Kitchen Garden Program that will involve their whole community. From preparing an ‘Underground Earth Oven' (Kup Murri), allowing students to taste traditionally cooked Vanuatuan food, to leaning on the support of their local op shops and supermarkets for pantry staples and supplies.

At the heart of their application are the Eimeo Road State School students, who provided sketches and photos of the design for their proposed Kitchen Garden, which shows bees visiting sunflowers and a crucial compost spot!  

Memorial Oval Primary School, QLD 

Memorial Oval Primary School are proud to be amongst this year’s winners. This school has existing garden beds, which are utilised as a calming space for students. However, in the harsh South Australian summers, most of the plants perish due to lack of shade. 
 
School staff have been working to improve the viability of their garden and now with their grant, they will receive a real boost to their garden and strengthen the opportunities to support student wellbeing through meaningful, hands-on learning experiences. 

Central Yorke School, QLD 

Located on the Yorke Peninsula in South Australia, Central Yorke School aim to utilise their grant to establish a kitchen garden to show students how they can grow their own food — empowering them to create healthier, more sustainable food options in their lives. 
 
Incorporating native plants to connect with their strong Narungga cultural heritage and student population, the local plant species will help build a garden that honors their culture, strengthens their connection to the land and promotes environmental awareness.  

“This program will not only enhance students' culinary skills but also teach them valuable life skills for a more sustainable future.”

Penguin District School, TAS 

With their grant,  Penguin District School will establish wheelchair-accessible garden beds, with the hope that produce grown will complement their weekly breakfast club.  
 
Penguin District is living true to the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation’s ‘start small, dream big’ philosophy. Starting with garden beds, irrigation and compost, they have dreams of a small orchard, outdoor learning space and a fire pit and pizza oven in the not-too-distant future.  

 
Sacred Heart School, VIC 

Sacred Heart School in regional Casterton wishes to build a strong food culture where kids develop a love for fresh, healthy food. Like many schools, Sacred Heart School wants to change the volume of processed, packaged snacks being brought to school, and assist children to try new foods through the joy and pleasure of our food education model.  
 
Sacred Heart School will host cooking activities for their students, establish garden beds, and install a new oven. Their Kitchen Garden Program will be student-led, involving the whole school and community to develop lifelong healthy habits.   

Yanderra Public School, NSW 

Yanderra Public School is a tiny but thriving community with 38 enthusiastic students. With a garden space already in place, Yanderra Public School are now turning their focus to improving their cooking facilities, with a plan to transform an unused classroom into a versatile, user-friendly cooking hub called their "Yesteraunt". 
 
Yanderra Public School sees their Kitchen Garden Program becoming a place for meaningful conversations, reflective thinking, and future-focused planning as well as pleasurable food education. As one student said, “This kitchen will be a place of gratitude — a space where we give thanks for our food, our helpers, and where the food comes from.” 

Pingelly Primary School, WA 

Food insecurity and nutrition are key motivators for the team at Pingelly Primary School in Western Australia. With limited access to fresh produce due to their regional location, Pingelly Primary School aims to increase healthier, more accessible food options for their students and empower their students with positive food education. A key aspect of their Kitchen Garden Program will be providing students with the dignity of harvesting food from the garden and sharing it together as a community. 

Starting off with donations from the community, including bush tucker plants, heirloom fruit tree cuttings and rocks to edge a pathway, Pingelly Primary School is already including their community on their Kitchen Garden Program journey.  

Boyanup Primary School, WA 

Located in the south-west of Western Australia, Boyanup Primary School already has a thriving community garden, supported by their local Progress Association. With their Kitchen Garden Kickstart grant, they will establish cooking facilities to make the most of their produce and lean on the membership benefits of the Kitchen Garden Program to access cooking lessons aligned to their STEM and sustainability curriculum. 

 
“We want to provide children with hands-on opportunities to grow and create food; appreciating fresh produce that can be shared and enjoyed. Our goal is to provide an experience that will positively influence children's food choices, and attitudes towards environmental sustainability and working relationships with other children and adults.”

Brockelsby Public School, NSW 

A small school in rural NSW, Brockelsby Public School has experienced the challenges of drought, bushfires, mice plague and minor flooding which has had significant impacts on their families and township. Despite this, Brocklesby’s community of volunteers and students are committed to starting a Kitchen Garden Program to improve the health and wellbeing of the next generation.

With their grant, Brockelsby Public School aims to connect their kitchen garden to their families and community with big dreams of hosting a weekly community breakfast club, providing an avenue for positive social interaction.

Thank you again to General Mills Australia for their continued support. We are so excited to see how this year's recipients build a generation of students into capable, healthy members of their community. For more grant opportunities throughout the year, please subscribe to our newsletter or keep an eye on the grants list on our home page.