What is cooking at school

Dear parent and students,

With the whirlwind of setting up the new canteen in our combined campus, it was a very busy first term for The Growing Abundance Canteen team.

We now have all our equipment and are settled in and so it is a good time to say hello to you all and introduce ourselves to those who are new to the school community.

Who are we?

We are The Growing Abundance Project, a non profit organisation that champions local food. We are committed to providing nutritious food to our community while supporting our local growers and economy.

Our canteen staff are all local parents with kids who have attended CSC in the past, present and a few who will be attending in the future. We are truly invested in this school and the success of it’s students.

It is an absolute pleasure to feed the kids of Castlemaine Secondary College. They are a diverse bunch! We started the first term with a limited kitchen but a bounty of local fruit. Plum muffins were a huge hit. As we move into crumble weather, the apples, pears and even quinces are in constant use.

The school’s little garden has provided us with tomatoes for salads, toasties, BLTs and pastas. We have even snuck a little school-grown kale into the coleslaw, salads, pizzas and fried rice!

We are very excited about the CSC Sustainability Group which was formed last term by a group of passionate parents, students and staff. They have already set to work on a larger school garden plot. We can’t wait to use more herbs and vegetables grown right here in the school. The Growing Abundance Project has always strived to cut down on food and packaging waste. It is great to see a sustainability policy being implemented in the school that could help us achieve zero waste.

Our current menu is now available on the school website. As we move into Autumn and Winter it will be changing again. We will soon have an ATM machine in the canteen and are exploring the idea of online ordering for lunch orders.

Feedback and suggestions for how we can serve the students and staff of CSC is always welcome. Please drop us a line at canteen@growingabundance.org.au

We could not do what we do without our wonderful community volunteers. It is a great way to be involved in our school. If you would like to volunteer a few hours in the canteen, please email us at

volunteers.canteen@growingabundance.org.au

Year 12 VET Kitchen Operations

Students ran the Konjo Mama Food Van at the school Athletics Day, providing hot, nutritious food for the athletes and spectators. Creamy pumpkin soup, a choice of meat or vegetarian lasagne, chilli beans with rice and spicy lentils were all on the menu and sold well! Freshly baked muffins were pulled out of the oven at regular intervals and coffee and hot chocolate sold like …. well, "hot cakes"!  Fun was had by all and the Year 12 students completed another successful assessment for their VET/VCE course.

Caroline Cook, VET Kitchen Operations Teacher