Kitchen and Garden & Sustainability News

Kitchen

Welcome to the kitchen Grade 3's.  It's so exciting having Grade 3 start their kitchen and garden journey and we have loved the enthusiasm they have brought into the classes.  We are also loving having Grade 5 join us again in our program. To celebrate Plastic Free July we started off with our Ocean cupcakes.  It was great to have conversations about how we could reduce single-use plastics from going into our ocean and we had some very creative little sea creature cupcakes made!

Check out our recipes below that starred on our Shared Table.  For our second kitchen class it was fun to get into the flow of each team making a dish and sharing it with the class.  There were lots of proud chefs at the end of our first Shared Table session and some great feedback, some including the surprisingly delicious vegetables!!

Please check our Kitchen Garden Timetable out at the bottom of the page if you would like to help out in Kitchen or Garden classes.  We would love more volunteers.

Surfside Recycling Station

Our Recycling Station is ready to go!

Please bring your items to our recycling station located at the main building entrance, down the garden end (near the library).  Batteries will be collected in the kitchen (for safety reasons) on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursdays.

Thank you to those families that have put their hands up to help with redirecting our recyclable items.  We really appreciate your help. 

Here is our list of items we are collecting:

Plastic Bottle Lids (cleaned please)

Plastic Bread Tags

Blister Packs

Oral Care (toothbrushes, toothpaste containers, dental floss)

Batteries 

Phones

Pens and Markers (coming soon)

Thank you for helping us redirect waste and repurposing these items.

Food Scrap Fridays

Food Scrap Friday's will be continuing through the school holidays, our food scrap team will be in the garden at 9am on Fridays to collect your fruit & veg scraps.

You can use any bucket, but if you would like one of ours, 

come by and we can give you one.

Well done to all the families and classrooms for your massive effort so far

What's Accepted:

Fresh and cooked fruit and veg scraps

What's Not Accepted:

Meat, dairy, plastics, including sticketrs, tea bags, bread, citrus and onions

Garden News

Creative crew

Plant Sale

Our plant sale stand is back up and running at the entrance to the school. Pop past and get yourself a lovely potted succulent or bargin clivia! The clivias are only $10, a lot cheaper than the local nursery which you would expect to pay $30!!

Jam and Chutney Crew

We would love to start up a Preserving team who is available to come in a couple of times a term to whip up some jam or chutney at times of high harvest. 

If you are interested in being part of this group, we would love to hear from you!

Please emailfleur.kilpatrick@education.vic.gov.au or clancey.mckenzie2@education.vic.gov.au

Seedling Foster Program

Our seedlings have started coming in and we are busy planting our next crop. Thank you to those who have nurtured their seedlings. If you are still looking after some sedlings, you can bring them in on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursdays.

What is a seedling foster program you ask??!! Well, it is where the a class plants up some seeds during a garden session or lunch club and we ask school families to take these seed punnets home and 'foster' them, nurturing them until they are ready to bring back to school to plant.The best part is that your child doesnt have to be participating in the garden program to take advantage of this program, so that means even our foundation families can help out in the garden by 'fostering' some seedlings :)

We have developed an instruction and data sheet that will help you with looking after them and the children can also participate in the growing by documenting the plants growth and taking photos.I have attached a copy of the fostering form so that you can see how it all works and what is expected.It is such a fun way to continue learning at home for our students and you're also helping us to grow successful seedlings to plant out in The Patch.If you are interested in joining this fabulous new program, please come and see my in the garden or email me at clancey.mckenzie2@education.vic.gov.au

No experience in growing is necessary!  If you are not sure, please please please reach out and I will help you through the process!!

Thanks for your support of the Kitchen & Garden Program

GARDEN WATERING HELP NEEDED

We are in need of some garden helpers please. You dont need to be a gardener you just need to want to help and have a spare hour or half hour to help. The weather has encourged the weeds to grow and also patches of the garden are a little dry where the sprinklers don't quite reach.

Please contact me if you can help in any way! 

 clancey.mckenzie2@education.vic.gov .au 

Volunteer Information

We would love more volunteers in our classes.  It is such a help as it greatly assists our students in their Kitchen Garden experience.  

We would love some more volunteers in our program to assist in our classes.  Your assistance is so wonderful as it enhances our students experience in our kitchen and garden.  Either email Fleur (kitchen) or Clancey (garden) or just show up on the day.  

There are a few things that need to be ticked off before volunteering:

• Have your Working With Children Check  https://www.workingwithchildren.vic.gov.au/individuals/applicants/how-to-apply-1
• Complete a quick induction at the office prior to starting (around 5 mins) https://www.workingwithchildren.vic.gov.au/individuals/applicants/how-to-apply-1
• Please read our Child Safety Induction for Volunteers and attachments (either email Fleur or Clancey for these documents or have a look over on the day).