Kitchen Garden program Update
A huge month in the kitchen!
Inspired by student feedback, this month we ran our very own “Bake Off” where students teamed up to test their measuring and baking skills, following recipes to create some seriously delicious treats. They split into teams, tackling one recipe per small group with extensive support from our amazing parent helpers and staff.
Since students always ask to take leftovers from kitchen home to share with their families, we decided to decorate a bakery box, fill it with a sample of all our goodies and carefully carry it home so students could share the experience with their loved ones. We hope they all made it that far!
Our Year 3 bakers worked together to make six recipes including the world’s easiest caramel and chocolate slice (in both vegan and non-vegan versions), rhubarb and lemon muffins using fresh produce from the garden, Biscotti Esse a Sicilian citrus flavoured biscuit, vegan Snickerdoodle cookies, vegan chocolate fork biscuits, and the classic lemon slice. Year 4s took on the same recipes plus some extra-fun vegan Oreo cupcakes!
During the session, students built all kinds of lifelong skills, such as, reading and following instructions, measuring and mixing with care, working together, cleaning up after yourself, and practising safe and hygienic kitchen habits. They also learned a lot about teamwork while having fun. We hope you enjoyed experiencing a taste of what your student does in our cooking sessions and we are all looking forward to our last round of cooking for 2025 starting with 4J next Monday.
Thanks to all our volunteers who changed their schedules and gave up their time to support us this round. It was an ambitious menu, and we would not have been able to tackle so many recipes without your support.
If you are able to help us during the next round, please sign up below
Don’t forget to volunteer in the kitchen you need a valid working with children’s check and to have completed our short volunteer training. Please see previous newsletters and correspondence or Wendy for details.
In the Garden…
Out in the garden, we’ve been busy as always, composting, weeding, caring for our chickens, and keeping our veggie beds in top shape. Students have also been getting creative during garden sessions making tea bags, jam and preserves to sell at our market stall during the 2026 SKiPPS fete in March.
What’s growing
The garden is always changing with some beds being turned over, ready for some more spring plants. We use the chop and drop method which helps improve soil health and conserve water. The old plants are chopped up and left to decompose, adding nutrients into the soil and also act as mulch layer, reducing evaporation.
Tomato and zucchini seedlings are growing well in the new wicking beds and new fruits such as nectarines, mandarins and peaches are looking good. Hopefully, we get to enjoy them before the birds do! The mulberries, raspberries, blueberries and strawberries are also growing nicely!
We have harvested snow peas, globe artichokes, and broad beans recently and look forward to using them in the upcoming kitchen sessions.
There are lots of interesting bugs in the garden at the moment. It is always exciting to see leaf curling spiders, preying mantis, and crusader beetles. The garden is not just growing food for us to enjoy but providing habitat for many creatures!
You may have also seen our new volunteer Connie in the garden. Connie is a local who is giving up some of her free time to help weed and maintain our garden beds. It’s such a big job to maintain all of the beds and we really appreciate her support. If you see her say hi and if you know of anyone who is keen to spend some time in nature and help us out, please contact Allison. allison.shanahan@education.vic.gov.au
VSGP Awards
We’re also thrilled to share that our Kitchen Garden Program has been named a finalist in the VSGP Victorian School Garden Program 2025 Awards! https://www.vsgp.org.au/vsga-awards-program/
A group of representatives from SKiPPS will be attending the Presentation Ceremony on Thursday 27 November, and we can’t wait to celebrate all the hard work and care that’s gone into our beautiful garden and its edible bounty. A massive thanks to Kara for nominating us and completing the application!
Thanks,
Allison, Chantel and the Year 3 & 4 teachers