Kitchen and Garden & Sustainability News
Kitchen
Our Grade 3's continue to develop new kitchen skills each time they create their Shared Table dishes. This week, for the last of our winter recipes, we cooked our Winter Savoury Muffins, used our seasonal favourite kale to make a spaghetti and slaw, and cooked a warm rhubarb crumble for desert. Our Grade 5's next week will take these recipes a step further and make gnocchi from scratch and also add to our Shared Table, some carrot, cumin and herb fritters. We love the enthusiasm that continues to grow and the fun we all have in each of our kitchen classes.
Surfside Recycling Station
An exciting new addition has been made to the Surfside Recycling Station! Surfside now offers recycling for old felt-tip pens, markers, highlighters, liquid paper and correction pens, fountain pens plus ink cartridges, pen lids, and mechanicals pencils.
There is a box at our recycling station where you can now drop off these items.
Every year, Australians purchase around 140 million marker pens contributing to 700 tonnes of plastic land fill once they’ve been used.
Officeworks offer a Pen and Marker Recycling Program to all Victorian Schools where pens and other items are collected and cleaned, then melted down and turned into recycled hard plastics which can be used in things such as playgrounds, outdoor furniture, storage tubs, and even athletics tracks.
Each time a collection box is filled with old pens at Surfside, it will be taken to Officeworks in Geelong, and as a bonus, our school will go into the running for a prize. So, please check all your old stationary tubs, cupboards, and pencil cases at home and bring in any of the items listed so we can fill up our boxes and help reduce plastic waste.
To read more, please visit Recycling at Officeworks | Pen, Cartridge & Computer Recycling.
Happy Recycling, Surfside!
Please bring your other recyclable items to our recycling station located at the main building entrance, down the garden end (near the library). Batteries and phones will be collected in the kitchen (for safety reasons) on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursdays.
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 (in kitchen)
Phones (in kitchen)
Pens and Markers (coming soon)
Thank you for helping us redirect waste and repurposing these items.
Father's Day Stall
Check out our Kitchen Garden Stall at reception for some goodies for Dad or another special man or person in your life. We have plants, dried lime and mandarin (for that special Father's Day beverage), Fig and Ginger Jam and Brownie Jars.
New Surfside Street Library and reading chair in the garden
We want to thank our local Ocean Grove Mens Shed for they kind and generous donation of our new reading and quiet zone in The Patch. A special mention goes to Marianne Ward, one of our amazing garden volunteers and a member of the school family. Marianne was instrumental in the planning and organisation of this beautiful asset!
We would also like to thank Terry and Warren, 2 more valuable volunteers to its perfect installation.
Food Scrap Fridays
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
The sun is shining and we have loved getting out in the Patch and getting it ready for spring. We have been weeding paths and also woring on micro weeding and using our knowledge of weeds to help identify plants to remove.
Our worm farm not only helps us with food scraps but it also gives us beneficial worm tea to give our plants a nutrient boost. Our year 3s in particular have loved collecting the worm tea and watering our plants after their writing session.
When it rains we have to head inside so a couple of weeks ago when the weather was not favourable we are tapped into our creative writing skills. We imagine we were all worms and then wrote a story about a day of a worm. They students were super clever with their stories and different styles of writing. We had comics, posters, flip books and story books.
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 don't 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.
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).