Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program

We have now been in the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program for over a year.  To celebrate all we have achieved we submitted applications for their 2025 Kitchen Garden Awards.  Below is our application for the category "Beyond the School Gate."  There is a 200 word limit, we could have written so much more to explain the joy, the learning and the partnerships that have developed but we hope the below application catches the judges eyes.  We will share our other applications in the coming weeks.  The winners will be announced in the last week of term.

Our students have a unique Kitchen Garden Program.  The program is a part of our Academy elective running once a week in 5 week blocks.  Students sign up for the Academy of their choice, Kitchen Garden is one of 5 options.  It is a whole school elective allowing year levels to mix and take on different roles to achieve success with the kitchen garden activities. Our Kitchen Garden Program has been a launching pad for community connection. Our Wellbeing Team engaged the program to provide a welcome lunch to new students.  We had a busy Term 2 & 3 last year with new enrollments, many from overseas. It can be hard to make friends changing schools mid year, students interviewed them to see what their favourite foods were. Taking that back to the Kitchen Garden coordinator they worked out a menu.  They invited them to lunch, they could bring someone from class that made them feel welcome. Students volunteered to cook, set and wait on the tables and serve the food. Cafe music was played in the background. It was a very enjoyable day.  Our Academy runs the period before recess, allowing students to stay, eat together and chat during playtime.