SAKG

A year in review

This year was an excellent year for the SAKG Program at Monty. We welcomed Elisa as our cooking teacher and Claire has continued working with students in the garden to create a thriving veggie garden.

Thank you to everyone who has volunteered, donated, and gifted their time. We value your contribution as it is key to the success of our program.

Garden Lessons

During Term 4 Garden lessons we have had a focus on the indigenous garden and the importance of biodiversity at Monty Primary. We have also met our resident sugar glider and ringtail possums who live in the nesting boxes around our school – have a wander around the school and see if you can spot any tails hanging from nesting boxes.

Another focus has been our closed loop composting system. Students have taken a “composting journey” and traced the steps of their organic waste from the classroom to the compost bin to the garden bed. Students were amazed to learn that the soil we use to grow our veggies in has been created from their classroom organic waste (with a lot of help from our worm friends).

Garden Club

Claire has had a very loyal group of dedicated students every Wednesday for Garden Club. Together we have learned all about gardening through propagating plants, fertilising, planting, mulching, pruning, watering and harvesting. Check out our huge summer harvest of broad beans, strawberries and cherries!

Garden Morning Tea

It has been so much fun getting to know parents and the school community this year through our Garden Morning Tea Fridays. Together we have transformed the Labyrinth Garden, netted fruit trees and weeded the surrounding flower beds. Working together we have been able to achieve a lot in the garden and have a chat and a laugh along the way. We will continue this next year with the time and day TBA – stay tuned!

Kitchen lessons

The kitchen has been a hive of activity this term. Foundation students have enjoyed learning and developing many new skills whilst also trying new or unfamiliar foods. It has been pleasing to see those who were initially reluctant eagerly try new things.  It was so rewarding to hear a student who wanted only cheese on everything say he couldn’t wait to try the broad bean. Our final cooking session was celebrated by making, baking and decorating gingerbread.

The year 5/6’s worked extremely hard on their market produce, and it was wonderful to see so many of them attend the Eltham Farmers’ Market on the day, and basically run the stall. They were involved in setting up, serving customers, recording what was sold and of course packing up the end of the day. It provided a rich and immersive learning experience linking with classroom learning. The students were able to understand to whole process of developing, marketing and selling an item, and evaluating their success. A fantastic effort!

In their final session the year 5’s worked well as a team to create and share a delicious berry crumble with fresh fruit from the garden and a beautiful broad bean bruschetta. The year 6’s celebrated by preparing food to share on their Fun Fields day out.