ARARAT - From planting the first seeds to sitting down together to enjoy a meal of home grown vegetables, students at Ararat North Primary School will be learning valuable life lessons through the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program.
Ararat North Primary School has been chosen as one of 22 schools in the state to participate in the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program and will receive funding of $62,500 to run the program over two years, the majority of which will be used to employ part time staff in the garden and soon to be built kitchen at the school.
Renowned Australian chef Stephanie Alexander founded the program in an effort to teach children about the joys of growing their own vegetables, which goes hand in hand, and leads to, healthy eating.
"Children aren't interested in whether something is `good for you' or `not good for you'. They only care if it's fun, exciting and tastes good, so that's what we aim to provide,'' Ms Alexander said.
For some time Ararat North Primary School has been concerned with teaching its students about healthy eating and already has a fully productive kitchen garden at the school which was developed last year.
School Kitchen Garden Program co-ordinator Sue Knight said the benefits of this garden have been significant.
"While we have used some produce from the vegetable garden in cooking activities at school it quickly became clear that to fully engage students in cooking and health education classes we needed a properly fitted out school kitchen,'' she said.
This is where the Kitchen Garden Program will come in, with a fully equipped kitchen to be constructed prior to the program being implemented next year.
The Kitchen Garden Program will see children from years two to six discover hands on food education through a class in the vegetable garden and a class in the home-style kitchen classroom.
The children will learn to grow vegetables according to organic gardening principles and grow and harvest a wide range of vegetables, fruit and herbs.
In the kitchen, the children will prepare a meal from the seasonal produce they have grown.
The finished dishes will then be served on properly set tables for the children to sit down and enjoy, together with their teachers and community volunteers.
Community volunteers will be a vital part of the program, whether in the garden or in the kitchen.
The kitchen is expected to cost around $25,000 to install in the current art/craft area of the school, with the Stephanie Alexander Foundation contributing $12,500 towards the cost. The remainder will need to be sourced elsewhere through fundraising or sponsorship.
Additional funding has been received, including $6500 from the Pacific Hydro Sustainable Communities Fund, $6000 through the Go for Your Life Program (which has been used to purchase kitchen equipment and utensils) and $1000 from the Ararat RSL Community Grants Program.
Ms Knight said the school would be grateful to any businesses or community members who come forward with sponsorship, in-kind labour or donations of equipment for either the kitchen or garden (even a load of manure!).
"We want this to be a community project, we want people to be involved in the school and to become part of the program,'' Ms Knight said.
For further information, contact Sue Knight at Ararat North Primary School on 5352 3766.
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