Kitchen garden program

Our school has put in place a Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program which has required our school to commit to the construction of covered dining deck areas around the existing railway carriage and the employment of Garden and Kitchen Specialists as well as a program coordinator. We were required to provide 5 kitchen workstations within the railway carriage area. The Railway Carriage Kitchen Garden Preparation area has provided the 5^th kitchen workspace area for students and staff to prepare harvested seasonal crops for the timetabled student class cooking sessions.

The aim of this project is to provide a real life context for learning in which the theory and practice of growing, harvesting, preparing and sharing are interwoven. Students have a 45 minute gardening session supported by a 90 minute cooking session that is embedded into the curriculum in a fortnightly timetable. The process of paddock to plate has captured their interest, curiosity and energy as well as their appetite. Hands on experience in both the kitchen and garden has provided students with physical activity, opportunity to learn new language to describe flavours, foods and plants and develop maths skills as they calculate, measure and weigh. The awareness of environmental challenges and diversity is enhanced as well as learning how to work as a team, develop awareness and respect for other cultures and grow their confidence and self esteem as they achieve new skills and knowledge.

This project has contributed to the food garden objectives by providing:

• Hands-on experience that has resulted in practical & educational skills that facilitate student learning.
• Establishment of strong school and local community links by awareness raising, regular progress reports, volunteer drives, media releases and continuing to use different methods to encourage community support.
• Building stronger relationships to increase parent/carer involvement.
• Student ownership of the project.

The kitchen garden program involves almost 200 students from Years 2 to 6 on a fortnightly timetable with 45 minute gardening sessions one week and 90 minute kitchen sessions in the alternate week. Kindergarten and Year 1 students will also be involved but to a lesser degree of participation.

Learning outcomes include:

• polite dinner-table conversation, expand food experiences & pleasurable food experiences – building self esteem, resilience & confidence.
• etiquette, technique and engagement
• inspiration for home gardening and cooking
• relationship building between volunteers and students
• development of social and life skills and garden to table cycle
• environmental studies – recycling, water conservation - – living smart concepts
• nutrition, healthy living habits, life skills and parent participation
• organic gardening and companion planting
• multi-sensory and utilise visual concept (eg, harvest table)
• creative arts – incorporated into the garden and kitchen to establish enchanting places and celebrate the  beauty of ingredients
• numeracy and literacy links (eg, scientific reports, procedure writing, measuring, calculations and much more).

Aldavilla Primary School's Railway Carriage Kitchen Garden preparation area has introduced all students to the pleasures of preparing, cooking and eating a variety of foods they have grown and harvested themselves. This has supported the need in our community to establish the early development of life long eating habits and life skills.

ABC visited our school in 2024 to explore our Kitchen Garden program. Check out their article and video in the below link.

Railway kitchen garden