Food growing in schools was the focus for 30 New England teachers at Thalgarrah Environmental Education Centre in Armidale last Thursday, when they took part in a series of workshops presented by Thalgarrah teachers and expert horticulturalists from the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney.
Sessions included productive produce, worm farming and composting, natural pest and disease control, visual arts in the food garden and how to link it to the school curriculum.
Veggie gardening is the real ‘back to basics’ of learning life skills. UK research shows that children respond positively to gardening at school, becoming ready to learn, to be resilient and responsible.
Teachers such as Mrs Beattie from Inverell appreciated all the ‘informative and practical ideas’. According to Ms Williams from Bundarra,: ‘Now I have an improved understanding of how to link gardening to the curriculum so the next step is to organise teaching units’. Ms Hancock from Warialda saw ‘new possibilities for the children being more engaged’. Ms O’Hara from Armidale ‘was worried about potentially using chemicals on the produce but the pest control workshop was brilliant in identifying alternatives’. Ms Crawford from Walcha appreciated ‘design ideas as well as systems for continuing the veggie garden and composting throughout the school year’. ‘How to use the garden in art lessons’ was important to Ms Toms from Tingha.
Thalgarrah school office manager Mrs Moloney demon-strated how a lunch menu could be created featuring the ‘Five Veg and Two Fruit a Day’ message of NSW Health’s Live Life Well program for schools. Mrs Moloney selected recipes that children could follow at school. Teachers appreciated the links from food growing and preparation at school to health and sustainability in the curriculum.
