Today our Year 5 and 6 students visited the Botanical Gardens Discovery Garden. They came away with great ideas as to what our Garden will look like after we build it. Our Garden space is being cleared this weekend and Room 2 has already begun growing plants in their classroom.

This year we will launch as the first Garden to Table School in the Western Suburbs. Garden to Table was Established in 2008, and now works with over 6,000 primary-school-aged children all across New Zealand, helping them discover a love for fresh food and skills that will last a lifetime. The Garden to Table programme aims to build skills for life through highly practical hands-on child centric classes – not only teaching growing and cooking skills but also building awareness of individual and collective responsibility for the environment, healthy eating and community connectedness. It is an opportunity to allow children across the country to get their hands dirty and learn how to grow, harvest, prepare and share fresh, seasonal food. The Wellington City Council has awarded us a grant of $3000 to support the start up costs of this programme. In the new year we will be appointing the Garden and Kitchen Specialists, and developing our new garden behind our staff room. Our Year 5 and 6 students will be our pilot class and in time we hope to give all our students the experience of cooking and growing food.