Students are putting their hands in the soil and cultivating much more than vegetables at Cobram District Specialist School.
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The school recently received a Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation grant to help grow its school garden.
Hands-on learning co-ordinator Debbie Norman said she was “very, very grateful” to receive the grant.
“It's given us two years free membership, including professional development workshops and full resources to their shared table, as well as a whole primary syllabus for the kitchen garden in hard copy,” she said.
“On top of that, $1500 to spend on infrastructure. We would not be where we are now without that grant.”
The funding has helped the school to purchase 11 raised garden beds and quality hand tools, including shovels and rakes.
The garden has special significance for the school community. It began last year with the creation of a cultural space and memorial for student Bentley, who sadly passed away.
While work on the garden slowed over the past six months, plans are now taking shape with the support of the grant.
“In the interim, we got these little boxes through Powercor and started making temporary beds so we could at least start growing things like cauliflower and cabbage,” Debbie said.
“Preppies, right up to our senior students, have all helped — putting screws in, filling the beds with soil, putting plants in and cleaning this space up.
“They’ve done a phenomenal job. The kids absolutely love coming out to the garden and getting their hands in the soil.”
The next stage of the project includes a sensory garden with an accessible pathway for wheelchair access and a chicken coop where students will eventually incubate their own eggs.
Additional seating will also be placed in the garden to create an outdoor classroom for students.
The sensory garden will feature herbs, strawberries, blueberries and cherry tomatoes ― produce students can pick and eat straight from the garden.
“A lot of our kids have an aversion to food and sensory experiences, so this is such a fantastic way of making it fun and really engaging for them,” Debbie said.
The school also plans to grow a wide variety of fruit and vegetables, including everything from potatoes and carrots, to asparagus, eggplant, broccoli and raspberries.
“A lot of it is student-driven,” Debbie said.
“I’m a strong believer in letting them decide, so I'm constantly asking, ‘What do you want to plant?’
“We're really going into things like soil production ― one bed will start with a green manure crop so we can show students how to care for the soil, and we've got worm farms as well.”
The produce harvested each season will become the basis for cooking lessons, with recipes developed around what they’re producing.
“Our senior groups are definitely well into the cooking program, and I work with a few students to give them those real-world skills of being independent in the kitchen,” Debbie said.
“They’re largely non-verbal students, but they all love it, and we adapt the recipes with visuals.”
Debbie said the project was about far more than growing food, highlighting that it was also fostering independence and life skills.
“We could have probably got everything done a bit quicker ourselves, but it’s so rewarding watching the students do it,” she said.
“They get such a sense of achievement from doing the work themselves.
“I’m really passionate about providing our kids more and more opportunities, not just while they’re here, but when they leave school.
“If I turn even one of these kids into a gardener, it’ll make me happy.”
The hope and plan is to have the garden all set up by the end of the term.