Friday, August 2019
Dirt. Worms. Compost. Essential ingredients of a thriving garden and all part of the fun for budding young gardeners!
Together with Yates, Life Education are encouraging young people to get gardening, growing edible plants and learning healthy eating habits or creating a healthy class room environment with indoor plants.
This initiative is called Growing Good Gardens Grants.
In 2019, three lucky Queensland schools got to dig deep and develop their green thumbs as their school receive the grant through Life Education’s Growing Good Gardens program, sponsored by Yates.
Selected from more than 980 entries received from across Australia, the Queensland recipients – Mareeba State School, Birralee Kindergarten and Community Preschool and Payne Road State School – each receive $1,000 from Life Education in partnership with Yates Gardening to create or further develop their school garden.
“Getting kids’ hands grubby in the garden is not only a great way for them to be active out in the fresh air, but also teaching where their food comes from and encourage healthy eating.” ~ Angie Thomas,
Horticulture Consultant to Yates
Birrallee Kindergarten in Gladstone plan to get their ‘Little Green Growers’ to introduce a new garden bed filled with seasonal fruit and vegetables including strawberries, tomatoes, cucumbers, spinach and mint. They will also use the school garden grant to further develop their sensory garden, introduce worm farming and teach their students about composting.
In Brisbane, Payne Road State School will be creating a ‘Zootastic Garden’ with new garden beds made out of recycled tyres and painted to look like animals! These new garden beds will be an addition to their existing garden, which will also be getting a revamp as part of the school garden grant they will receive.
Year one students at Mareeba State School in Cairns will be the custodians of their new outdoor learning space and will be responsible for compiling a scrapbook of maintenance tips and garden ideas to share with their local community. Reducing the level of diet-related disease in their community is a key motivator for the Mareeba State School garden, and teachers will be engaging with other community groups, families and Indigenous Elders to support the success of their project.
All of the school garden grant recipients are keen to educate their students about the benefits of healthy eating, the origins of the food we eat, and to encourage positive relationships by fostering team work and cooperation through their garden projects.
First offered in 2018, more than 1,700 schools and community groups from across Australia have applied for the annual school garden grant program. Expressions of interest for next year’s program are encouraged from teachers, coaches and community leaders who want to create a garden that will inspire healthy eating habits and improve the physical and mental wellbeing of students.
