STEPHANIE ALEXANDER KITCHEN GARDEN PROGRAM

Ms THOMPSON (Reynell) (15:22): I want to speak today about the Kitchen Garden Program and in doing so want to pay tribute to Stephanie Alexander, and to Maggie Beer, who has put an amazing amount of energy and enthusiasm, as well as her valuable time, into supporting the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program in my electorate.

I am fortunate to have three schools which have received a substantial grant under this program: Pimpala Primary School, O'Sullivan Beach School and the Christie Downs Primary School. I have had some words of great praise from Pimpala which I want to share with the house, and I know that the other two schools have the same approach. Pimpala points out that the aim of the program is to bring good food into the curriculum and culture of the school, to feed the minds, bodies and futures of each and every student:

We are changing the way children approach and think about food. The children are enthusiastically getting their hands dirty and learning how to grow, harvest, prepare and share fresh, seasonal food.

The fundamental philosophy that underpins the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program is that by setting good examples and engaging children's curiosity, as well as their energy and their taste buds, we can provide positive and memorable food experiences that will form the basis of positive lifelong eating habits.

This week in the kitchen the children are making Vietnamese vegetarian rolls, orange marmalade, silverbeet risotto and beetroot jam. Warrigal greens pesto (this is an Indigenous recipe) is also on the menu. The Warrigal green is picked from the school's Indigenous edible garden. The children split into six groups and all do a different recipe each week. The lessons bring the school community together; parent volunteers are needed to run the program and this involves parents and grandparents and sometimes even friends of the family. It is a really enjoyable day for the volunteers. Although hard work at times, it is rewarding for them to spend time with their children.

In September, 15 children will cook at the Royal Show in the DECS learning centre. They will spend a day cooking and demonstrating their well honed skills. Royal Show goers will see the children making pasta and beetroot raita and a beautiful brown rice salad with celery hearts and orange zest, all made with fresh ingredients from the garden.

O'Sullivan Beach School tells me that they are now supplementing their kitchen program with a program called A Feast of Ideas under the Parents Initiatives in Education grants. They are working on bringing parents further information about a range of topics relating to food, including: food labels; allergies and intolerance; food preparation; additives; cooking with others; using ideas, items and recipes; and preparing them and sharing experiences together as a group to enjoy and learn together about food and eating.

On a recent visit to O'Sullivan Beach, I was told that the inclusion of recipes from the kitchen garden program in the school newsletter is having a great impact on children showing the letters to their parents instead of leaving them in the bottom of the bag, and in the home where parents are able to say to the children, 'You cook this at school. Let's cook it for tea together.' This has introduced them to vegetables that parents have previously had great difficulty in getting their children anywhere near.

At Christie Downs, they talk about the importance of their children starting the garden from scratch. They learnt about the preparation, adding compost, putting up trellises, the irrigation system, planting seeds and seedlings, and making cuttings. They emphasise all the time how excited the children are about it and about the school orchard which has citrus fruit, apples, kiwi, peaches, cherries, muntries and wattles, and they use the wattle seeds in damper.

The schools talk about the generosity of local businesses which have supported them with compost, manure and plants. So, the kitchen garden is a means of making a community alive in the school—bringing in parents and volunteers; having students, teachers and parents working together with the same aim; involving children in literacy through work in the garden and a very positive experience.