School Garden Profile: Riverwood Public School, Sydney

During Term 1, we have had a wonderful time sharing our “Lets Get our Garden Started” school program with students and teachers at Riverwood Public School.

Organic gardening makes sense when we are harvesting and eating our beautiful produce.

In the past few weeks we have enjoyed lessons in the garden talking about precious water, worm farming, pests and predators and of course planting! In learning about these fundamental principles of the environment, students gain a deeper understanding of activities needed to keep our garden thriving.

Students and teachers are all feeling a new connection to the garden. The worm farms are flourishing, and whole school composting will begin in Term 2.

Identifying the links between plants, bugs and animals in the garden and their interdependence on each other. The sun has a very important part to play!

The students, from pre-school to year 6, are active in their learning; practicing critical thinking skills, questioning, and problem solving. We are having a fantastic time being ecologists, soil scientists, bug detectives and organic gardeners.

Senior students looking for Predators and Pests in the garden.

We have all enjoyed learning in our outdoor classroom, finishing a lesson with a handful of sweet cherry tomatoes wrapped in basil - our idea of paradise!

Some words from the School Principal:

"Michelle, Natalie and Bree from Seed Harvest Spoon have been working with the students at Riverwood PS on a program that has been designed to engage students and to educate them on sustainable practices.

In the short time the program has been running at the school the students have learnt about:

The importance of composting and how to compost effectively

Recycling

Worm farms and worm farming

How to plant seedlings

Wonderful water

Good and bad bugs in the garden

Students have thoroughly enjoyed the hands on experiences and the interactive learning. These experiences have had a positive impact on student learning outcomes. This has been especially evident in students’ writing. Teachers have been able to embed this learning across the curriculum, which has resulted in improved engagement and behaviour."

Daniela Frasca

Principal

And here's what the students have to say about the Program:

"This year we are learning about gardening with teachers Natalie and Michelle. So far we have had lessons on water, composting and worms. We saw that the worms make worm juice in a bottle. We have our own worm farm now.

In the compost bin and in the worm farm we are putting the food scraps from our lunch and recess so the worms can make garden soil for the plants.

In the garden we have been searching for insects. Some are pests and some are predators. We have also been growing lots of vegetables and we made pumpkin muffins and wrote a procedure.

Natalie and Michelle are teaching us how to take care of our garden so it is healthy and fresh."

Brijesh and Mohamad
4/5/6A

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