Multicultural School Gardens

Multicultural School Gardens combines community volunteering, multicultural understanding, gardening and cooking into a unique and enriching whole school environmental education project.

• Finalist 2008 Sustainability Victoria's Premier Award
• Winner 2006 National Multicultural Marketing Awards- Integral Energy Community Award
• Winner 2005 Victorian Award for Excellence in Multicultural Affairs (Education) for project pilot at Sunshine North Primary school.

The Multicultural School Gardens project has been funded by the Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood Development to deliver to ten Victorian schools until the end of 2011.

This program has generated positive long-term outcomes for the school communities and particularly in communities of new migrants. Healthy food and fitness messages are a valuable part of the program for our children

Recruiting now for Term 3, 2009.

Would your school like to be part of this fantastic program? Do you have a high proportion of low income families and/or families with languages other than English spoken at home? Limited places for Victorian State and Catholic schools only - complete our online registration of interest today.

Costs
The program is heavily subsidised. Schools are asked to contribute a small co–payment only of $230 + GST.

For other enquiries, please send an email.

How the Multicultural School Gardens Project works

Students work with their gardening buddies to create multicultural food gardens, growing fruit, vegetables and herbs from across the world. Together they cook traditional dishes using the produce from their multicultural gardens and share stories and information about different cultures. In turn, students mentor their buddies in English language development helping them to connect with others.

What the Multicultural School Gardens Project is about

• Celebrating cultural diversity and demonstrating the benefits of multiculturalism
• Creating multicultural garden and cooking projects within the school
• Helping to develop strong local communities and school communities
• Fostering healthy eating habits

What the Multicultural School Garden project provides

• A combinatin of face-to-face and online mentoring
• Creative, flexible and enjoyable learning opportunities linked to the curriculum
• Long term benefits for student health and well-being
• Real-life, practical learning experiences for students
• Regular gardening and cooking activities throughout the school year
• A physical asset in the school grounds
• Tools to assist with gardening and community links
• A context for celebrating the diverse and significant contributions of various cultures to multicultural Australia

Be part of it - become a gardening volunteer

As a gardening volunteer, you will be part of this exciting project to help set the garden up and then, along with the students, create a multicultural garden, growing fruit, vegetables and herbs from the many cultures in our community.

You will then continue to be involved as the garden weaves its magic throughout the school and help celebrate the harvest with students by cooking your school-grown produce into traditional dishes and sharing cultural stories and experiences.

Please be aware that you will need a Working with Children Check which is free for volunteers. Forms are avaliable at your local post office.

Sponsors and Partners

We invite inquiries from potential sponsors and partners to extend the project Australia-wide. For further information, please email schoolgardens@gould.org.au or call Angela Lyle on 03 9532 0909.

Multicultural School Gardens - See what's already been achieved

Over 40 schools have already achieved outstanding outcomes from the Multicultural School Gardens program between 2004 and 2008.
Find out what happened in 2008 ...