Vision

We will be creating a community garden where children and members of our school community will plant, tend and harvest from the gardens we will develop. The aim of this garden is to educate children on not only where our food comes from but to teach them vital skills in growing their own food – something that will no doubt become more and more important as the years go on. By creating a community garden, we also hope to address the challenges some families face with food insecurities.

In addition to the garden, we are also hoping to plant some trees to replace some of those that we lost during Hurricane Fiona. Our tree lines were once very healthy but with the changing weather patterns we have started to lose some of our older trees. We would like to work with experts in the Forestry department to identify areas where we can plant new, robust trees which can withstand the changing weather. This will also support our aims in teaching children about the important role tress play in sequestering carbon.

Action

We have worked with individuals in our wider school community such as horticulturists, forestry engineers, and parent volunteers, to help plan our Legacy Garden. We have prepped the soil and identified areas for tree planting. The planting will begin over the next few weeks once the weather warms up.

Reflection & Celebration

One of the biggest highlights has been the support we have received from the wider school community. This project was introduced to our Home and School committee in February and followed it up with a meeting for volunteers. We were humbled by the number of people putting themselves forward to volunteer their skills and time to support our lofty aims. The saying, ‘it takes a village to raise a child’, really hit home when we saw all the parents and grandparents stepping forward to help out. It has been wonderful to include them in the process and working side by side; teacher, child, parent, grandparent.