The Garden to Table programme builds skills for life through highly practical, hands-on classes - not only teaching growing and cooking skills but also building awareness of individual and collective responsibility for the environment, healthy eating and community connectedness. It is an opportunity for children across the country to get their hands dirty and learn how to grow, harvest, prepare and share fresh, seasonal food.
Developed with the support of the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program in Australia, Garden to Table has grown from three Auckland pilot schools in 2009 to a nation-wide family of schools, delivering hundreds of hours of gardening and cooking lessons every week to thousands of primary-school-aged children all over Aotearoa; connecting and empowering them with practical skills.
Garden to Table schools embrace a dynamic and innovative model where primary school children spend time in a productive veggie garden and home-style kitchen every week, learning skills that will last them a lifetime and connecting the practical lessons back to curriculum outcomes. Children are encouraged to take that learning back to their family and community, growing, cooking, eating and enjoying fresh fruit and vegetables at home. The Garden to Table programme is available to all primary schools throughout New Zealand.
