Reaping the Benefits of Multicultural School Gardening
Gould League’s award-winning Multicultural School Gardens program continues to reap social, educational and environmental benefits for disadvantaged Melbourne schools. Our final nine schools for 2011 now have their gardens in place and are celebrating their achievements and formally opening these wonderful new educational resources in their schools.
Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Ringwood’s New Multicultural School Garden
Our Lady of Perpetual Help Ringwood celebrated their new Multicultural Veggie Garden on November 28 with art, craft and cooking activities complementing the official acknowledgements.
Dandenong Primary School integrated the Multicultural School Gardens project with their Refugee Bridging Program with great success. Their official garden celebration on September 2 featured a colourful display of multicultural dance and music performances, ‘Growing your own Food’ dress ups, and harvesting, cooking and eating the freshly-grown vegetables. Students and teachers continued the celebration with garden-themed activities throughout the day.
Special guests joining Dandenong Primary School students included Federal Member of Parliament, Mr Alan Griffin, Cr Roz Blades, Mayor of the City of Greater Dandenong and representatives from local businesses who made donations to the school’s gardens including Scotsburn Nurseries, Bunnings, and Safeway.
Preps and Grade 1 students from Belle Vue Park Primary joined forces to celebrate their multicultural heritage and fantastic efforts in the garden. At the beginning of the program the school identified greater engagement with their parents as a goal; an achievement clearly in evidence in the cultural feast that the students enjoyed. The sense of pride that this celebration engendered was palpable during the celebration from both students and their parents.
Well done Belle Vue Park parents on your great support
for the Multicultural School Garden.
Wallarano Primary School will be officially opening their Multicultural School Garden with a whole school celebration on December 8 .
Celebration is a key feature of the Multicultural School Gardens program as it is an opportunity for the school to reflect on their achievements which often go unnoticed in the hustle and bustle of school life. It is also a chance to build links with and acknowledge the efforts of parents and partners. The other schools in this semester’s program Cranbourne Carlisle Primary School, Moreland Primary School, Maroondah Secondary College, Hillsmeade Primary School, Westbreen Primary School, and Kingston Heath Primary School are busy planning their celebrations which will also keep the garden program alive for years to come.
Belle Vue Park Primary School, Cranbourne Carlisle Primary School, Moreland Primary School, Maroondah Secondary College, Hillsmeade Primary School, Westbreen Primary School, and Kingston Heath Primary School have been funded by the Victorian Department of Employment, Education and Early Childhood Development.
Wallarano and Dandenong Primary Schools’ participation is proudly supported by the City of Greater Dandenong Community Support Grants Program.