Welcome to the Living Classroom Program.
The Mount Terry Living Classroom Kitchen Garden Program is a unique initiative that gives the Stage 3 students (Year 5 and 6) the opportunity to partake in weekly lessons centred around the care of our beautiful, well-established permaculture garden. Our garden comprises of a variety of fruiting trees such as fig, mango, apple, pomegranate, guava, pear, bananas as well as various citrus and stone fruits. The garden contains many supporting flowers, herbs and plants that make it a biodiverse playground for our resident native stingless bees that kindly pollinate our fruit trees.
Drawing from outcomes in the Stage 3 Science and Technology and PDHPE syllabus, students cover various theoretical and practical topics on sustainability in the living world. Students learn how to grow and maintain a garden through activities such as weeding, mulching, watering, pruning, seed- sowing and harvesting. Students also get time to observe the garden and its changes, recording observations and illustrations in their Nature Journal.
Regularly throughout the year students get the opportunity to cook with the food they have grown in the school’s custom-made kitchen. All meals cooked in cooking lessons are thoughtfully planned around what fruit, vegetable or herb is currently in season in our school garden. Time is allowed at the beginning of cooking lessons for the students to go to the garden and harvest the ‘star’ ingredient in their meal which creates a direct connection to what they are eating. This garden-to-table approach to cooking lessons, where students are involved in the complete life-cycle of the plant from sowing the seed, caring for the plant, harvesting and then lovingly preparing it for a meal, creates a wholistic learning experience.