Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program

What is the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program?

In 2010 Littlehampton Primary School won a grant to become part of the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation Program. This is a national program aimed to provide memorable food experiences that will form the basis of positive lifelong eating habits. One of the greatest successes reported by other schools in the Program is that previously fussy eaters now happily experiment with foods they have grown or prepared themselves.

All Year 2-7 students take regular classes working in our productive veggie garden and our five bay kitchen with our garden and kitchen specialists, discovering just how much fun it is to grow and cook their own seasonal organic vegetables and fruits.

With a mantra of "Grow, Harvest, Prepare and Share", students learn to cook fruits and vegetables in season, freshly picked from their own garden.

Kitchen and garden classes began part way through 2011 and are now well underway in our school. We are thrilled to be offering this opportunity to our students!

Community involvement is an important part of the success of this program. Each garden and cooking session requires 5 adult volunteers to work with small groups of students. The students will be doing most of the gardening, but we also need to conduct community working bees to keep the garden as productive as possible. If you or someone you know would like to volunteer in the kitchen or the garden, or come along to the occasional working bee, we would love your help!

Volunteers last year found they learned a great deal and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Please let us know if you would like to help by ringing the school and speaking to Margie Sarre.

Another way to support this program is for individuals and businesses to make a donation to the kitchen and garden, to help with costs of operating the program. If you would like to make a donation, of anything from a bag of lemons to a trailer load of compost, or to become a sponsor of our program (by making a cash donation or a pledge for larger goods) contact Margie Sarre.

Sponsors are acknowledged on our Sponsor Board in the kitchen and in our school newsletter. They will also be invited to our official launch in June 2012 with Maggie Beer.

We are all excited about our program, and the opportunities it provides to students and volunteers alike. We hope you will join us!

We have been very moved by the generosity of our local community in supporting this program. We would like to acknowledge and thank our generous sponsors: