Ten years ago, as part of the curriculum, the school started to involve its students in gardening, from kindergarten to Year 12. Being a true community school, Mr Bruce believes, is being part of the community and the community being part of the school. There are eight community gardens on site that people living in the area come and share. It is important for children to learn and to be part of the community.
Initiated by the Parents and Carers (P&C) of Alexandria Park School, an event with Bunnings of Mascot took shape. Bunnings staff brought materials for the creation of a veggie garden.
Two of the kindergarten students were asked: What do you think of the garden? What did you grow? Oarcen and Allysa talked about how they grow carrots. They said there were some worms and that “the worms will help the carrots to grow”, and that “the Rabbitohs will come once the carrots are grown”.
The children said that they are growing some chilies and that their hands were dirty from digging the hole to place the plants in the ground. They had planted lots of different coloured chilies in the raised garden beds.
Did Mum help? No, they did it themselves – dug a big hole and then put the plants in, put their fingers in the soil, put the plants in and covered them up. Oarcen and Allysa then talked about what they are going to do once the carrots are grown. “We will chop the carrots in half and the Rabbitohs are going to eat it,” they said.
Oarcen’s mother, Leanne, talked about how they contacted the Alexandria Residents Action Group (ARAG) and that it “snowballed from there to the event with Bunnings”. She shared that she had no vegetable garden at home, but she did have some herbs and flowers and felt that it was great to have this initiative within the school. She talked about how it’s “special and self-sufficient” to eat the produce from the garden and to learn about how to plant things and observe them growing.
Michael from Bunnings talked about building a new store in Alexandria. He said they want to do the best that they can do for the local community. He saw this as a project with a vision of looking after the local community. As he works with Alexandria Park School, Michael believes it plays an important part in the wider community. “It’s what we are all about, and a great way to educate and support sustainable initiatives,” he said.
