Garden to Table in Action - Forrest Hill
Four years ago, the staff at Forrest Hill School came together, united by their vision to inspire tamariki to think about food differently.
Between the North Shore’s growing diverse population and housing densification, they saw the need to teach students where food comes from and how to live a sustainable and healthy lifestyle.
Garden to Table was the perfect solution - and soon, they became the first school on the North Shore to join our holistic food education programme.
Today, their Garden to Table programme continues to thrive. Not only does it commonly feature amongst the student’s highlights from their time at the school, but they are also a Model School - providing a pathway for other schools to gain insight on how the programme is delivered.
Since the beginning, community has been a core part of Forrest Hill’s Garden to Table experience.
Early on in the development of their programme, the students at Forrest Hill found themselves with an abundance of fresh produce. So, they headed off to their local rest home and ageing hospital, ready to gift some of their excess bounty.
The residents loved the experience - with the aroma of certain flowers and herbs often bringing back special memories from the past.
Soon enough, the tamariki were making regular visits to the rest home - and they’d often return to school with fresh muffins in hand, specially prepared by the in-house chef.
Local businesses have also gotten behind the programme - regularly discounting and donating plants, seedlings, compost, and kitchen equipment to help the ākonga (students) enrich their learning.
Forrest Hill have also fostered strong connections between school and home.
The tamariki enjoy taking their learning home - and over the past few years, many have created their own gardens, and started cooking meals for their families.
The parents are active participants in the programme too - often coming into the school to help out in the garden and kitchen, before sharing a meal with the students.`
Many of these parents come from a variety of cultures - and Garden to Table sessions present a wonderful opportunity for them to pass their passions and knowledge down.
This interculturality is one of the many strengths of Forrest Hill’s Garden to Table programme. Students from other countries, such as their sister school in China, have all contributed their ideas and added cultural value to their gardens. This has also prompted their specialist teachers to introduce new foods, from a range of countries, into the school gardens.
Through it all, Forrest Hill students get to immerse themselves in rich learning opportunities.
In the garden and kitchen, tamariki are able to build their self-confidence, grow their problem-solving abilities, and practise perseverance when things get hard.
In the classroom, students spend time journaling about changes in the garden, and writing letters of thanks to local businesses - all of which helps them build their literacy and numeracy skills in real-life contexts.
The year 5 students also learn about many of the concepts that underpin Garden to Table, through inquiries into topics such as plastic in the sea, world hunger, shortage of food, healthy eating, and the impact of sugar.
“Our students are fully engaged in their learning as the Garden to Table programme provides a real-life context for our students to learn in. Students are learning lifelong skills to work together as a team to prepare soil, to germinate seeds, to grow plants, and maintain gardens, with the aim to provide food to harvest and cook for others to enjoy. Sustainability and looking after our planet, knowing where food comes from, and providing food for a family are all key aspects of learning”
It’s not hard to see why Forrest Hill students take so much pride in their Garden to Table programme.
Not only do the gardens (which were designed by the students) feature a lush variety of foods from around the world, but they are almost entirely sustainable, as they produce their own compost soil. Plus, they’ve planted an orchard, in the hopes of feeding anyone who is hungry.
Looking ahead, Forrest Hill has many bold ambitions for the future.
Recently, the year 5 students have been planning and running a number of Garden Markets, in an effort to welcome families back onto the school grounds, post-Covid restrictions. These have been met with great enthusiasm - with parents contributing items like propagated indoor plants. Forrest Hill is hoping to turn these events into a monthly series.
They’re also looking to connect with their local iwi and build Māori medicine and practice into the programme. Plus, they’re intendng to introduce bees to the school garden, to enrich the student’s knowledge of the whole food cycle.
Ka mahi, Forrest Hill! We are blown away by all that you have achieved to date, and are inspired by the ripples of impact you have created. We can’t wait to watch you continue to grow, and look forward to supporting you as you do so.
This Christmas, you can empower children in schools across Aotearoa to whanake (grow), hauhake (harvest), whakarite (prepare), and whāngai (share) fresh and seasonal kai. With your support, tamariki will learn vital life skills - ensuring a brighter future for them, their whānau, and their communities.