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Australian Organic Program school garden

Teachers get help with organic gardens

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Teachers can download a free guide to educating students about growing their own food, SIMON WEBSTER reports.

It’s all well and good wanting to teach kids about organic gardening. But if you can’t tell your compost teas from your cover crops, where do you start? Luckily, schoolteachers who need help educating children about organic food growing can now download a free curriculum from the Australian Organic Schools program.

The curriculum teaches students aged five to 12 how to create, manage and cook from an organic garden.

The 32 lessons and digital resources are aligned with the Australian Curriculum, with links to sustainability, maths, science and literacy skills.

“Australian Organic Schools is part of a global trend of education initiatives teaching the next generation about food from the ground up,” says program manager Jane Burns.

“Growing food in schools is an excellent way to teach agricultural literacy to young people, leading to an increase in consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables, health benefits, and improved vocational and life skills.”

The curriculum can be downloaded here.

Schools also have until Tuesday, November 26, to enter a competition to win a visit from Gardening Australia presenter Costa Georgiadis, health coach, chef and author Pete Evans, and author and motivational speaker on health and wellness Therese Kerr.